Pogchamps over Serious chess games?

What are your thoughts on the Pogchamps over serious chess games discussion?

Last week GM Yan Nepomniachtchi tweeted this as a critic to Pogchamps tournament: https://twitter.com/lachesisq/status/1363614821002969091?s=20

The discussion got so serious that got Anish, Magnus , Hikaru and Aronian involved in it. The topic was later closed by Nepomniachtchi, but a part of the discussion still goes on. 

So... do you watch pogchamps? And if you do, do you do it for fun or to learn a little bit? Or do you prefer some content like Tata Steel? or both?

I myself find Pogchamps very interesting. I try to look for the best moves in every play and I also enjoy content like Tata Steel a LOT, but as a beginner it's kind of hard to follow GM moves. 

What do you think?

Let me sum it up by saying when I watch football I watch the Premier League and the Champions League, I don't watch Rufus FC play Doofus FC in the Bristol & Avon Intermediate League 7th Division.

Pogchamps is pure marketing. Chess.com is a business and it uses poghcamps to reach more potential customers. It has nothing to do with "real chess content" which means it's not displacing or replacing anything... so my first question to Nepo would be to ask what he means.

That's my take on it.

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To answer your question, no I don't watch it, but every few days I check on the results, and click through half a game. It's fun for the same reason any competition is fun... you pick your favorite(s) and see how well they do.

As for events like Tata Steel... ok sure, in the past I've spent 5 hours watching, but for the most part, to me, chess isn't something that's watched. If I'm interested in a tournament or player I can download and look at the games later.

And as for Carlsen and Hikaru... I highly doubt they'll give a rational and earnest opinion on it. Hikaru in particular is interested in pandering to his audience. I can easily imagining him manufacturing indignation and drama... instead of having to think up new ideas for youtube content (how about another Agadmator reaction video?) he can prattle on about this for a day or two.

they took our jobs11!1

It's the end product of a site that has chosen to value nonsense over substance.

It's not really my cup of tea. I watched for a few minutes now and then, but frankly I found it quite boring...

They really called it Pogchamps, huh?

very indeed

That's not very poggers of them.

I only watch the highlights for this pogchamp.. because its 3-4 am on my timezone..

Few reason why i liked PogChamps more than an usual Chess tournaments is because somehow i can relate with more to the player because my rating close to them than to the GM and IM, Occasional blunder in pogchamps for the ones rating way higher than them may looked really stupid and sometimes really unbearable to watch, but for me, either it's really fun watch the expression when they blundered something, or it's also sometimes a reminds me when still 12 years old played chess and blundered (A Lot) when trying to learn to play the game of chess..

For tata steel i dont watch the streams, i only watch the highlights.. because, well.. for some people (especially myself) it's easier to consume the high level and longer time control match if someone explains the match for me in quick recap style..

If you think about it, the average population thinks of chess as excruciatingly boring.

Like, "I'd rather put a bullet in my head than watch chess!" boring.

So the fact that PogChamps has turned chess into something that a lot of people actually want to watch (and learn to play!) is pretty remarkable. And I applaud it, for that reason.

(And I'm sure the popularity of Netflix's The Queen's Gambit played a role in making this possible, too.) 

i would also find pogchamps very interesting if most of the players were playing chess at around my level... for higher rated players it can be quite boring to watch and is not very intellectually stimulating, especially when their are quite a bunch of mismatches were one player gets destroyed. if it was mostly a bunch of club level players competing than i might find that even more entertaining than top level chess were i  would have a much harder time relating.

imagine spending money to get better at chess when you can do it for free... i am very guilty of this though

To the op: Apples and oranges. One is never going to replace the other. This is like watching a football match between Barcelona and Juventus, and then going to watch your friends play 5-a-side.

When I was younger I loved watching Tennis, and I would watch the biggest tournaments and then watch Futures too. 

Having said that, I've been following the high level chess tournaments too as well as Pogchamps. Both of them are "Serious" chess, because all participants try to win (expect that Rainn Wilson at the beginning of the tournment). Just at different skill levels. 

As for Nepo's comment, well, I think he's too narrowminded. Anyone who believes a tournament of 1000 elo players is going to replace 2700+tournaments is dead wrong. And when he says "real" chess content, I guess he's picked the wrong word and he means "high level" chess content. Because pogchamps was "real" chess too - they did not play under different rules.

I agree with this post... but it reminded me of a quote at the end...

"Masters don't play the same game we do, it just happens to have the same rules."

indeed. With all the nonsense going on in in social media, it's pretty hypocritical for one to say it's not substantive; true maybe now but suppose the added incentive for players to play better on live produces better, relatable chess to viewing audiences? I would think in the long run people will enjoy the progression of such tournaments being in live than a normal on-line event. As such, I think it's a great thing all-around. 🤙🏼