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.<p>The best computers can easily beat the top humans just as an aimbot could beat Navi easily at CS:GO.<p>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.<p>That makes it much more like a strategy game.<p>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.<p>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.
There is a parallel explosion of Chess Streaming in India on YouTube. During the lockdown, a stand-up comedian Samay Raina [1] started streaming Chess with some other famous comedians. None of them are strong players. But the content was so funny that quite a few people started watching.<p>Later Samay became friends with India No. 2 Chess Super GM Vidit Gujrathi [2] and together they have created quite a bit of following on YouTube.
In one of his videos, Agadmator [3] said that Indians sign-ups on Chess.com have gone through the roof.<p>However, most of the content is in Hindi. Here are some videos which are in (mostly) English, Vidit's trash talk with anther Indian GM Baskaran Adhiban[4], Vidit Playing Serious Chess Blitz tournament on Chess.com [5]<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAov2BBv1ZJav0c_yHEciAw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAov2BBv1ZJav0c_yHEciAw</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpjTx5WsF4yqyvGIYY8nuVg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpjTx5WsF4yqyvGIYY8nuVg</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjaDxN5xLHs" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjaDxN5xLHs</a><p>[5] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeM-TBPqI0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeM-TBPqI0</a>
The current presence on Twitch of young, funny chess masters like the Chess Brahs and the Botez sisters with top level talents like Nakamura crossing over with famous xQc-types is maybe the best thing to happen to chess in recent years to showcase it as something fun loving young people can enjoy, not just the dusty old men and social incompetents of caricature.
It would be great if it encourages new people to come in from esports and elsewhere, and bust through the gatekeepers and play this brilliant game.<p><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/botezlive" rel="nofollow">https://www.twitch.tv/botezlive</a><p>Botez Compilation<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9VVcrwQGqU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9VVcrwQGqU</a><p>-----<p><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah" rel="nofollow">https://www.twitch.tv/chessbrah</a><p>ChessBrahs Nightcore Bullet Run<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byCYEUQvjq4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byCYEUQvjq4</a><p>(comment reposted with video links from a submission I posted on the subject the other day <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23397314" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23397314</a>)
I've been loving this boom for a ton of reasons.<p>Hikaru does an amazing job of sharing his knowledge and skill without spilling over the top with information about why certain moves are theoretically better than others 30 moves down the line than only a small percentage of people would understand. The skill gap is insane, but he makes it feel approachable.<p>Its been fun watching the pogchamps series for the most part because himself and Botez (and a few others) can share their knowledge without being affronting or elitist, but instead exploring and explaining why certain good moves are sometimes hard to find or don't feel natural. Simplifying the language and using arrows on the board to show moves, rather than just blasting chess notation at the screen. You can see them holding back when a player makes a certain move, and then openly assess the goods and bads.<p>They've shown behind the scene training sessions on pogchamps too, showing a little into the world (again at a much lower level) how you would begin to prep and build your chess opening repertoire that is approachable for someone who is learning.<p>And then at the end of the day, its also just fun to watch someone who has an insane amount of talent be a complete boss in their field. Honestly feels like the top players are scanning a QR code and know what to do without a second thought [1]<p>...<p>To pin onto this for those who enjoy chess but perhaps don't like the stress of online play, I've found the puzzles on lichess [2] to be a great way to learn and be challenged by the game.<p>- [1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-pePy_1_Ts&t=50" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-pePy_1_Ts&t=50</a><p>- [2] <a href="https://lichess.org/training/" rel="nofollow">https://lichess.org/training/</a>
<a href="https://lichess.org" rel="nofollow">https://lichess.org</a> is fantastic for online chess.<p>But we need a lichess for Backgammon! Backgammon has tons of strategy but also has the element of chance because of the dice roll - anyone can win anygame (in theory, at least).<p>There is even a lichess forum post about making lichess for backgammon: <a href="https://lichess.org/forum/lichess-feedback/backgammon-clone-of-lichess" rel="nofollow">https://lichess.org/forum/lichess-feedback/backgammon-clone-...</a>
This is a real example of how things can go from 1 to 1.000.000 by a combination of luck and execution.<p>GM Hikaru have been streaming chess since ~2 years ago [0] but there was little traction. Then one day he got into stream with xQc, one of the biggest streamer on Twitch. Because of Hikaru's skill and meme, many xQc followers started to follow Hikaru.<p>Soon, Hikaru joined Lindores Abbey Challenge, an online chess tournament where 12 world's best chess players compete, including Magnus Carlsen. I think that tournament was what made this whole trends possible. The recent surge of Hikaru's followers are chanting on the Twitch chat to give support to Hikaru. And Hikaru was playing against Magnus Carlsen, the final boss in the chess world. It felt like you're watching the latest episode of an anime/tv series.<p>The momentum didn't stop there. Hikaru knew the fads usually won't last long, so they made the pogchamps tournaments, featuring big streamers, to capitalize on the momentum and to make sure it was just not a fad.<p>[0] <a href="https://twitter.com/gmhikaru/status/1058781473271148544" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/gmhikaru/status/1058781473271148544</a>
