Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
Understanding Chess
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my pleasure
Mar 9, 2019
0
#5
Read the whole thing. To be honest, I think this is a good way to think about chess. Thank you for the forum here.
Mar 9, 2019
0
#7
Imma try to lay off the chess, maybe just study for an hour, play 10 minute games instead of 3, and that way I can balance my life and still improve and have interesting games.
Mar 14, 2019
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#8
- Why is chess boring? It is a game of a higher level, higher taste, higher challenge. Beginning chess is the most boring part. As one plays more, it become less boring. After a beginner plays a few dozen games, his perception of chess changes. It's no longer boring. It become challenging. The beginner tries his best to beat his mentor. After beating his mentor, he plays with others trying to become best of the small group.
Mar 14, 2019
0
#9
Are you referring to the big Dot on start? Must have touch something by accident. It happens a lot in touch screen.
Where does one begin? Where does one even begin when they wish to fathom the power of a game like chess? Famously adopted by Chaturanga in 6 AD, chess has been a battleground played by typical brain warriors to fight for good and evil for a monstrous 15 centuries. That's enough time to construct the great wall of China, finding a parking space in San Francisco, become the most notorious pharaoh of all time, and master the art of French cooking.
Despite Chess' handsome age, we still have not had enough time to make sense of its nature. Even amidst its notable popularity, Chess seems to encourage intense controversy and polarization between its fans. For example:
"Why is Chess so boring?"
"Why is Chess so hard?"
"Why is Chess so unforgiving to new players?"
"Would banning computer engines be a bad idea?"
It seems like the more I read about chess the less I actually know. Based on a number of stats and analytics collected over the years, it can plausibly be concluded that chess is one of the most played board games of all time. But why?
Chess is one of the only games to have a "classic" status. Frequently people complain or even praise Chess for its mercilessly boring and slow atmosphere. It's slow tendencies diminish the interest of impatient people who want to play a fast-paced game while rewarding those who are patient enough to fight for draws for hours.
Even for as much people complain about it, why is Chess' "boring-ness" so well received? Mancala is as old and complex as chess and yet it finds itself on the complete other side of the popularity spectrum.
No matter which angle I approach this dilemma from, Chess continues to stare back at me with an unwavering mysteriousness as if I entered a labyrinth that refuses to let me leave. After a great deal of consideration, I concluded that what makes chess so terrible is what makes it so appealing: masochism, self-harm, and joy in one's own punishment. Whatever you want to call it, these are all branches from the same tree that allows Chess to inseminate the community and the mainstream in its identity.
In a world of self-aggrandizement, an unlimited digital pleasure, why would anyone choose a good game when they can choose chess instead? Games, both online and in real life, is often a joyous pastime and one that is far too under our control. Losing a game? Just resign or let your clock drain and then reque for another one. Need a bathroom break? Just afk for a few minutes. Want a shiny new trophy? Just find a tournament in the middle of no where and win easily. Want a higher number beside your name? Just let loose with an engine.
In a game where everything is handed to us as soon as we ask for it, our coddled and undisciplined minds seek liberation from this comfortable and undemanding lifestyle on a deep biological level. Players can be purified through their suffering and reach a more fulfilling plane of existence. In this case their purification is through chess. It's almost like shooting yourself in the foot before playing a game of football because it was just getting too damn easy. Scoring a touchdown didn't mean anything anymore but scoring a touchdown with a disfigured appendage actually speaks to the fire inside of you. So when winning didn't mean anything to you anymore, what can you do? All you have left to do is win a game with a brilliant and risky attack, win with a bad opening, or fight for a draw in a losing endgame and then, and only then can you return to the simple joys you once knew.
People play chess as a pilgrimage of sorts. Well it may appear we are divided by our piece colors, white and black in reality we are unified by a desire, a yearning to suffer for something, an antidote to the hollow feeling that we might complain for nothing.