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Chess is booming among teens
- sdwr 4y agoThis is wild. Chess feels old-school and boring to me. Don't understand how it's competing with modern sources of entertainment.
- hammyhavoc 4y agoBecause chess offers more variety in strategy than "rush A", "rush B", "they're going squeaky", "rotate". It's particularly fun in-person, and shockingly, the generation coming up likes to look at screens less and less, and apparently isn't keen on smartphones.
- Encrust6221 4y agoThe article makes it pretty. lear that the vast majority are using laptops and phones.
- hammyhavoc 4y agoIn their sample.
- brobinson 4y agoCS 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.
- hammyhavoc 4y agoA 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 and internet connection to be able to compete effectively.
- brobinson 4y agoIn 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.
- tester756 4y agoLoL is more complex than chess.
- hammyhavoc 4y agoI never mentioned LoL. "Squeaky" is CSGO.
- Spark_Ed 4y agoFaster variants are more accessible due to the UX quality given by chess.com and lichess. Blitz and bullet are like a competitive puzzle esport. Pair that with the competitive gaming industry and its more recent failures. A lot of people were hungry for something different, rather than a cheap reskin of the last thing that did the best numbers.
- olkingcole 4y agoI think the main reason, besides chess being fundamentally a great and timeless game, is streaming. Popular streamers picked it up and many top level players also started streaming online chess, which can be very entertaining. Often they are playing fast, exciting time controls like 1 or 2 minutes. Chess.com and others brought flavorful tournament coverage and hosted events with guests from outside the chess world. Chess.com and lichess have great apps and strong competitive communities. Basically, it's all there. Chess is born anew for the 21st century.
- altcognito 4y agoThis is the answer, my kids are all Into it and they really Love Gotham chess (I think that’s what it is called and Hikaru as well) I’m sure there are others but I’m already out of my element.
- visarga 4y ago> Chess is born anew for the 21st century. Where are the doomers who said chess was over after being solved by AI?
- szopa 4y agoThose were simply people with not enough imagination. Eg. AlphaGo beating Lee Sedol brought a true renaissance in Go, with papers showing that now humans play objectively better than they did before AI. While we have comfortably superhuman AIs, they are still far from godlike. The doomers were confused about where the ceiling was (and in Go it is much further than we thought).
- WJW 4y agoThey're over with the people who said weight lifting was over after cranes were invented, or that athletics competitions would be obsoleted by cars.
- GaggiX 4y agoI guess more complex forms of entertainment have diminishing returns.
- Fricken 4y agoModern sources of entertainment are dressed up in a lot of fluff. Blow all that fluff away and you're left with nothing that is any better than games and stories that have been with us since forever. The kids these days are drowning in novelties of the sort that were scarce to me as a child. It stands to reason they wouldn't be as easily impressed or fooled by such things.
- watwut 4y agoNone of however does not lead to liking chess. The game is massively about memorization and drill, with some patina of superior aura on it. At least on lower levels. Like you trying to make everything else sound inferior, plus fluff. It is not true, once you scratch reputation out of chess, you get mundane drills and memorization of situations.
- karmakurtisaani 4y agoNah, not really. The beauty of chess is that you can almost equally enjoy it at any skill level. The challenge is almost always the same of calculating and evaluating the position to the best of your abilities. If you find yourself trying to memorize positions, you're either preparing to win the world championship or doing it completely wrong.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Fricken 4y agoAt a high level all games depend on a great deal of practice to excel. Chess is not distinct in that sense.
- sidibe 4y agoI've never been interested in chess because it seemed to be way too much work to be good enough to have fun. Things have gotten much easier now, you can get endless stream of free puzzles that are as fun as any puzzle game and adapt to your skill level... I'm still not that interested in actually playing but it's really the ultimate single player game for phones, always slightly challenging and takes as little or as much time as you want.
- osener 4y agoWhich app is best for this single player variety of chess? Focusing on bite sized puzzles etc.
- dmurray 4y agoChesstempo has the best content, at least at a middle or higher standard. Chess.com and lichess have more modern UI/UX but haven't perfected the automatic puzzle generation process that Chesstempo seems to have got right many years ago.
