the many ways to play chess !
Chess, the noble game never gets old.
while playing chess seems eternal, there have been so many different ways to enjoy the game.
Without going back to chess origins, lets look at phases together
OLD MASTERS
This was taken at Cafe de le Regence. Sounds french to me !
next one in London https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-chess-frontage-of-simpsons-in-the-strand-39414/
The USA saw Morphy
What a genius, who left chess at young age after dominating the chess world.
Then
this is a classic shot of Robert James Fischer, who beat Spassky in 1972 to become world champion. Tragic end of life as we know it.
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GOLDEN AGE :
This is where players become threatened by computer but were still presumably stronger than machines.
Karpov-Kasparov 1985
then eventually computers take over and dominate chess
3) which leaves us to new era
Younger people, more women, mainstream chess and "multimedia" era
Queens Gambit on Neftlix during pandemic was a huge hit.
Chess.com took off
Everyone plays chess online with mobile apps and Puzzle Rush becomes a thing
Rumors of a sequel of Queen's Gambit are squashed
Then chess hits headlines with accusations against Hans Niemann cheating
against no one else than Magnus Carlsen. Then the world realizes that most likely Hans didnt cheat in person but had admitted cheating online while he was "young" which the chesscom report highlights. Controversy.
Support
Then we have streamers. Nakamura, Botez, ChessBrahs, GothamChess
They go on Twitch, they become YouTube Creators with daily recaps on Youtube
@Hikaru is big on youtube
What about @MagnusCarlsen very active on chess.com for online events ?
Botez sisters hosting Magnus Carlsen on a livestream while he plays Titled Tuesday, an online chess tournament.
chess becomes more and more mainstream.
and now we get the e-sport version. Players meet in a tournament hall, but play online games
like that match Hikaru won against Hans Niemann played in Paris and watched by many online.
or players play from home
But I am a firm believer, chess will continued to be played on a board like this
(with DGT transmission for those at home watching the action)
or playing casually in the parks, here NYC Bryant Park
and we hope we will get another amazing fiction ( book or tv series or movie) to depict chess under a new angle. Netflix Queen's Gambit set the bar very high, with the main character played by the wonderful Anya Taylor-Joy
Chess will remain chess.
