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Chess is booming among teens

polygon.com

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Re: Chess is booming among teens

#201

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

michaelt wrote: post #178
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how chess has become more social. It's always been a very social game. You go to the chessclub, meet lots of interesting people, make friends. Tournaments are very social events too. Playing online actually feels like the least social way of enjoying the game to me. I have no interest in chatting with random people, and most of the time someone tries to write something in chat it's an insult or accusation…

> I don't see how chess has become more social. It's always been a very social game. My impression of high-level chess is that the games are >1 hour, and the participants don't talk to each other, or anyone else. In contrast, you watch a chess streamer on Twitch? They'll be talking constantly - as well as playing much shorter games. So I can see why someone who hasn't experienced a chess club in person might identify…

I guess I can see that perspective yeah. Certainly there is no speaking during the game, since it's a game of concentration after all.

And top players might not do this, but most everyone else does: we discuss the games with the opponent after the game. Club nights tend to be less formal; usually blitz will be played, banter and trashtalking during the game is common.

But yeah I guess it must look like we all hate eachother and never speak to eachother, from the outside. That's funny.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#202

Post by aoeusnth1 »

Pyramus wrote: post #147
quijoteuniv wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine when you discover Lichess!

As someone who plays exclusively on Lichess I find the chess.com bashing, particularly here on HN, a bit short-sighted, in the sense that it's focussed on who provides the better (free) online service to play chess. If your goal, however, is to popularise the game of chess, i.e. to get more people to play chess, a free online service is only a necessary condition. Chess.com seems to be able to sponsor and organise to…

I think both chess.com and lichess are positive influences on the chess scene. We need a corporate presence to be able to organize tournaments, find sponsors, and support streamers.

That said, I prefer lichess and think most people should be using it. But I understand it’s not about the platform’s technical features; for most people, it’s about the network effect with their friends.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#204

Post by alexb_ »

Shorel wrote: post #200
jrpt wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was all true ten years ago too so I don’t think that’s it. What changed is the Queen’s Gambit got popular, then covid caused online gaming to become even more popular, and then there were some things that made chess popular recently like chess boxing with streamers on YouTube.

I would say Nakamura, the Botez sisters, and Ben Finegold are bigger factors than chess boxing. But in general, yes, YouTube streamers are making the sport more popular.

Failing to mention Gothamchess is weird - he's a 10 times bigger pusher of chess than Ben Finegold.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#205

Post by cptcobalt »

I recently screened a few intern resumes that listed chess rankings/scores/clubs—in a world of too many boring & plain resumes that fail to show aspects of your character, this was a welcome addition of variety—but sadly they were primarily only cultural fits on my team, not technical fits.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#206

Post by TechBro8615 »

stavros wrote: post #129
qsort wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't recommend Lichess enough. It's free (freedom & beer), it has no ads , and it's feature-complete. It even has stuff that other websites make you pay for, like post-game computer annotation. It offers a web interface where you can play without even registering an account and free (again, freedom & beer) apps for iOS and Android. The only downside when compared to chess.com is that fewer top-level professionals…

Lichess is amazing, I play there exclusively. However, I am plagued by a terrible bug: the Android app has half a second of lag when opening any screen for some reason. It doesn't matter what connection I'm on, and the website is always instant, but the Android app always takes half a second to load any screen. It's infuriating when you want to view the analysis, or just navigate around the app.

Have you tried disabling content blockers (including PiHole if you're in the app)? I'm not on Android, and haven't seen this but in Lichess, but when I see similar bugs on iOS, disabling content blockers often fixes them.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#207

Post by ouid »

hannob wrote: post #37

I've recently started playing chess again a bit (after doing it a bit when I was a teen), and there's an interesting aspect of online chess that I began to realize: When I was young you needed a local opponent to play chess, and that wasn't always easy. Why? Because most people around you were either significantly better (you always loose) or worse (you always win). It's not an interesting game if the outcome is almo…

I think lichess.org is generally a better place to play. Less pointless monetization. More content available. Better alt modes.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#208

Post by harph »

michaelt wrote: post #178
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how chess has become more social. It's always been a very social game. You go to the chessclub, meet lots of interesting people, make friends. Tournaments are very social events too. Playing online actually feels like the least social way of enjoying the game to me. I have no interest in chatting with random people, and most of the time someone tries to write something in chat it's an insult or accusation…

> I don't see how chess has become more social. It's always been a very social game. My impression of high-level chess is that the games are >1 hour, and the participants don't talk to each other, or anyone else. In contrast, you watch a chess streamer on Twitch? They'll be talking constantly - as well as playing much shorter games. So I can see why someone who hasn't experienced a chess club in person might identify…

Is watching a twitch stream a social activity? I guess you can participate in the chat, but we know what twitch chat looks like...

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#209

Post by stavros »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #206
stavros wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lichess is amazing, I play there exclusively. However, I am plagued by a terrible bug: the Android app has half a second of lag when opening any screen for some reason. It doesn't matter what connection I'm on, and the website is always instant, but the Android app always takes half a second to load any screen. It's infuriating when you want to view the analysis, or just navigate around the app.

Have you tried disabling content blockers (including PiHole if you're in the app)? I'm not on Android, and haven't seen this but in Lichess, but when I see similar bugs on iOS, disabling content blockers often fixes them.

I don't have any enabled :( I'll see if I have some weird DNS setting or something, thank you.
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