A couple of weeks ago I started a poll to find out where people like to play chess. The results are summarized in this chart: Internet Chess Servers such as the Internet Chess Club (ICC) or the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) seem to be the most popular place for chess these days. This is not really surprising, after all the poll was done online on a chess blog. However, it seems that even grandmaster events attract an online-only crowd. Nevertheless, about a third of the questioned people prefer "real" over-the-board chess and list the chess club or, more leisurely, a coffeehouse or pub as their favorite place to play. The remaining 15% enjoy correspondence chess the most. See here for the full results.

Does this mean that OTB chess is on the decline because of the Internet? I don't think the limitations of this simple poll allow me to answer this question. However, it made me think about the merits of OTB, or 'live', chess. Howard Goldowsky wrote about the tension between chess players that can be only experienced on-site during OTB events and not online. While this might be a reason to play more OTB chess, it might also scare some people off. After all, it is easier to click on a button than to reach out the hand and say "I resign." where the period in this little two word sentence feels (and is) very final. Of course, there are many more aspects of this. I personally enjoyed my first (and up to now only) OTB chess experience. But freeing a whole day for a chess tournament is not easy for most people and saving the time to go to the chess club, register, and wait for the tournament to start may make all the difference in a busy schedule, and playing online gives you a game within minutes anytime you want, but, as BlueDevilKnight observed, also allows your opponents to run in a split second. Over all, I believe that the Internet has the potential to be a great recruiting ground for OTB chess. Without the net, at least I would never have made it to the chess club.

Comments (6)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

...
written by Trooper, August 17, 2007

I'm sure that online play is so much more popular because it's easy to do. You don't even have to leave your house.

I prefer OTB, and play it any chance I get. I'm going to be playing in a 3 day (6 game) tournament in a couple
of weeks. Hope it goes well. I'll be posting about it each day as the tournament progresses, and likely some type
of analysis later on.

...
written by Sciurus, August 18, 2007

Yes, I think so, too. At least myself have to overcome a decent amount of laziness to get out of the house Looking forward to read about your tournament experience!

...
written by chessloser, August 21, 2007

as convienient as internet chess is, i prefer over the board, against a flesh and blood human i can talk with...

...
written by Sciurus, August 21, 2007

Chessloser:
From reading your blog I figure you really enjoyed the OTB action in St. Louis! I agree, after all, humans are social animals

...
written by Armand Rousso, August 29, 2007

I personally fall in the 14.29 % people preferring to play in pub. It is more friendly to see your opponent in front of you instead of looking at a screen.

Armand Rousso
http://chess.armandrousso.biz/

...
written by Sciurus, August 29, 2007

Armand:
playing chess in a pub sounds good, although I can imagine that the beer makes players more imaginative than their positions justify

For me, I don't know many chess players in person, so there's unfortunately not much opportunity to do so.

Cheers!

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Website

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment