How did casual chess disappear from existence?

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DjVortex

Playing chess online is fine and all (after all, you can easily get to play games any time you want, with people from all around the world), but I am one of those few people who really prefers to play in real life, using a real board, against people face-to-face. It's nice to be able to have some smalltalk, socialize with people, casually play at your own pace without any time pressure, comment on the game, analyze it, talk about stuff, tell anecdotes...

Wait... Did I say "without time pressure"?

Well, scratch that, because that concept seems to have disappeared from the face of Earth. (Well, at least where I live, and anywhere else that I have seen.)

Seriously, it seems to me that people have completely forgotten that, as incredible and preposterous as it might sound, chess can indeed be played without clocks! Imagine that! Chess without clocks? You crazy or something? And what's more mind-boggling is that chess was played for literally centuries without any clocks!

Here where I live you literally cannot find people who would play chess casually, without clocks. No chess club, no group, nothing. Go anywhere, to any chess club, any bar, any place where people might play chess, and they will always, always, always play with clocks. In fact, if you suggest playing without clocks most people look at you like you were some kind of lunatic. I wish I was kidding.

Try finding a YouTube video of people playing chess in real life without clocks. I dare you. You won't find one. (Well, at least I haven't found one. There might be, but even after a somewhat extensive search I haven't found a single example.)

What happened to casual chess? How did it disappear so completely?

I absolutely hate playing chess with clocks. They just suck all the fun out of the game. No playing leisurely at your own pace, no casual conversation, no socializing, no telling jokes and anecdotes, no commenting on the game, nothing.

Here where I live there are two chess clubs (well, three if you count one exclusive to grade schoolers). Believe it or not, not only in neither one can you just go and play casual chess against random people, just for the fun of it and the socialization aspect, but in fact the only activity that either club offers is a weekly mini-tournament. That's it. Neither organizes any other activity. No casual play, no teaching, no game commentary, nothing. The only thing you can do is to go once a week at an exact time, and play your five tournament games in complete silence and under tremendous time pressure. No conversation, no commenting, no game analysis, no socializing. It's the most boring and unfun activity I can imagine. And, as mentioned, if you were to suggest just playing casually, without clocks, they just look at you like you are crazy.

As you might guess, I don't go to either club, because it literally makes no sense. The clocks and the tournament format just suck every single piece of fun from the game.

I honestly have to wonder if there exist younger people who actually think that the clock is a mandatory part of the game. After all, there must exist tons and tons of people who have never played without clocks (except perhaps a few tutorial games at the very beginning).

DoYouLikeCurry
I have a few problems with chess without clocks:
- it’s hard to ration your time for each move. I know this is pretty much your point, but I don’t know if my opponent was hoping to play a quick game to pass the time before a train comes or if he wants to play until 4am the next morning, Y’know? Without this, it’s hard to know how much time you should be allocating to moves. When there’s a clock, you can divide your time fairly and without annoying the opponent
- toxic people can just not make a move for hours if you’re playing without a clock, claim they’re “thinking” and just avoid resigning
Stuckfish

Chess clubs generally have to rent the venue, or at least book a slot, so there are time and financial constraints on what chess clubs can offer. A structured format makes the most of that time. And this has always been the case, by the way. The use of clocks/timers/hourglasses when playing to maintain fairness also goes back as far back as chess does, it's not some newfangled invention.

You seem to be nostalgic for something though- like maybe you had a friend or two a long time ago who you played casually with. Most people who have the degree of free time required for casual, at-leisure, correspondence style chess but played in-person the way you want, are going to be retirees, so maybe you should make some friends locally and see if they'd be willing to play in the style you prefer. Or bring a chess set and no clock to a coffee shop in the middle of a weekday and see if you make a friend.

It's not something that basically any club offers, since most people do not have time for this, and you can easily arrange it with others to play in your own time, at your own pace, at the venue of your choosing.

DjVortex
Sporkled wrote:

you can easily arrange it with others to play in your own time, at your own pace, at the venue of your choosing.

I wish.

Habanababananero

If you live near Helsinki, I am up for a casual no-clock game.

Or classical with a clock.

Let me know.

Some other city within a trainride from Helsinki, also OK.

Habanababananero

Also people at the Oodi library often play chess without clocks. There are paper and/or vinyl boards and plastic pieces available and also a GO set.

Haven’t found an opponent for a game of GO yet though 🙂

TTY_500

I play 90+30 with 15 extra minutes after the 40th move OTB

It's too little time

not joking

TTY_500

20th move: I have 4 min on my clock

TTY_500
Habanababananero wrote:

If you live near Helsinki, I am up for a casual no-clock game.

Or classical with a clock.

Let me know.

Some other city within a trainride from Helsinki, also OK.

Munich, Germany?

Habanababananero
TTY_500 kirjoitti:
Habanababananero wrote:

If you live near Helsinki, I am up for a casual no-clock game.

Or classical with a clock.

Let me know.

Some other city within a trainride from Helsinki, also OK.

Munich, Germany?

I am sorry, but that is a little inconvenient.

OP seems to be from Finland (at least they fly our flag) so there is a good chance we might be able to connect.

But Germany is a little too far. I hope you find someone from there though.

TTY_500

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DjVortex
DoYouLikeCurry wrote:
- it’s hard to ration your time for each move. I know this is pretty much your point, but I don’t know if my opponent was hoping to play a quick game to pass the time before a train comes or if he wants to play until 4am the next morning, Y’know? Without this, it’s hard to know how much time you should be allocating to moves. When there’s a clock, you can divide your time fairly and without annoying the opponent

I happen to play weekly a trading card game with a group of friends. Due to the type of game clocks are in no feasible, and it's not played with any sort of clocks. It isn't really a problem: Everybody takes their time to play their turn. If they need to think about what to do, they do so. It's completely normal that someone might take a bit more time on their turn. People are patient, and if they don't need to be especially attentive to what that one player is doing in his turn, the other people might have some casual conversation about something else. Some games may take 10 minutes, others 3 hours (no exaggeration), but that doesn't really matter. It's all very casual and relaxed. It's not really about how long a single game takes, it's about the socializing, the hanging out, the having fun playing the game. If it takes 3 hours, then it takes 3 hours. That's just fine.

Habanababananero
DjVortex kirjoitti:
Sporkled wrote:

you can easily arrange it with others to play in your own time, at your own pace, at the venue of your choosing.

I wish.

So, I am going to offer myself as an opponent one more time.

If you live in Helsinki or somewhere close by or in some other town in Finland (TRE, TKU, JKL, LTI etc.) a reasonable train ride away, we can arrange to play some casual OTB games.

I like beer, so some mellow bar would be the optimal place to play in my opinion.

Let me know if interested.

Now if you do not bother to respond, it will probably be very hard to arrange casual games with anybody.

Cobra2721
TTY_500 wrote:
Habanababananero wrote:

If you live near Helsinki, I am up for a casual no-clock game.

Or classical with a clock.

Let me know.

Some other city within a trainride from Helsinki, also OK.

Munich, Germany?

Why do you have canada flag

chessunicorn22

Due to lock down

Prisoner49
I hear you! I have several people I know I play casual chess with. I like it so much I might start going to my local game store and sit there with my board. I hope it starts getting easier for you to find causal chess.