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Unironically chess is an e-sport and this recent explosion is because Hikaru, Botez, Hess et al. have woken up to that idea and embraced it. The best computers

Unironically chess is an e-sport and this recent explosion is because Hikaru, Botez, Hess et al. have woken up to that idea and embraced it. The best computers can easily beat the top humans just as an aimbot could beat Navi easily at CS:GO. So the focus in chess has moved away from manually exploring to find optimal plays and new opening styles as was the trend in the 19th century chess rennaisance to a focus on preparation so that a player can quickly find best moves, under significant pressure, in any given match. That makes it much more like a strategy game. Embracing memes makes it more accessible to viewers who are used to watching hearthstone, csgo, league, dota or other esports and it's been really fun to watch. I started watching chess on twitch a while ago during the Tata steel tournament and I thought back then it would quickly grow if they focused their commentary on casual level viewers and it's been fantastic to have been proved correct.

LanceH 6y ago
chessnetwork (a Canadian National Master's name on twitch) is a warm and welcoming streamer as well.
- kohtatsu 6y ago
  Seconded. Jerry makes thorough yet cosy and approachable content. Edit: he also covers engines which I find pretty interesting, a lot of Leela but my favourite so far is this game with AlphaZero and Stockfish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m5oXlZ_e_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m5oXlZ_e_A
ehsankia 6y ago
To me it seems like the current explosion is the genius idea of pitching the most famous Twitch personalities against each other in a tournament. This is similar to how Dr. K blew up by giving live therapy session to Twitch personalities with huge followings. If you add up the followers of all the participants [0], you already have a huge pool of probably over a million viewers to start with, all rooting for their favorite streamer. [0] https://www.chess.com/article/view/chesscom-pogchamps https://www.chess.com/article/view/chesscom-pogchamps
- jmcgough 6y ago
  It also makes chess way more approachable to see novice players play and see GMs discuss why a move is good or bad. I picked up chess about two weeks ago from watching the tourney, and the streams where GMs give lessons to tournament participants (or even random popular streamers) have been pretty helpful for someone who never really understood the strategy of the early game as a kid.
cryptonector 6y ago
There are also lots of commentators on youtube commenting on past games, recent games, and games between AIs.
bradly 6y ago
I got into Chess a couple years ago and Twitch and YouTube were a huge part of it. I had gotten started watching Ben Finegold's kids classes. Getting to see grandmasters play and hear their thoughts and ask them questions is an unbelievable resource. I was surprised how good Chess was as a spectator sport.
- SubiculumCode 6y ago
  Ever hear why Ben Finegold got banned from twitch several weeks ago?
  - hawkesnest 6y ago
    He got banned? Terrible.
  - noir_lord 6y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/gwasmp/ben_finegold_explains_his_twitch_ban/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/gwasmp/ben_finegold_... He read out a nasty email someone sent him on the stream apparently, his ban should expire shortly if it hasn't already.
    - Obi_Juan_Kenobi 6y ago
      Worth noting that Twitch usually doesn't make a statement about bans / ban reasons. This is Finegold's claim, and he is far from a neutral party. Also the specific issue was reading the email address, not the message. This, naturally, invites chat to send messages to that address. Regardless of intent, this is a very reasonable expectation to have. If the email is not a troll, that amounts to inviting a horde of people to send nasty messages to a suicidal person.
  - slau 6y ago
    Ben insulted xQc and his community. He called them racists, low-IQ, etc. https://m.livestreamfails.com/post/82089 https://m.livestreamfails.com/post/82089 He seems to have streamed yesterday and the day before, so he was probably unbanned after 24 hours with a warning.
SubiculumCode 6y ago
Chess has definitely become an esport. Interestingly, blitz and bullet game formats are forcing themselves into upper classes of the chess world, defying long standing denigration as not being "real chess," because the watching public enjoys that format..and it can be legitimately exciting. The recent IM not a GM championship hosted by chess.com, GM Hess, and GM Narodotsky was fantastic entertainment...especially as I am a dedicated viewer of IM John Bartholomew, who blew his competition away.
cauthon 6y ago
What channels do you recommend watching? And how do you find out about tournaments?
- myle 6y ago
  Channels: Daniel King Chess24 agadmator Tournaments and news on reddit.com/r/chess
  - minkzilla 6y ago
    Power play chess (Daniel King’s channel) is my personal favorite. It’s just the right amount of entertaining and instructive
- zakk 6y ago
  I love Mato Jelic's channel.
SkyBelow 6y ago
>So the focus in chess has moved away from manually exploring to find optimal plays and new opening styles as was the trend in the 19th century chess rennaisance to a focus on preparation so that a player can quickly find best moves, under significant pressure, in any given match. There is a certain skill level, which I want to say is somewhere around 1400 to 1500 but it has been over a decade so don't quote me on that, where most the players at that level seem to focus on memorizing openings. It ended up being what separates them from the players a one to two hundred points lower. This leaves them vulnerable to a bit of a hack, as using a non-standard opening can completely remove any usefulness of their memorized openings. It almost disorients them and makes it much more likely for them to make a mistake that can then overcome the disadvantage of such a non-standard opening. I loved playing in this area as I hated memorizing openings so I just used non-standard openings to not to avoid having to. Eventually I hit the ranking where players were good enough to take advantage of my non-standard opening more than any advantage from disorienting them and I quit playing because the only option to advance would've been to go back and memorize openings.
- thirtythree 6y ago
  I have similar feelings about memorising in chess. It gets to the point where it's boring for me
  - mrslave 6y ago
    Late in life chess learner here. I broke through a plateau by studying openings more than memorizing them. Slowly working through the early possibilities to separate what works from what doesn't helped to reinforce basic principles. So like hammering away at 30+ identical problems in high school math class, with some tedium it really did help me internalize the principles. I did not continue to memorize openings and common lines to any great depth. I remain a meager, but much more contented, chess student.
    - tajd 6y ago
      An alternative approach is to work through endgame problems. Learning the key different endgames helps you direct the middlegame towards positions you know you can win. There's also something about learning to handle small numbers of pieces well which translates really well to the rest of the game.
stephsmithio 6y ago
As someone that used to travel the world and play chess competitively as a kid (fun fact: against Botez), it's been great to see chess embraced as an esport and the definition of a "sport" be rethought entirely. I remember growing up in the chess community being asked whether chess was a "sport". Most people within the community would say yes, while most people outside the community would unequivocally say no, since it wasn't physical.
zakk 6y ago
> Unironically chess is an e-sport and this recent explosion is because Hikaru, Botez, Hess et al. have woken up to that idea and embraced it. Let me also mention Mato Jelic. His videos got me hooked!

