The Ideal Pandemic Game
Chess surges in popularity as the quarantine continues
—By James Varblow
Like most people, Jacob and Isaac spent their summer in relative isolation, living quarantined with their respective families, trying to stave off the boredom. During the long haul of the pandemic, people across the internet were finding entertainment through various streaming shows or video games. While these new entertainment forms dominated the public eye, Jacob and Isaac found entertainment in the form of a game that’s been around for the past thousand years.
Chess was a much-needed diversion for many people across the country, especially students. Over the summer, the lockdown began to drag. While students might usually spend their summers working internships and socializing with friends, they were now stuck inside with little to do, each day a little more mind-numbing than the last.
Chess offered an alternative to the brainless media consumption loop that many had found themselves stuck in. Jacob enjoyed playing chess online through sites such as Chess.com and Lichess where they could play with friends or find an endless number of players with similar experience. “It’s something I enjoy playing in my downtime.” Isaac said, “It keeps my brain active, and it’s not a YouTube video.” Jacob added that “It’s nice to do something other than watching shows on Netflix.”
64 historic squares
In a world where games are constantly being updated with new content and balancing patches, chess stands out. Chess has retained popularity for far longer than most games. While the current rules were finalized around 1475, earlier versions date back as far as the 9th century.
Chess is set apart by its simultaneous simplicity and complexity. The rules are easy to learn, and the game is confined to a simple 8 by8 board of 64 squares, but the possibilities are endless.
“It’s something that’s fun to play competitively.” Isaac said, “I can always find a challenge, someone better than me.”
Chess is a game where a player’s mind is the only ceiling. Even computers are still exploring the possibilities of chess, with developments like Google’s AI player. Regardless of how good you are at chess, there are other players to compete with.
Playing competitively
As new players have gotten into chess for the first time in years, the elite continue to vie for supremacy. One such player is Johnathan Silverstein. A UMich alumni, Johnathan is an officer in the University of Michigan chess club, overseeing web development. Johnathan won the Class C chess tournament in 2020, and now competes as a statewide Class A player.
The class system is a method of ranking competitive chess players. Class C denotes a good casual player, while Class A is just below the expert level ranking, indicating a player around the 95th percentile. Michigan has an annual tournament among club players, in which Johnathan has excelled.
“It’s a lot more intense to play competitively. There’s a lot more stress. It’s very hierarchical, and a lot of preparation goes into each tournament.”
Johnathan got interested in chess in November, 2016 after watching the world championship match.
“At the time I was in high school. I was a debater, and I realized I wouldn’t be doing debates for that much longer. I was looking for another activity and I started playing casually.”
Johnathan played chess through college and has gotten more serious since his graduation in 2019. He currently works in Ann Arbor, doing cybersecurity work, and has used the extra time from the lockdowns to take his game to another level, through study of practice and opening theory
“I spend about two to three hours a day on chess.” Johnathan says, “Playing and learning about chess, and I’ve had some good tournament results because of it.”
Johnathan has been rising in the ranks as a player. He is currently in the 95th percentile of all chess players, with his eyes set on the coveted “Expert” ranking. Throughout the pandemic, he has been accumulating tournament victories online. “I’d say that so far, class C champion is one of my proudest chess achievements, though I’ve won a few more tournaments this year.” Johnathan is on an upward trend, and hopeful for more success in his flowering chess career.
Moving online
With a pandemic running rampant, it was impossible to carry out tournaments in the traditional manner. Several tournaments were cancelled at the onset of the lockdown, and there has now been a movement towards online tournaments, often centered on websites like Lichess and Chess.com. These tournaments are usually casual, though there are some that have been sponsored by the respective websites. High-level tournaments, and those involving well known streamers are often streamed on Twitch, and offer cash prizes to the top performers.
As top-level payers have gained a more online focus, so have the more recreational players. The lockdowns along with the release of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit have opened the door for many new players, and reawakened interest to former players who lost interest in the past. This spike in popularity can be seen through the membership statistics of Chess.com, the largest online community of chess players. In November 2020, Chess.com’s Monthly membership growth shot to 2.8 million, nearly tripling its pre-pandemic numbers.
The pandemic also sparked a surge in popularity of chess personalities on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Well known Twitch names such as XQC, Pokimane, and Ludwig joined the chess movement, funneling in thousands of views. On YouTube, many chess channels experienced a boom in both view numbers and subscriber rates. This online trend culminated in a tournament of Twitch streamers known as “PogChamps.” This tournament was hosted by Chess.com and featured 16 well-known streamers competing in a tournament over the course of a week. Three such tournaments have taken place, the last of which had a record-setting 100k concurrent views.
Connecting through chess
Chess has always been known as a community sport. It’s universal, and can bring people together in ways that transcend common barriers like age, culture, and even language.
“Chess is always around.” Says Johnathan Silverstein, “You’ll see people playing chess on their computer between classes. If you also play chess, you can generally just approach them to talk about the positions, or just watch… I was once on a train with my mom, and one of the conductors came over. We were just talking about chess, but after he left, my mom told me she’d ridden this train route for twenty years, and no conductor had ever come up and talked to her.“
Such stories are very common among chess players. Isaac, a casual player, has experienced something similar: “When you see someone playing chess… in the library, the coffee shop, doesn’t matter where, there’s immediately a connection.”
The online community has also grown in recent years, with the aforementioned Twitch and YouTube explosions. On top of that, there are many online communities. Chess.com, for example, has thousands of clubs that range from a dozen players to hundreds. These online communities offer connections for players who otherwise couldn’t get in touch with the community, especially during a pandemic. These communities have taken advantage of chess websites which allow players to make and manage chess clubs. Players can challenge each other whenever someone is online, or organise specific meetups and friendly tournaments.
Getting started
With the extra time from continued lockdowns, and the general enthusiasm from the community, there has never been a better time to get involved in chess. A good starting point for anyone interested is to join an online chess site. Once there, simply click the new game button. If you’ve never played before, these websites offer free lessons explaining the pieces movements, along with basic chess theory. Chess.com, and lichess.org are the most used, but there are others as well.
Having served as an officer in the U of M chess club for over a year, Johnathan has some advice of his own. “Just keep playing. Studying tactics and playing are the best ways to improve your chess, so just get out there, and you’ll be moving in the right direction.”
Photo credit Jami Kaasinen