Chess has been around for centuries and changed a lot since its first version was invented.
Nowadays the so-called royal game is experiencing a renaissance partially due to the launch of Netflix’s series “The Queen’s Gambit” but not everyone knows its origins and how it changed over the years.
Please watch the video about brief history of chess and answer the questions below.
Questions:
1. Do you know the rules of chess? Have you ever played it?
2. One would think chess should become stale after so much time with no changes. Why do you think it still remains such a popular game even after hundreds of years without any update?
3. Do you think it’s a good thing that chess is considered to be a sport? Should it become one of the Olympic disciplines?
Comments
2. I think chess is so popular because there is still no winning strategy found. The multitude of combinations and the impact of each move on the future of the game is very big. Although millions of games have already been played in the world, most of them are unique and played for the first time.
3. I think it is good that chess is a sport because it is not a game of chance and depends only on the skill of the player. Chess should be practiced like any other sport, devoting many hours to training every day. The game of chess is also not only about remembering different variants, but also about intuition and knowledge about the game.
1. I recommend solving chess puzzles. I started noticing the chess motives very often in later games thanks to that. And they are kinda fun if you like logic puzzles. Sadly on Chess.com you need paid subscription in order to do more than 5 daily and on Lichess.org the puzzles leave much to be desired... I heard Chesstempo.com is the best to do puzzles for free but I didn't spend much time there so it's hard for me to judge.
2. Yes, that's very interesting about chess, I once heard that there are more possible chess games than the number of atoms in the universe! However some people have been predicting the so-called "draw end of chess" which means people will become so good at chess that every game will end in a draw. We can see that the percentage of games that end in a draw keep growing but I hope we never reach this sad prophecy.
3. The only thing that differentiates the old fashioned sport from chess is the physical activity, however I've been told that the chess games are very exhausting physically. I also agree with the decision to treat chess as a sport of its own right.
1. I've never played chess and unfortunately I don't know the rules. Maybe one day I will learn to play chess.
2. Chess still remains such a popular game, even after hundreds of years with no update whatsoever, because it is a classic game that has been around for centuries.
3. Yes, I think chess is a sport. As for the Olympic discipline, I have no opinion.
2. I think chess will never be out of date. The human brain cannot beat the best computer, and the number of moves on the board is almost infinite. We can't calculate it so I think chess will never extinct.
3. I think it is difficult to consider chess in the context of an Olympic sport because of the time frame. There are many variations ranging from classic chess where games last all day long, to rapid games. If chess were to be in the Olympics, and let's say there were 30 chess players, the games would last for months.
2. I have no idea how chess stayed so popular over the years as it bored me after a few years :D But seriously, it is a good game that is easy to learn but hard to master. This principle is in fact behind all successful games. Also, the game could be made at home using some rocks or pieces of wood so not only wealthy could play in the past but the common people too.
3. Not sure why. I don't really care for labelling and classifying things like that. Chess is a great game that has a huge amount of players and it should have a show on its own. Why put it in the Olympics? For popularity? It is already enormously popular and known in the whole world. To me, sports, include exercising and testing the limits of the human body, one could say that it tests the intelligence, however, plenty of games could be better for this purpose. Although I don't really care, if it would make someone happy then I would be ok with it ;)
I know the rules, my dad taught me them when I was like 6 or 7 years old. I've returnet to playing few months ago because of the "Queen's Gambit" and becuase my friends are playing sometimes. Right now I am playing maybe once a day using chess.com app on my phone.
2. One would think chess should become stale after so much time with no changes. Why do you think it still remains such a popular game even after hundreds of years without any update?
I think it's because you can learn the rules really quickly and even if the combinations are limited the people minds would never be able to remember everything so it is entertainig to duel on minds with someone.
3. Do you think it’s a good thing that chess is considered to be a sport? Should it become one of the Olympic disciplines?
On the one hand chess game is really exhausting for human mind, so in some level you are competing with human boundaries. On the other hand chess are not very entertaing to watch because of the time limit. Some games may last few hours (of course it depends on the rules). To be honest I wouldn't mind it as an Olympic Sport. I think that I am opened to a lot of new sports to see during Olympic Games.
Yes I do. I used to play chess when I was a child but I had a long break from playing chess. This break lasted around 13 years. Few months ago a series about chess player became a huge hit on Netflix so as many of other people around the world I became interested in chess once again. After refreshing my memory and remembering rules I started playing with my girlfriend. I realized that I might have been a little to young to appreciate this game like I should have. Now I know that this game is genius and much more complex than I thought. I became a huge fan of it. Some might say that I am a seasoned chess player but I don't really care.
2. One would think chess should become stale after so much time with no changes. Why do you think it still remains such a popular game even after hundreds of years without any update?
After playing it as an adult I realized that the point of the game and the rules that it has are really genius. It is easy to learn how to play it but it takes a genius to become a master at it. This game is not about beating the opponent but it is about predicting every move which they are able to make and block them in the way that they can't do anything but the things you want them to do. It is brilliant and I think that there is no game which can offer anything similar to chess.
3. Do you think it’s a good thing that chess is considered to be a sport? Should it become one of the Olympic disciplines?
I always thought that sport is about physical abilities and mental strength. Chess on the other hand is about intelligence and I think that is shouldn't be an olympic sport. It's tournaments should be independent.
I do know the rules of chess, I play from time to time. I'm not a huge fan but it's fun.
2. One would think chess should become stale after so much time with no changes. Why do you think it still remains such a popular game even after hundreds of years without any update?
Propably because it's easy to learn but hard to master. It's really rewarding to win, since chess is a game of strategy, and winning is 100% your achievement.
3. Do you think it’s a good thing that chess is considered to be a sport? Should it become one of the Olympic disciplines?
I think that it's good that chess is considered to be a sport. It's a game that requires a lot of commitment if you want to play on professional level, and by making it a sport, and even an olympic discipline, that commitment can be rewarded.
2. A lot of possible variations of moves so that it can be different each time you play it. Each time anyone plays it. It's not probable that any match will be the same as another one.
3. It depends on the meaning of the word "sport". Second part depends on the rules which describe how any sport can become part of the Olympic games. It's not about good or should, it's about terms, rules and laws and so on. If to talk about me, I'm not botheres that it is sport :)
You should give it a try, it's easy to play but insanely hard to master so it's great for people that like a challenging hobbies.
@Paweł Bluszcz s20080
Personally I feel like learning openings by heart might take all the fun out of the game. Beating a friend just because you learnt a trap might be fun once but later it would get boring.
As for the duration of such a tournament, frankly speaking, this is something I never thought about. However, it seems to me that it could be organized somehow, because as far as I know, there are team world championships that are organized every 4 years.
@Adrianna Wróbel
Maybe the post is only about chess, a game considered by many to be boring, but the subject of chess at the Olympics, as you can see, can bring extreme emotions and provoke stormy discussions! :D
@Maciej Wrzesień
The timeframe of 6-7 years is a number that many Grandmasters state as the time they started playing the game. Maybe you could be at the place of our strongest Polish chess player Jan-Krzysztof Duda if you sticked to playing? He's about our age :D
@Piotr Malanowski
I am very glad that you have returned to playing chess after a long break. It's true that chess is amazing, I started playing it myself very late and I'm not a specialist at it, but I really like the prediction aspect you mentioned. Sometimes it makes me feel like some kind of leader of a great army marching into battle and my task is to command all the divisions to work together as best as possible.
@Roman Burlaka
Getting to professional level requires a life devotion and years of trainings so I'm not surprised when you say you're not close to that level if you play only with your granddad for fun :D But chess is great at being enjoyable for casual players like me or you and for professionals at the same time.