Is Chess an esport? Inside the game\u2019s online rise on Twitch EnvyChess is a board game which spans centuries, believed to have been birthed in northwest India in the sixth century. In 2020, it became the most unlikely esport. 2020 was an unprecedented year. A global health situation affected how we all lived and there are currently little signs of widespread normality returning anytime soon. For chess, however, this represents a period of unbelievable growth. Spawned out of the perfect storm of unpredictable circumstances, the strategy board game reached new levels of activity online \u2014 something that\u2019s unusual for a game that\u2019s mostly played in-person. This activity manifested in both playing activity and viewership, but how did it truly happen? There appear to be several factors at play, inextricably linked and brewing together into a potent concoction that nobody could have foreseen. The game has a strong legacy dating back centuries, the aforementioned health crisis rendered travel and in-person socializing almost impossible, a Netflix series that took almost 30 years to produce was well-received, and the ever-evolving Twitch meta shifted to chess. It was a confluence of unlikely individual happenings that came together at a time that propelled the game into the top-tier of esports. Chess takes over Chess.com is perhaps the leading platform for online gameplay, both casually and for the competitive player base. They informed Dexerto that 50,000-60,000 new members were joining the site each day in March \u2014 growing to an incredible 125,000 per day following the critical release of The Queen\u2019s Gambit on October 23rd, 2020. It hasn\u2019t slowed down yet either. Read More: Best chess streamers to watch on Twitch – As per SimilarWeb, a website analytics platform that can serve as a rough indication as to a site\u2019s performance, paints a similar picture. In October 2020, the platform states Chess.com accrued 81m total viewers. This grew to 116.5m in November 2020, the month in which the Netflix series was the talk of the town, and grew to 162.5m total views in December 2020. A question worth asking regarding this surge of attention is just how it will affect the future of chess. \u201cOnline chess is the future of chess itself because of its accessibility,\u201d Nick Barton, director of business development at Chess.com, told Dexerto. \u201cIn a matter of seconds you can play a chess game with anyone from around the world and you have a wealth of learning resources such as lessons, analysis and puzzles at your fingertips and the growth of online chess, especially among brand new players, has shifted the definition of what it means to play a game of chess. \u201cLarge prize fund events have shifted the professional landscape so much so that in the future, organizers of over-the-board tournaments will have to be mindful of important online events on the horizon when considering scheduling and player invites. Of course, there are going to be growing pains along the way but top players are getting more and more accustomed to playing competitive games online.\u201d How can those who are involved with chess ensure that the board game sustains this growth in attention and ensure it remains a more popular, financially-fruitful, and culturally-impactful activity? In esports, we\u2019re used to seeing games come and go \u2014 this is less prevalent in traditional sports, however. While chess would not die an honourable death should the past year\u2019s rise subside, it\u2019s reasonable to assume that those involved would prefer for their sport to stay in the spotlight. \u201cIt\u2019s up to the established leaders of the chess world to be mindful of new players discovering the game,\u201d Barton said. \u201cThis might be Chess.com developing new features to help flatten the learning curve for new players, creators like Hikaru and the Botez sisters finding new and innovative ways to engage their audiences, or tournament organizers finding ways to connect fans with the players through open mics during competitive play, interesting new competitive formats, hybrid LAN events, etc. Everyone has an unspoken role to play. \u201cI\u2019ve held that many new chess players aren\u2019t necessarily drawn to chess so they can improve at the game itself, but that they\u2019re drawn to chess as a proxy for self improvement. Chess has the unique quality of increasing the heart rate while simultaneously improving cognition, decision making, creativity and critical thinking. If we can harness that messaging and if casual players around the world are using online chess as a platform to improve their academic and work performance as well as their social lives, I think we have a winning formula for sustainability.\u201d In come the organizations With chess becoming a favourite pastime of many throughout 2020 and going into 2021, executives in esports are starting to bet on the game now in hopes of it indeed being able to retain most of its attention. We\u2019ve seen esports organizations flock to a new title like Valorant almost-instantly in fear of missing out on being part of the next big thing, and this is also happening on this side of gaming. Major players in North American esports, the likes of Envy Gaming and TSM, have already played their opening move by signing chess players. The former has signed Alexandra and Andrea Botez, sisters who have been creating content surrounding the game for quite some time. The latter recruited Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in what was an eye-opening signing for those across both chess and esports. Read More: Who are Alexandra and Andrea Botez? – These signings are a vote of confidence in chess from the organizations, they surely believe that the online version of the game has plenty left in the tank when it comes to obtaining eyeballs on Twitch and YouTube. \u201cWe love chess, but our decision was more about Alexandra and Andrea being a great fit for Envy than it was about making a statement about the popularity of chess,\u201d Andrew Peterman, Envy Gaming\u2019s chief content officer told Dexerto in regards to the org\u2019s decision to enter the title. \u201cRegardless of whether chess continues its trajectory on Twitch or it returns to its previous level of popularity, the Botez sisters are going to continue to establish themselves as staples of the entertainment community on Twitch and YouTube.