On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
Well, without analysts going over possible lines, a casual viewer is going to be really really bored while players sit there and think for 20 minutes. Even with analysts, it's not a great spectator sport, and you really have to appreciate the theorizing to fill the gaps.
On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
Well, without analysts going over possible lines, a casual viewer is going to be really really bored while players sit there and think for 20 minutes. Even with analysts, it's not a great spectator sport.
Yeah.
It's like Starcraft - you cannot possibly enjoy watching it unless you play it and understand basic strategical concepts. But even without the commentary, I think it might be enjoyable from educational point of view, if people switched off their engines and tried to guess moves / calculate variations on their own. Sadly, to many people seem to only be interested who is ahead in a given point, so they will just use engine evaluations anyway. But as for myself, I kinda enjoyed comparing my own analysis with the actual play of Anand and Carlsen and the whole, twisted logic behind it. Makes you realize the size of skill cap.
On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
Well, without analysts going over possible lines, a casual viewer is going to be really really bored while players sit there and think for 20 minutes. Even with analysts, it's not a great spectator sport.
Yeah.
It's like Starcraft - you cannot possibly enjoy watching it unless you play it and understand basic strategical concepts. But even without the commentary, I think it might be enjoyable from educational point of view, if people switched off their engines and tried to guess moves / calculate variations on their own. Sadly, to many people seem to only be interested who is ahead in a given point, so they will just use engine evaluations anyway. But as for myself, I kinda enjoyed comparing my own analysis with the actual play of Anand and Carlsen and the whole, twisted logic behind it. Makes you realize the size of skill cap.
I'd argue it's worse than starcraft for a random passer-by: at least starcraft is quick, and has explosions
this series was the first professional series i ever watched of chess. even though i have no strategical background i really enjoyed watching it! the commentators explained possible moves really well so i kind of got into it. i started watching because i wanted to know how many moves the players can think ahead. i will definitely watch other chess tournaments for sure!
On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
Well, without analysts going over possible lines, a casual viewer is going to be really really bored while players sit there and think for 20 minutes. Even with analysts, it's not a great spectator sport, and you really have to appreciate the theorizing to fill the gaps.
agreed. i think chess is a perfect sport to watch or listen to on livestream while doing something else as well. browsing the web and switching to the stream whenever a move is made or an interesting variation is discussed by a commentator is the way to go.
anyway, congratz magnus, he finally claimed the throne that has been waiting for a long time.
On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
Well, without analysts going over possible lines, a casual viewer is going to be really really bored while players sit there and think for 20 minutes. Even with analysts, it's not a great spectator sport, and you really have to appreciate the theorizing to fill the gaps.
agreed. i think chess is a perfect sport to watch or listen to on livestream while doing something else as well. browsing the web and switching to the stream whenever a move is made or an interesting variation is discussed by a commentator is the way to go.
anyway, congratz magnus, he finally claimed the throne that has been waiting for a long time.
Agreed. There's also rapid events, like the upcoming London Classic. They had streams the last two years, with players joining the analysis after their game finished. I think it has the potential to be huge this year.
On November 23 2013 01:31 Ravnemesteren wrote: Its been awesome to follow this championship as a Norwegian. The viewership the match has gotten is insane. It beat prestige football matches (Or soccer as some would call it) here. I just hope chess becomes more mainstream, and it might considering its a perfect format to watch/follow online (I am one of those that believe TV is a dying medium).
What do you guys think, will it remain a niché sport?
Unfortunately I dont think so because populars sports need "action".
Chess has plenty of actions happening on board, but its not apparent to non players. What mainstream sports/games has over non mainstreams like chess is that its easier to spot and appreciate the actions happening. And physical prowess like running thru wall of defending players to score a touch down is as intuitive as it can get for people. Sacing a queen get position and momentum advantage to win isn't.
Well, without analysts going over possible lines, a casual viewer is going to be really really bored while players sit there and think for 20 minutes. Even with analysts, it's not a great spectator sport, and you really have to appreciate the theorizing to fill the gaps.
agreed. i think chess is a perfect sport to watch or listen to on livestream while doing something else as well. browsing the web and switching to the stream whenever a move is made or an interesting variation is discussed by a commentator is the way to go.
anyway, congratz magnus, he finally claimed the throne that has been waiting for a long time.
Agreed. There's also rapid events, like the upcoming London Classic. They had streams the last two years, with players joining the analysis after their game finished. I think it has the potential to be huge this year.
Match play is not spectator-friendly because there's only one game happening at a time. Usually the format is more like a tournament or league where there are 5, 10, or even 50 games happening at once, so there is inevitably something interesting happening at one of the tables for the commentators to focus on. I find the US Chess League especially fun to watch because there are so many games, and also more drama since the players are mostly IM strength.
There are tons! chessbase.com (chess news), chessgames.com (probably the biggest database of games? Along with many other features), and chess.com (chess community and other features) are just a few websites with multitudes of information.
I don't know about televised or streamed, though, hopefully someone else can help out.
It's streamed, either as a radio show with an associated analysis board or a videostream. Live footage of the event is still relatively rare though, the most you'll usually get is a low quality shot of the boards.
I watch on ICC, they have live coverage for the large tournaments. Past the first month you have to pay for membership though. I know other sites also have some broadcasts, but since I never watch them I'm not sure what tournaments they cover.
The next big tournament's going to be the world chess team championship Nov. 26th. - Dec. 5th. Anand and Carlsen won't be there, but many other elite players will.
EPT