- crabkin 4y agonothing beats simplicity when it meets possibility
- yarg 4y agoI kinda agree with Bobby on that front: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P349BdHUxlc&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P349BdHUxlc&t=0s There's too much that's simply memorisation over skills, deep lines leading you down well traversed paths. Creativity and ingenuity suffer. The only real option* if you want interesting games is to make intentionally bad moves so that theory falls apart, and that's only an option against weaker players. You can play with the more restricted time controls - but that only mixes things up by forcing mistakes, not by introducing well considered novel moves. * There's always Fischer random. https://thechessworld.com/articles/openings/5-chess-openings-you-should-never-play/ https://thechessworld.com/articles/openings/5-chess-openings... There's probably a limit as to how bad a move you want to make: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Opening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Opening You're probably better of going with dubious openings, rather than actively bad: https://lichess.org/study/FzX9K6ff https://lichess.org/study/FzX9K6ff.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Out_of_Characte 4y agoOfcourse making bad moves will hurt your chances of winning, but Hikaru was able to speedrun to 3000 points on chess.com with the bongcloud opening. So if that is achievable then I have no excuses losing because I chose a bad opening.
- eterm 4y ago> There's too much that's simply memorisation over skills, deep lines leading you down well traversed paths. And yet, game 2 of the world championship there was a novelty on move 4.
- chongli 4y agoThere's too much that's simply memorisation over skills, deep lines leading you down well traversed paths. Creativity and ingenuity suffer. The only real option if you want interesting games is to make intentionally bad moves so that theory falls apart, and that's only an option against weaker players. Did you watch the world championship this year? It did not at all fit your narrative. The games were very exciting. The players were out of prep early and often. There were a lot of chances being taken, blunders, and mistakes. All this from 2800-level players. I think people may soon realize that computers can be used for more than just preparing deep lines on well-trodden ground. They can also be used to find the shortest path off the beaten track and into a jungle of a midgame where you and your opponent can just play some chess. I love it!
- babl-yc 4y agoSpeaking as someone who has gotten addicted to online chess in the past couple years, I think it's a combination of factors: - Short time format makes for intense, fast paced games - Starting a game only takes a few taps, and you can be done in a few minutes - ELO ratings give you a number to obsess over improving, and online matching puts you against even opponents - Instant post-game analysis - Large amount of Twitch/Youtube content make it more fun to learn and follow the community
- eitally 4y agoMy 14yo son 100% agree with your assessment (and I third it!). :)
- bawolff 4y agoI mean, i've never understood how people could be entertained hitting a ball with a stick. Different humans like different things.
- opportune 4y agoWatch blitz or bullet chess played online and you might understand. These are actual easier played online than in person because it automates pressing the clock and you can set (potentially conditional) pre moves. It’s basically a fast-paced videogame: https://youtu.be/PNQDJdjgkdU https://youtu.be/PNQDJdjgkdU Sometimes I play bullet games for hours straight because it’s very easy to just play one more 2 minute game.
- zpeti 4y agoIt’s kind of exactly why I like it. There’s a reason people have been playing it and it evolved over 1000-1500 years. The complexity and variety is extremely entertaining. It’s really nice having that sort of depth vs a video game with a set path and story that you follow, or slicing random fruits with your finger. And the accessibility has obviously gotten insanely good as has been pointed out before in the thread.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Upvoter33 4y agoI'm old, and it's booming among my friends. For me, there are so many good explanations/videos on Youtube that make the game so much more accessible. All the stuff was in books, but seeing it explained live over a chessboard is WAY better.
- jacooper 4y agoI visted my relatives recently, and i was shocked. At first I though it was a new clash of clans type of trendy game, but its actually chess! The teenagers have chess.com installed everyhere and are challenging each other nonstop, sometimes with real chess boards too! 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. Its fascinating how an old and not very hip game became a crazy trend so fast.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago> its football but for people who don't like football. What's football for people who don't like football or chess? :)
- Barrin92 4y agoA lot of people seem surprised but honestly chess has always been one of the most popular games around. In most countries every sizeable town has chess clubs, leagues there's probably tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of players globally. As a chess player it's great to see that it has made inroads online with its popularity on Twitch among streamers and now kids in school, but it has always had a wide appeal. Also encouraging that kids pick it over more distracting activities. One of the biggest benefits I've reaped from playing is just the ability to deeply focus and concentrate. Not a bad skill nowadays.