LanceH 6y ago

chessnetwork (a Canadian National Master's name on twitch) is a warm and welcoming streamer as well.

kohtatsu 6y ago
Seconded. Jerry makes thorough yet cosy and approachable content. Edit: he also covers engines which I find pretty interesting, a lot of Leela but my favourite so far is this game with AlphaZero and Stockfish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m5oXlZ_e_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m5oXlZ_e_A

ehsankia 6y ago

To me it seems like the current explosion is the genius idea of pitching the most famous Twitch personalities against each other in a tournament. This is similar to how Dr. K blew up by giving live therapy session to Twitch personalities with huge followings. If you add up the followers of all the participants [0], you already have a huge pool of probably over a million viewers to start with, all rooting for their favorite streamer. [0] https://www.chess.com/article/view/chesscom-pogchamps https://www.chess.com/article/view/chesscom-pogchamps

jmcgough 6y ago
It also makes chess way more approachable to see novice players play and see GMs discuss why a move is good or bad. I picked up chess about two weeks ago from watching the tourney, and the streams where GMs give lessons to tournament participants (or even random popular streamers) have been pretty helpful for someone who never really understood the strategy of the early game as a kid.

cryptonector 6y ago

There are also lots of commentators on youtube commenting on past games, recent games, and games between AIs.

bradly 6y ago

I got into Chess a couple years ago and Twitch and YouTube were a huge part of it. I had gotten started watching Ben Finegold's kids classes. Getting to see grandmasters play and hear their thoughts and ask them questions is an unbelievable resource. I was surprised how good Chess was as a spectator sport.