One of my favorite aspects of this is the chat satirically treating Chess like any other game on Twitch:<p>- When's the next patch coming out?<p>- Nerf the queen, too strong<p>- Blundered a piece, intentionally feeding<p>- Queen h6 was mate, missed lethal
This boom, including Pogchamps, has been great.<p>First of all, chess has been unapproachable for a long time. You see grandmasters making this move instead of that and for a beginner there's absolutely zero chance you're going to understand why. Or you see something that looks good, a fork that you think wins material but the GM doesn't play it; you don't understand why it was bad.<p>Sure, you could go into analysis in Lichess but are you going to do that for every single game? Is that fun?<p>Nakamura, Hess and Botez have been doing a great job making it more approachable - at a level <i>anyone</i> can follow.<p>The coaching videos are great to watch, even if you're a slight bit stronger (I'm ~2000 blitz on Lichess). And some of the players - Voyboy in particular - have been getting <i>significantly</i> better over the course of the tournament. You can follow along, get better yourself, and discover the deeper and deeper levels of the game at a tractable pace, and that I think is the key to getting into a new hobby.<p>There's also always been a sense of elitism in chess. The opinion against Pogchamps here[1] shows that:<p>> "If Chess.com wanted to do a show with gamers and streamers, instead of presenting them as fools they should have been respected as the learners they are at chess."<p>Bull. A beginner is NOT a fool, and the only prerequisite to playing chess is knowing the rules.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.chesstech.org/2020/is-pogchamps-a-good-way-to-promote/" rel="nofollow">https://www.chesstech.org/2020/is-pogchamps-a-good-way-to-pr...</a>
Magnus Carlsen has been streaming for a little while!<p>sometimes doing silly things then absolutely wiping the floor of his opponent like in this clip<p><a href="https://m.livestreamfails.com/post/36320" rel="nofollow">https://m.livestreamfails.com/post/36320</a>
I think what made Hikaru a controversial and not always the most liked classical player makes a perfect combination for a popular streamer. Quick mind, sometimes moody, easily tilted, very competitive and sometimes opinionated. I wasn't his biggest fan when he was top 5 classical player but today I am a happy subscriber to his stream and always cheer for him in rapid/blitz tournaments.
I can't deal with chess but a similar thing has been happening with Sudoku and I have become a bit addicted to it :-) It's always interesting to see things that had a bit of an arcane or geeky reputation now having large audiences given we're all in the same online 'place' as it were.
I wonder if chess is actually the first ever online game.<p>My granddad used to play chess over his rotary land line.<p>Some enthusiasts must have tried a game over telegram/morse or other technology.
I've been watching the POG chess tournament. It's honestly so fascinating how quickly it spread through the twitch gaming community. I guess gaming is gaming and there a clear reason why chess has always been popular.
I got into chess a couple of months ago and it has been fun but I don't understand how people watch Hikaru play 3min chess. It's very hard for a beginner to wrap their head around what his moves mean. I'd have to pause and think every move through for a couple of minutes if I really wanted to understand. I think people watch more for what he says while playing than the actual game
In middle school I started playing chess at a local club that met at a Barnes and Noble. I was 1/3 of the age of the next youngest person and I doubt I ever won a single game, but I learned so much.<p>My favorite person at the club, and I tried to play with him as often as I could, was this boisterous old man who would drop movie one-liners constantly. He'd take a pawn with his knight and bellow "I HAVE YOU NOW." I'd occasionally grab one of his rooks, "Great kid, but don't get cocky!"
Man I should just start coding on a twitch account for my side projects. I can't go to meetups anymore for obvious reasons and I have been putting it off.
Aside: I saw new beauty in chess recently in a game with a queen vs a rook, knight, and pawn in the end game. The game lasted for over 40 moves in this state before ending in a draw. Chess engine analysis had the game as dead even.<p>Chess may be a bit more complicated and arbitrary than Go, but seeing how the pieces very exactly fit their 1, 3, 5, and 9 point values allowed me to see the mathematical beauty of the game for the first time.
Chess.com has excellent live coverage of many top chess tournaments. Their paid commentators are almost always engaging and make watching chess informative and exciting. They also provide links to top Twitch streamers who are playing on their platform like Hikaru Nakamura. I'm not affiliated with the site, just impressed with their content.
My hypothesis is that learning chess is such a long path that people tend to forget how they were when they started and think their current level games are not interesting to share or stream. Pogchamps success demonstrates that a lot of people like chess as entertainment in addition to a mind challenge.
I recently got back into chess after discovering there's a huge wealth of chess videos on YouTube. (Probably news to no one I know) It's great to be able to learn about a new opening or trap or whatnot then jump into an online game and hopefully try it out.
Hey Guys. It's John. Gonna play some 3 0 on Lichess. I'm drinking herbal tea, and I've got a pot of MJB brewing, cuz its good when it should. Okay, let's play a scandi, #TeamScandi. (•‿•)
As a casual player, I've been enjoying it. High-level games are sometimes hard to follow but it has motivated me to get out of my comfort zone and get better at chess.