- IG_Semmelweiss 4y agoChess is having its soccer moment now. Here is why: 1- The entry cost has fallen dramatically. Before at a minimum you'd need to afford a chess set and a couple of books. Now, all you need is a parents phone. This is similar to soccer, where the entry cost is any ball you can find. 2- its egalitarian. Your size, sex, height, and even age do not matter. This has always been true but now its more pronounced with apps blurrying entry further. This is also similar to soccer in that even age differences dont really matter 3 - learning curve has flattened dramatically. This to me is key. In soccer, anyone can jump in an play even if you cant learn by watching. This was not true for chess until apps came along. It is particularly powerful that kids no longer need to follow notation or boring books to learn how to play well. Everything can now be taught by video, at your own pace. 4 - chess is now hyper social. This is another key element also enabled by apps. By being a 2 player game, its not a game that is social by nature. However, now you can be social anytime, anywhere. No board required.
- localplume 4y ago[dead]
- rcme 4y ago1 is funny because a chess set and some books is way cheaper than a phone. The harder part is finding people to play.
- humanizersequel 4y agoTrue, but a phone capable of running a chess app is essentially mandatory in the West, whereas a board + books is an extra purchase.
- BurningFrog 4y agoThe biggest thing is that now you can find someone of similar strength to play with in 20 seconds!!
- jrpt 4y ago
- make_it_sure 4y agoIt's the Twitch streamers and Queen's Gambit Netflix series. Oh, i read the article and seems to say the same
- fma 4y agoYouTube recently has been recommending me chess videos. I think I clicked on one videomonths ago during the cheating controversy and now it's non-stop. I wonder how much of algos on YouTube, TikTok has to do with it...
- AITree 4y agoThe 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.
- bobmaxup 4y agoCharacters on fantasical drugs having superhuman abilities?
- adzm 4y agoI think you misunderstood a good section of that series if that is your takeaway.
- largepeepee 4y agoSure Netflix played a part but a larger portion of the growth was probably from popular twitch streamers/YouTubers who picked up the hobby and brought their young communities with them to chess tournaments vs other similar streamers etc in recent years. It's become like a social status among people to have a decent elo, a horrible marker for intelligence but a growing popular one.
- ishjoh 4y agoFor 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.
- paulpauper 4y agoThe game has been getting lots of media coverage, and maybe even Andrew Tate (big chess fan)
- hannob 4y agoI'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 almost always the same. It's obviously a complete gamechanger when you have a plattform like chess.com which automatically figures out how good you are and matches you with a roughly equally skilled opponent.
- danmaz74 4y agoYes, the rating system is fundamental to be able to enjoy the game, and also to lower the impact of cheating: if my rating is 1500 and I play against other players around 1500, I don't care if they are at that level thanks to cheating or not. I only care about being competitive with them and trying to do my best. -- Shameless plug: I recently released a platform to improve tactically with puzzles and spaced repetitions, https://chess.braimax.com https://chess.braimax.com - feedback very welcome!
- 10000truths 4y agoYou're assuming a steady-state equilibrium. It takes several games for a player to settle into their Elo, and a cheater will have ruined the experience of their opponents in the meantime. You're also discounting the fact that griefers will deliberately create new accounts to continue playing against novice opponents.
- danmaz74 4y agoHow is this different from good (non-cheating) players joining a new website and having to get to their realistic rating? This happens, but as a percentage of games you play it has a very low impact; moreover, platforms usually tell you that a player has a not-yet-established rating with a question mark, eg 1620? My suggestion is to just stop thinking about cheaters when playing online rated games. I started doing so years ago, and have increased my enjoyment of the game A LOT, without any visible downside.
- niederman 4y agoI am a high schooler in the US who's played chess for around 4 years now. Chess has been popular at my school since COVID (perhaps 1/20 people played it), but around February of this year it suddenly exploded in popularity to maybe 1/5 people. I have no idea why.
