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Chess is booming among teens

polygon.com

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Re: Chess is booming among teens

#211

Post by ishjoh »

AITree wrote: post #29

The game of chess has always been popular, but recently it has attracted a lot of interest because of the success of Netflix's "The Queen's Gambit" series. People of all ages, especially teens, have taken a newfound interest in the game as a result of the presentation.

For me it was the YouTube algorithm. One day it recommended a video by agadmator chess about a classic Bobby Fischer game. I've been following it ever since and really had a lot of fun watching his breakdown of the classical world chess championship that just happened.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#212

Post by brobinson »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #184
brobinson wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CS at a high level is like chess where you can't see your opponent's pieces most of the time. At low levels, it's basically what you described. Check out a pro game on Twitch some time. Every time I watch pros play, I learn a new lineup for util, angle to hold, runboost spot, etc.

A family member used to be a professional CSGO player and another family member played Quake at tourneys back in the day. Your point is moot because only 1% of people play at a high-level, thus chess is at least more interesting than what 99% of CSGO players will experience in terms of strategy. Their ability to react and aim in real-time isn't a consideration either, nor is their access to a pretty decent computer a…

In that case, your original point is also moot because chess at low levels doesn't have any strategy besides gimmicks (scholar's mate, fool's mate) and then moving randomly and hanging pieces. Around 800 ELO, people start looking for pins, skewers, forks, etc. Around 1200 ELO, you hit a wall and have to start grinding openings for a year, and then you'll hit the final wall at 1700 ELO where you can't advance unless you played from childhood.

You don't need to be Global Elite in CS to have a team that attempts site takes/retakes/rotations and tries to use util effectively. You'll never have GE reactions/aim, but you'll also never be an IM/FM in chess no matter how much you grind. CS is still fun even as a silver/low gold nova pleb because the midgame has effectively unlimited variety (just like chess), and 10 independent players as opposed to 2 leads to much more diverse gameplay. CS also has the advantage of there not being draws (aside from in Valve's matchmaking), something which plagues chess all the way to the super grandmaster level.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#213

Post by hgsgm »

hannob wrote: post #40
raincole wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My question about online chess is: why aren't people feeling that their opponents are cheating? I don't play chess. But in other online games, like FPS, the players always complain about cheaters. Then why isn't it a problem with chess.com? It's much easier to cheat with online chess than an FPS game, no?

The question is: Do I care? Particularly if I'm not super-competitive. I play chess irregularly on a not very sophisticated level (ELO ~400). I get automatically assigned opponents. Sure, it's possible that some of them cheat. It's probably not super attractive, because I'm not sure what the fun is in "I beat random ELO 400 player on chess.com with a computer". So maybe one in a few dozend games I face a cheater. If…

400 chess.com Elo (not ELO) is so low that bo cheater would never fall so lo in rating to play against you. 400 rating is still learning how the pieces move.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#214

Post by hgsgm »

than3 wrote: post #99
watwut wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lichess puts a lot of effort into catching cheaters.

No, they really don't. They use a ML Siamese head network that was donated to them back ~2012. Nothing has changed since then, and they don't prevent people from creating new accounts. There were issues reported to them in 2016 about the siamese network failing to detect properly in cases where the client-side parameters being passed could be spoofed and held static, and they banned the people who reported it and del…

Those are strong accusations to make without evidence.

Why should we believe your anonymous gossip over someone who spent years building and running lichess and giving it away for free?

https://www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/pages/associations-deta...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31158426

You seem to have some sort of grudge against Lichess, to the point that the only easily discoverable info about Liches's Siamese network is your own vague complaints about it. Perhaps you are the one who hasn't earned any respect.

Despite your claims that computers killed chess, chess is thriving more than ever, with more people making a living from chess than any time in history.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#215

Post by hgsgm »

orthoxerox wrote: post #186
gubby wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point, but of course it’s not possible to create a platform with an average win rate of 80%.

And yet when you see a professional boxing match, both boxers' win rate is usually above 90%, not 50%.

A boxing career has approximately 0 rated fights. A cheap career has hundreds to thousands.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#216

Post by hgsgm »

cptcobalt wrote: post #205

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.

Hiring people because they share your hobby is tacky and bad business.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#217

Post by Shorel »

alexb_ wrote: post #204
Shorel wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sure, I missed him because I don't follow him.

His style is not for my taste, nothing wrong with the guy.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#218

Post by ranguna »

jacooper wrote: post #161
ranguna wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it just me, or is this comment AI generated? > and i was shocked. At first I though (...), but its actually (...)! > The (...) installed everywhere (...) each other nonstop, sometimes with real > There's social pyramid starting to form, with one of the younger ones conquering the game with no clear challenger, its football but for people who don't like football. The paragraph above specifically, it sounds coherent…

In high school usually there is some kind of a social class pyramid built on how good you can play football(not in the U.S.). The best one is the coolest and so on. While people who don't play are constantly bullied.

Ah that makes more sense.

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#219

Post by [deleted] »

_fizz_buzz_ wrote: post #193
jonkho wrote: post #83

Andrew Tate is a chess player and promoted chess. Andrew Tate was the most internet famous person for a period of time with a huge following in the teen male demographic. Possible cause-effect.

I think it has a lot more to do with popular chess streamers like Hikaru, Botez sister, gothamchess etc. Andrew Tate promoted a lot of stuff and but I never came across his chess content and I follow chess content quite a bit. Also, I just googled what his chess rating was and his dad Emory Tate [1] came up, so it seems like he isn't even the most influential chess player in his family. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w…

[deleted]

Re: Chess is booming among teens

#220

Post by [deleted] »

rhaway84773 wrote: post #189
walthamstow wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use any social media (apart from this one, and visiting some subreddits without logging in) and Tate was indeed widely talked about for the 2-3 months before his arrest, at least in Britain. You don't have to be on social media - the UK newspapers and other sources will pick up what ever people are talking about on there.

Andrew Tate was basically unheard of in the US and this article is primarily focused on the U.S.

[deleted]
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