Chess Gets Cool!

of course, we know it always WAS cool

But now it’s not just the faithful club, league and tournament aficionados that are discovering that chess is a great game! Recently chess players have fought their way to the top of the esports gaming ladder (see this article) which makes chess almost seem like a respectable way to make a living, and the Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit (62m viewers and rising) has brought in thousands of new players - at least online. Maybe this will spread to other games, such as Go or Shogi?

Oliver Feldwick over at Medium has written a very interesting article titled “What we can learn about strategy from boardgames” which might interest my readers. I think we all share an interest in games that feature enough complexity to keep us interested beyond lockdown. I think this is what has the potential to not just temporarily drag in new players, but keep them hooked. This would be great for chess.

During lockdown a lot of dedicated (I mean obsessed) chess players have expanded their horizons and tried new games - both online and tabletop varieties - let me know in the comments what you’ve tried, and what your experience was!

https://oliverfeldwick.medium.com/what-we-can-learn-about-strategy-from-boardgames-909ab72e4761

“They also often teach us a lot about the nature of risk and how to operate with it. Play it too safe and you probably won’t win, but play too risky and that can be your undoing. But the important element is that of informed risk — the trade-offs you are making and the impact of compounding.”

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