SubiculumCode 6y ago
Ever hear why Ben Finegold got banned from twitch several weeks ago?
- hawkesnest 6y ago
  He got banned? Terrible.
- noir_lord 6y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/gwasmp/ben_finegold_explains_his_twitch_ban/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/gwasmp/ben_finegold_... He read out a nasty email someone sent him on the stream apparently, his ban should expire shortly if it hasn't already.
  - Obi_Juan_Kenobi 6y ago
    Worth noting that Twitch usually doesn't make a statement about bans / ban reasons. This is Finegold's claim, and he is far from a neutral party. Also the specific issue was reading the email address, not the message. This, naturally, invites chat to send messages to that address. Regardless of intent, this is a very reasonable expectation to have. If the email is not a troll, that amounts to inviting a horde of people to send nasty messages to a suicidal person.
- slau 6y ago
  Ben insulted xQc and his community. He called them racists, low-IQ, etc. https://m.livestreamfails.com/post/82089 https://m.livestreamfails.com/post/82089 He seems to have streamed yesterday and the day before, so he was probably unbanned after 24 hours with a warning.

SubiculumCode 6y ago

Chess has definitely become an esport. Interestingly, blitz and bullet game formats are forcing themselves into upper classes of the chess world, defying long standing denigration as not being "real chess," because the watching public enjoys that format..and it can be legitimately exciting. The recent IM not a GM championship hosted by chess.com, GM Hess, and GM Narodotsky was fantastic entertainment...especially as I am a dedicated viewer of IM John Bartholomew, who blew his competition away.

cauthon 6y ago

What channels do you recommend watching? And how do you find out about tournaments?

myle 6y ago
Channels: Daniel King Chess24 agadmator Tournaments and news on reddit.com/r/chess
- minkzilla 6y ago
  Power play chess (Daniel King’s channel) is my personal favorite. It’s just the right amount of entertaining and instructive
zakk 6y ago
I love Mato Jelic's channel.

SkyBelow 6y ago

>So the focus in chess has moved away from manually exploring to find optimal plays and new opening styles as was the trend in the 19th century chess rennaisance to a focus on preparation so that a player can quickly find best moves, under significant pressure, in any given match. There is a certain skill level, which I want to say is somewhere around 1400 to 1500 but it has been over a decade so don't quote me on that, where most the players at that level seem to focus on memorizing openings. It ended up being what separates them from the players a one to two hundred points lower. This leaves them vulnerable to a bit of a hack, as using a non-standard opening can completely remove any usefulness of their memorized openings. It almost disorients them and makes it much more likely for them to make a mistake that can then overcome the disadvantage of such a non-standard opening. I loved playing in this area as I hated memorizing openings so I just used non-standard openings to not to avoid having to. Eventually I hit the ranking where players were good enough to take advantage of my non-standard opening more than any advantage from disorienting them and I quit playing because the only option to advance would've been to go back and memorize openings.

thirtythree 6y ago
I have similar feelings about memorising in chess. It gets to the point where it's boring for me
- mrslave 6y ago
  Late in life chess learner here. I broke through a plateau by studying openings more than memorizing them. Slowly working through the early possibilities to separate what works from what doesn't helped to reinforce basic principles. So like hammering away at 30+ identical problems in high school math class, with some tedium it really did help me internalize the principles. I did not continue to memorize openings and common lines to any great depth. I remain a meager, but much more contented, chess student.
  - tajd 6y ago
    An alternative approach is to work through endgame problems. Learning the key different endgames helps you direct the middlegame towards positions you know you can win. There's also something about learning to handle small numbers of pieces well which translates really well to the rest of the game.

stephsmithio 6y ago

As someone that used to travel the world and play chess competitively as a kid (fun fact: against Botez), it's been great to see chess embraced as an esport and the definition of a "sport" be rethought entirely. I remember growing up in the chess community being asked whether chess was a "sport". Most people within the community would say yes, while most people outside the community would unequivocally say no, since it wasn't physical.

zakk 6y ago

> Unironically chess is an e-sport and this recent explosion is because Hikaru, Botez, Hess et al. have woken up to that idea and embraced it. Let me also mention Mato Jelic. His videos got me hooked!