Chess is Back, Baby!

Thousands of players picked up chess during the pandemic. How can we make an over-the-board experience that speaks to them?

In the Before Time, when we could travel, whenever I went to a new city I would look for the chess players.

Walking through a street market with friends in London, we came upon a man wearing an umbrella hat who had set up some boards in the street and was playing several people at once. A crowd had formed to watch the games and my friends urged me to play. After I won the game, he surveyed me with mock antagonism.

"You're very happy, aren't you?"

"Yes," I answered honestly.

“I hate you,” he said.

Everybody laughed.

In New Orleans, I kept an eye out for Jude Acers, who would set up a board on Decatur Street sometime in mid afternoon and hang out there until late in the night. In Mexico City, in Alameda Park on a weekend morning, men sat sideways on benches, boards set up between them. No matter where it was, if you set up a chess board, people would stop and whisper excitedly. Even if they weren’t playing chess, they were fascinated.

But when I tried to find a chess club, it was a different story. Often I would think I'd found something online, only to realize it had folded years earlier. When I finally made it to the club, it would turn out to be a dingy space in a basement, with maybe one or two guys hanging out amidst old trophies and dusty chess magazines.

There are a huge number of people who are interested in chess, but organized chess isn't speaking to them. Why not?

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2020 saw not one but two online chess booms. First, the pandemic forced many people inside and led to the cancellation of other activities; second, The Queen’s Gambit became the most popular show on Netflix and introduced a new audience to chess.

Lichess Users Online 2020

The Queen’s Gambit painted chess as exciting, refined, and sexy. The reality of tournament chess is less glamorous. In an article for chess.com, Louisa Thomas described her first tournament:

...it was something else to walk into a room, expecting something as quiet and serious as a chess tournament, and to find yourself at recess. The tables were covered in bags of chips, giant containers of animal crackers.

The way we do tournaments - or the way we did them before an enforced year off - is not very friendly to grown-ups. In the United States, tournaments typically take place over a weekend with games scheduled all day. It’s a grueling experience with barely enough time to eat.

If you’re an adult with a job and family, taking a whole weekend to play a game is a big commitment. You’d at least like the experience to be pleasant. Too often, it’s not. Even small details, like the expectation that players bring their own chess sets, are not very classy if you think about it.

The aesthetic of chess is so powerful, so iconic, that it gets used all the time even in movies and TV shows that really have nothing to do with chess. Yet in actual chess tournaments we hardly leverage this aesthetic at all.

A real-life version of The Queen’s Gambit might look something like the Central Chess Club in Moscow, which just added a virtual tour to their website.

Of course, not everyone has the tradition or resources of the Central Chess Club, but something as simple as nicer boards or a more civilized schedule could go a long way.

As we prepare for the return to over-the-board chess, let’s look at two events with radically different visions for tournament chess.

Millionaire Chess

One attempt to dress up chess was the Millionaire Chess Open, a brainchild of Maurice Ashley. The tournament had perks like massage chairs and water brought to your table, but the real headline was the million dollar first prize. While it was an innovative project in many ways, it always struggled to find funding, and had to shut down after three years.

I think it was a mistake to combine a more upscale playing experience with such a big prize, which necessitated an entry fee of $1000. Invested players will tolerate a lot to play chess. It's newer players who might make the decision to play or not based on a more relaxed schedule or nicer chairs. By setting the prizes and entry fees so high, Millionaire Chess sent the message that this was a very serious and intimidating tournament.

Chess isn't poker. Most chess players aren't looking for a high-stakes gambling experience.

US Amateur Team East

Nate Solon @natesolon

I once sacrificed a knight while my opponent was strolling away from the board. He came back, looked at the position, and yelled "JESUS CHRIST!" Looking forward to OTB chess.

After I sent this Tweet, several people responded with their own stories. Even though I hadn’t mentioned the tournament originally, it soon became clear that every story was from the US Amateur Team East.

On the luxury scale, USATE couldn’t be farther from the Millionaire Open. Rather than a million dollars, first prize at USATE is - wait for it - a chess clock. Not even a very nice chess clock. Yet hundreds of players flock to it every year. For many, it’s the highlight of the chess calendar.

What makes this tournament unique is, rather than competing as an individual, you’re on a team of four players. Primed by the camaraderie within their own team, players soon start making connections with people from other teams as well. This leads to an explosion of new connections and memorable experiences.

Not every tournament needs to be a team tournament, but organizers should think about setting the stage for a shared experience. Start with an orientation, a cocktail party, anything to kick off the spark of connection.

Chess players are looking for competition, yes, but also a connection with a cultural and intellectual pastime, and most of all a connection with other chess players. As the world opens back up and thousands of new chess fans explore what tournament chess has to offer, we should make events more accessible, welcoming, and social.

Maybe the real checkmates are the friends we made along the way.