- agumonkey 4y agoNot a teen, but I found that a game of chess whenever I'm idle (in a train, doctor waiting room) is a very nice time passing activity. Makes you think a bit .. unlike infinite scrolling news or tiks.
- kweingar 4y agoOne thing I haven’t seen yet in these comments: the cheating scandal brought a lot of attention to the game. It was a great story to pique a young and curious imagination: - chess is a board game in my closet next to parcheesi and backgammon but it turns out there are chess professionals who play high stakes games - computers are so powerful that they can beat the best chess players, and you can use a computer to cheat - the allegation is that a professional chess player managed to receive some kind of covert signal to tell him the right moves. It’s like a spy movie - the drama continued to unfold with deep statistical analysis of prior games, $100 million lawsuits, and more
- nstart 4y agoSome people discussing cheating and the more boring aspects of chess. Thing is, - chess education is more accessible and is fun af now thanks to folks like Hikaru and Levy (aka GothamChess). - default games are now rapid 10 minute games or 20 minute games at tops. This makes it as quick as a Fortnite round and the odds of cheating in such rapid games goes down drastically. Couple that with the excellent anti cheat work being done and the game really does stay short and enjoyable. With the game being in popular culture via queens gambit it feels understandable that it is rising amongst younger folks (impossible to have predicted but very much easily explained looking backwards)
- szopa 4y agoMy father has always been a chess aficionado, but I got turned off by the fact that he was the only available opponent, and he had 37 years of headstart (it didn't occur to me to go to a chess club). When I was in University, I discovered Go, which felt somehow deeper than chess (I do enjoy the occasional game of chess, but compared to Go it feels like a knife fight vs a military campaign). After school I stopped playing (and I had never gotten serious). However, my family needed a distraction when the war in Ukraine started (we live in Poland, so it's right around the corner), so I started playing Go with my son. Since then we've gotten pretty serious - we play at a local club, went to a tournament, take lessons, etc. However, it's very much a niche hobby - more than A local club it's THE local club. Part of me wishes that I'd have chosen chess, which would've given us an order of magnitude more opponents and materials, both online and offline. On top of that, apparently it would've given my son an additional way to gain social status at school. However, the truth is that we do enjoy Go more than chess, and have already invested quite some energy (I am beginning to be an intermediate with an ELO of around 1150). There are some perks of course. The Go community is super nice (the joke goes that, unlike with chess, you cannot just go to another club to play IRL if you piss off your club members). It's so small that even as a beginner I got the chance to befriend the reigning Polish champion (and one of the very few European Pros, which is a big deal - they play almost on par with the Asian pros). He turned out to be a fantastical human being, if a bit intimidating at first (he will casually play 5 games simultaneously, maintaining separate teaching conversations over each board, and a bonus conversation about AI; then he will be able to write down every game on paper). While I feel a hint of jealousy for the popularity of chess, if Go were to disappear, I would just switch to chess and have probably have 85-90% of the fun I'm having with Go (not to mention access to my father's vast chess library). So, the fact that young people enjoy mind games makes me very happy - I feel that playing chess or Go is genuinely good for you.
- pertymcpert 4y agoChess is just more interesting to watch.
- MarceColl 4y agoAs somene who prefers playing Go a lot more than chess, this is true. Games are far too long for most people, I do enjoy having a Go game in the background while I work but patiently sitting for 16 hours for a game to finish is not a great sell even if I love the game.
- knaik94 4y agoOver the last few months Rozman has dominated short form content for chess, and I think this article doesn't give him enough credit. Both long form and short form videos of his hit millions of views, consistently over the last few months. The analytics for his channel speak for themselves. Here he responds to a reddit question from 3 months ago about the rise in Chess and he reponds "me" in an implied tongue in cheek way. [1] He is very active in the chess community and feels very accessible. Unlike the original elitist culture that chess was known for, he works hard to make it accessible and makes an effort to praise brilliant moves from low elo games/moves. His video answering chess questions on the wired youtube channel is a great introduction to him as well as chess, regardless of your skill level. Rozman's videos that focus on beginner plays made me feel okay to be low elo, and that's impactful coming from someone at his skill level. I am weak with opening theory and don't enjoy learning it. I enjoy playing intuitively, and have started playing much more chess960, a variant where starting piece positions are randomized. Lichess has recurrent chess960 torunaments. [2] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/10glwhg/does_anyone_know_why_chess_has_gotten_so_popular/j53np89/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/10glwhg/does_anyone_... [2] https://lichess.org/team/lichess-chess960 https://lichess.org/team/lichess-chess960
- WalterBright 4y agoI did poorly at chess because instead of thinking of my next move I'd be thinking about writing a program to figure out the next move for me. You could call it the "Programmer's Curse".
