Is Chess The Biggest Spectator Sport In The World?

A couple weeks ago, I posted about a theoretical proposal to reduce the number of draws in chess written by Gene Milener. Now one of the anti-draw proposals that gets floated is the idea of instituting tighter time controls late in the game. Milener showed up in the comments to rubbish the suggestion. Here's a part of his comment:

In one important sense, chess is by far the most popular spectator sport ever invented. Every day thousands of players around the globe replay routine tournament games that were played years or decades or even centuries ago. In stark contrast, not even professional baseball World Series games from a few years ago are rewatched by anyone in America on any given day. Nor does anybody care to rewatch the 1992 NBA basketball conference finals games.

To do justice to chess spectators, we must not crunch time to the point where blunders or series of weak moves occur enough to give the game a decisive outcome. As sports fans we crave a decisive narrative, but not at the cost of reducing the quality of play from Elo 2700 down to 2200 plus mistakes.

There's two very interesting points there. One is that chess is a popular sport, which is something you don't normally think of. But if you've ever seen someone sitting in a park, as they do all across the world, playing through some old Karpov games, then you realize exactly what it is.

As for not wanting to artificially induce blunders, that's a good point too. As chess spectators, do we want decisive outcomes or top notch play?

If you're a golf fan, you can understand. You know the phrase "drive for show; putt for dough". There's basically a corrolary in chess. Opening's are fun, and students love to try out a variation of the Queen's Gambit as if they'd just bought a new Taylor Made driver. But you win the game at the end, by squeezing out a w with a king, rook and a pawn against your opponent's king and rook. It's not as sexy as the opening, but it's the core of the game, to some extent.

Anyway, thanks Gene for stopping by!

Comments

[Greg N.]

For those of us who love chess, but almost never play, could you give a checkmate scenario given the pieces you mentioned above?

[TheUnrepentantGunner]

Greg the most common scenarios involve trading off the rooks, getting the advantage in opposition (or if you are very lucky a passed pawn out of it), and then promoting the queen. Alternately you promote the pawn and force a trade between your new queen and the opponents rook to get to a king and rook ending. but I am not the best person to ask lately. I just beat 7 year old Josh Waitzkin (ELO 1350) on my copy of ChessMaster but 9(or8?) year old josh just mated me.

I do want to say I entirely disagree with Gene.

If I wanted to watch perfect play, I'd watch Rybka play itself, or whoever the #2 program is these days. If it was Golf, would you rather watch Golfers play a easy par 72 at 6000 yards (a classic course), or struggle in 40 mile an hour winds at the british open with greens that are wind baked and fast as could be.

I like watching struggles and blunders, and people battling the elements. We are past the point of a human ever being truly better than a top Computer again, so the play will naturally be flawed.

Heck I dont even mind opponents forcing blunders on eachother. Wasn't it Kasparov who would menaicingly pace around the board, staring down his opponents trying to force them into a blunder through sheer force of will?

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