\u201d Organizations in esports care about much more than simply competing these days, they\u2019re engaged in media and merchandise as much as they are battling it out with others. This is mostly down to the economic upside of esports \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 at the moment, there\u2019s more money to be made in content and endorsements and these activities are also great for brand-building and advertisement. You now have to consider all of these elements when judging a signing in esports because there\u2019s simply more at play than just\u2026 play. \u201cWe view TSM not only as a gaming organization, but truly as a media and entertainment company, playing in the same attention economy as Netflix, TV, and sports,\u201d Walter Wang, TSM\u2019s head of operations told us. \u201cOur goal is to become the biggest video game brand in the world. Chess has increasingly moved from offline to online so it was easy to see how chess is right in TSM\u2019s wheelhouse. It is extremely competitive, incredibly popular, and a game that is increasingly played and viewed online and digitally. \u201cWe hope that as esports orgs start fielding chess players and chess streamers on their rosters, we can play a small part in increasing chess\u2019s market and bring newer players who are digitally native to the game. That is why we are so aligned.\u201d Is chess an esport? It\u2019s time to get to a question that is actually rather pointless, and that\u2019s whether chess can now be an esport. For whatever reason, a significant portion of those in the industry \u2014 whether a fan or an executive \u2014 feel the need for everything to be neatly categorized. Nonetheless, it is easy to make the case for the online version of the board game to meet the criteria as an esport. Read More: Opinion: Esports fans don\u2019t exist – There\u2019s a low barrier to entry for new players, there is a tangible skill gap between players, it is played competitively by nature, there are prize winnings to be earned, and there\u2019s a community interested in watching the game played at the highest level. The very esports organizations that have a pawn in the game don\u2019t care about its categorization, again reinforcing the current state of play in esports \u2014 it\u2019s more than just competition. \u201cFrom a content perspective, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d said Peterman. \u201cViewers select what\u2019s entertaining to them whether it\u2019s an esport, a traditional sport, board game, game show, or something else entirely. It\u2019s our mission as an entertainment company to meet that demand and create compelling content.\u201d TSM\u2019s Wang concurs with Envy\u2019s Peterman, whether a game is an esport or not isn\u2019t important to their operation. They\u2019re in the business of getting as many eyeballs as possible and they want to serve the community they\u2019ve recently entered. That\u2019s where success lays for them. \u201cWhat we should be more focused on is what makes sports, esports, and games like chess so exciting and enthralling,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe tension, the excitement, the devotion, the passion of all these competitions, interactions, and games are truly amazing and these are the traits we focus on at TSM. To me, it makes no sense to label certain things and categorize them. Instead, we should focus on the underlying first principles of entertainment and competition.\u201d With Chess.com benefiting in a big way from the game\u2019s online activities, seeing major brands from across gaming and esports investing is a great sign. It doesn\u2019t matter what it\u2019s called as competitive chess is nothing new to them and it\u2019s a prominent element of their business. They\u2019ll continue to serve their community with new events, like PogChamps and Arena Kings, and enjoying the viewership they command. \u201cChess is whatever people want it to be,\u201d concluded Barton. \u201cIn online competitions it\u2019s an esport. In over-the-board play it\u2019s a highly-respected, analog game. In the offices of innovative esports organizations it\u2019s a massive source of untapped future fans. It doesn\u2019t matter how chess is defined, it\u2019s been here for centuries and will continue to exist long after the term esport has vanished.\u201d Whether chess or not manages to become widely-adopted into the world of esports, it\u2019s clear that organizations are buying in and that online chess has soared to new heights. Whether this success will continue, sustain, or fall by the wayside in the future is yet to be seen but one thing is for sure: people are entertained and challenged by the game, and thus chess as a whole isn\u2019t going to go anywhere anytime soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is Chess an esport? Inside the game\u2019s online rise on Twitch EnvyChess is a board game which spans centuries, believed to have been birthed in northwest India in the sixth century. In 2020, it became the most unlikely esport. 2020 was an unprecedented year. A global health situation affected how we all lived and there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}