- dmurray 4y agoYou and Alan Turing both. He was an appallingly bad chess player, but wrote an algorithm which was more or less minimax, the standard algorithm today. Unfortunately he didn't have hardware to run it on.
- WalterBright 4y agoI picked up the book "Chess Skill in Man and Machine" and read it cover to cover. I learned a lot about programming from it.
- xyst 4y agoIt’s a good ole time tested game of strategy. I suspect the recent rise in players has largely been due to the pandemic, a group of dedicated streamers, and chess being an easy game people can pick up (mastering it is another beast).
- ta8903 4y agoTrue, I tried getting into chess a couple years ago and all discussion was dominated by youtube/twitch "celebrities", it was really offputting.
- iz_zi 4y agoWow maybe this would be news if it was made last year
- 29athrowaway 4y agoChess variants are fun too, like shogi. Pretty fun to play once you learn the pieces. And... there's lishogi now. Which means you can play, do exercises, observe games, all in the browser and in English.
- jonkho 4y agoAndrew 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.
- mellosouls 4y agoInteresting idea. It had exploded in popularity way before him, due to the other reasons mentioned; streamers, Queen's Gambit, etc. but the article is focused on a purported post January spike in schools - and considering the baleful influence he's claimed to have in them, it would also therefore seem necessary to factor him in to any analysis here.
- vman81 4y ago> Andrew Tate was the most internet famous person for a period of time I think this may just be your recommendation bubble - most people only heard about him when he was arrested.
- walthamstow 4y agoI 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.
- rhaway84773 4y agoAndrew Tate was basically unheard of in the US and this article is primarily focused on the U.S.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- yamtaddle 4y agoSame—but it's because I'm not a teen boy. Friends who are teachers inform me that he was and is incredibly popular in that demographic. I dunno about "most internet famous person" but he was probably at least in the running.
- romusha 4y agoProlly cuz most digital games have reduced in conplexity so much it's no more complex than a pachinko machine. Chess sure becomes an intellectually stimulating game again
- bartimus 4y agoIf you have young kids. There's a pretty nice chess game in Roblox: CHESS!
- prawn 4y agoA couple of years ago, my children’s primary school added a chess club. An hour after school once a week. $20 per ten week term. Parents quickly worked out this equated to $2/hour childcare and signed up kids that had never before touched a chess board. It was a delightful chaos.
- password54321 4y agoI’m almost certain most play it for the status. The average elo on chess.com is abysmal with most just playing for one turn copy paste tricks at a fast pace. At least that’s what I discovered when creating a smurf account. I just don’t see how that’s fun when the fun of chess comes from how nuanced and deep it is.
- ryzvonusef 4y agoWe had a similar thread two weeks ago, which you might like to read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35580677 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35580677
- toolslive 4y agoI have 3 kids (in their 20s) that started playing chess fanatically since last year. They never took interest earlier even while the house is filled with chess books and their dad is a pretty decent player (~fide 2000). I don't know why though, but I'm happy regardless.
- chwa982 4y agoChess passed the vibe check.
- blhgrt 4y agoThe marketing of chess.com adjacent chess streamers who say they want to "democratize the game" is working. In this case the result is entertaining and harmless, but the motivation is financial.
- mcv 4y agoI come from a chess family. My dad has been an avid chess player for all his life, with a rating of around 1600. As kids we all went to the chess club, got our chess diploma's, played a few tournaments (my sister won a lot), I won a simultaneous chess game the author of the standard Dutch children's chess book in my youth gave in the shopping center near my home. But after that, I stopped. Played a few games in university who could really humiliate me on the board. I taught my oldest son both chess and go, and when we played, I never held back, but when he was so far behind he didn't know what to do, he could turn the board around and continue play from my winning position, while I had to salvage his. That was a fun way to play. And then it stopped again. Last year, my youngest son (now 8) suddenly wanted to join a chess club in our neighbourhood. My oldest (14) says lots of kids are playing chess at his school, though none at his level, so he started playing on chess.com. Instead of watching YouTube videos about video games, they're now watching GothamChess and other chess channels. So chess is hot again in our home. He now occasionally beats me. Making me work harder, to the point that the games between me and my dad are getting a lot closer (though I still lose most). I can really recommend GothamChess, by the way. His videos are brilliant. Both meme-worthy, exaggerated emotions, deadpan disappointment at some moves, but also extremely educational. He analyses lots of novice games around 600 rating, which is super useful for the many new players, but also still interesting to me.
- ajonit 4y agoIt may sound weird but playing a game of online chess works as a way for me to unwind. I have been playing for several decades now. Never picked up a chess book/video/tutorial in my life (after the initial introduction by a relative). Always played with the flow. I would admit sometimes I do wish I should learn some openings but somehow deep down I couldn't see myself learning chess through a tut. May be some day someone would convince me otherwise, who knows... and I am in no way a pro, hover around 1600 rapid on chess.com. It says I am ahead of 98.5% folks. Not sure how will this 1600 translate to ELO ratings.
- wslh 4y agoSpeedcubing also? [1] it is a question, not a claim. I am seeing an increase of speedcubing play even in adults. [1] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/07/11/speedcubers-are-solving-rubiks-cubes-at-ever-faster-speeds https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/07/11/speedcub...
- chiefalchemist 4y agoI learned chess as a kid. Recently, having read Annie Duke's "Thinking in Bets" I regret not having learned poker instead. I'll spare you the details here and let Duke walk your through it, but poker as a life still for decision-making is 100x better than the otherwise finite world of chess moves. Note: I'm not knocking chess per se; just trying to provide context and contrasts with poker.
- Kalanos 4y agoprobably because video games today suck
- damontal 4y agoMy kids play it because its one of the few games not blocked at their school
- EGreg 4y agoHow about Kung Fu Chess?
- gspencley 4y agoMy wife and I have played chess against each other off and on throughout the years. Once or twice I had started to get "serious" about levelling up my game but quickly dropped it due to other priorities. Then I saw the Botez Sisters on Lex Friedman's podcast and started checking out their content. Holy crap is online chess ever entertaining as hell these days. Not only are the various streamers on Twitch and YouTube great, but there are so many different variations of the game to come out, like Duck Chess. The bots that Chess.com creates every few months are more entertainment fodder. There is even Chess Boxing! So I can completely understand why it's gaining traction with teens. Chess is "cool" now for the first time that I can remember. This is also, of course, following The Queen's Gambit on Netflix and the Carlsen / Nieman cheating scandal. It is so entertaining. Edit: it's also worth noting that a lot of non-Chess streamers have even started getting into Chess. That undoubtedly has an effect as well.
- wkat4242 4y agoWow, I'm surprised. When I was young it was pretty big because they're weren't many other games. But I always found it so boring. Too pensive. I'm not a strategist at all. Cool that this is getting picked up again though.
- ubermonkey 4y agoMy favorite recent bit about chess is that, in the wake of the success of QUEEN'S GAMBIT, there was a marketing push to make a new board game based on the show. A new board game. Based on a show essentially ABOUT a board game. The mind boggles.
- sogen 4y agoIs there a game like chess but with hidden information?
- anthonypasq 4y agogotta be some sort of card game right?
- nonstopdev 4y agoI used to love chess as a teenager. Chess club and playing Battle Chess on my early computer. I started picking it up now and the resources to find games are great with Chess.com and Lichess but have found myself trying to relearn the skills and reading after losing 100 straight games.
- cptcobalt 4y agoI 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.
- guestbest 4y agoI wonder if anyone ever created a pay to win version of chess like those mobile games?