‘Chess is not a boring game!’
Jul 2 2008
by Our Correspondent, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
CHESS, while is arguably my number one passion – except in the immediate aftermath of yet another loss when I determine never to play it again – is not my only passion.
Football also demands my attention on occasions and Euro 2008, which has just finished, has been full of attacking, absorbing play which has been a joy to watch.
However, on the rare moments when a contest has failed to fulfil TVs demands that every millisecond of the match contains a shot at goal, a lung-bursting drive down the wing or the award of a controversial decision, commentators invariably described the play as ‘being something of a chess match’.
The subtext is ‘this game is boring, but please don’t turn over’.
It’s not our fault – it’s because the pesky players have got it into their heads that they are playing that dull old game of chess’.
Even though I can spot such a passage of play is on its way as easily as the TV cameramen can spot the best-looking female spectators in the crowd, and therefore know what is coming, before the allusion to chess is out of the commentator’s mouth I am already shouting at my screen, ‘Chess is not a boring game!’
I get annoyed because such comments reinforce to the younger audience among the viewers that chess is not a game they should consider playing.
Yet everyone who has done more than just ‘push wood’ knows it is a better war game than any available on those ubiquitous SunnyNinTangoiPad contraptions that ensure today’s generation of children see less daylight than Count Dracula.
And if we cannot encourage children into playing this truly wonderful game, in 10 or 15 years’ time I am going to have a lot fewer opportunities to suffer those numerous defeats which make me want to give up playing it.
By Spencer Tilbrook
www.examiner.co.uk
It’s boring to have grumpy old men not wanting to change with the times.
I agree with your analysis! Sadly true.
Chess may not be a boring game, but this is a boring article. The whole thing, rebutting claims nobody is making, comparing chess to football in a meaningless way, all screams out “Slow News Day”.
Now, take soccer. That’s boring. They kick the ball down the field… then they kick it back… then they kick it the first way… then they kick it back… And maybe once in an hour, if you’re lucky, the ball might accidentally end up in the goal.
That’s why soccer has always bored me. All scores come out of nowhere. In football, if you penetrate deep into enemy territory, you’re threatening to score. In baseball, if you load the bases with nobody out, you’re threatening to score. But in soccer, deep penetrations and huge gains usually mean nothing at all. It all gets undone a few seconds later. It’s like that image of hell, where the guy keeps pushing the boulder up the hill, having it roll down, and having to start all over again, endlessly.
Baseball and football have lightning scoring, like soccer does. Long passes, home runs. But lesser gains mean something too. Soccer is the game that baseball would be if home runs were the only kind of score that counted, and all the other running around the rest of the time meant nothing at all.
Well, soccer is by far the most popular sports in the world. My guess is you are American. I am not but live here for quite a while and must say that the American sports somewhat frustrate me, simply as they keep being interrupted.
In baseball it does not really matter whether you miss half an hour or not, in football 80% of the time is used to position the players, in basketball they switch to the adverts upon the very first time-out.
However, although I do not find these sports too enticing I would not go as far as stating they are boring – it’s just that people tend to have interests in different things. And I, contrary to you, know to appreciate a well played game of soccer, irrespective of the score. So let’s simply keep it that way,okay?!
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Well, soccer is by far the most popular sports in the world. My guess is you are American.
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Isn’t that more because of tradition than the game’s innate skill?
I mean, you admit it yourself. You think the reason I dislike the game is for nationalistic reasons, and assume that if I lived elsewhere that I’d like it. Isn’t that just another way of saying “If you live here you’re SUPPOSED to like it?”
I agree with you that many people may like the game because they feel they’re supposed to. What I was questionining was whether people like it because it’s a good game, or because they’re “supposed” to, as you imply. I think it’s the latter. I don’t hear you disagreeing.
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In baseball it does not really matter whether you miss half an hour or not, in football 80% of the time is used to position the players, in basketball they switch to the adverts upon the very first time-out.
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I don’t watch enough soccer on TV to know how often they take commercial breaks. That’s really more of a marketing thing. But if a soccer game is 0-0 after an hour, then what would you have missed even if they’d had a dozen commercials in that time?
Soccer, Hockey and Basketball are all basically the same game. You’ve got two teams playing on a rectangular court with the object of putting the “ball” into the other guy’s goal. Of the three, basketball is the most interesting. Things are happening constantly that are relevant to the final outcome. Hockey and Soccer each have a lot more action that’s irrelevant to the final outcome. But at least in Hockey you can watch the fights.
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it’s just that people tend to have interests in different things. And I, contrary to you, know to appreciate a well played game of soccer, irrespective of the score. So let’s simply keep it that way,okay?!
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You haven’t really made it clear what you like. The problem is there IS nothing in soccer apart from the score. Most of it is totally meaningless. In baseball (which some people also call boring), the scoring may sometimes come slowly, but there are hundreds of other things you can enjoy and keep track of: stolen bases, strikeouts, fielding averages, RBI’s. More statistics than anyone could ever want. There’s a lot more to that game besides just scoring. In soccer, there’s nothing except the score, and 90% of the time, the efforts of each side cancels each other out, resulting in nothing.
Chess is definitely a more interesting game. This article should have been written the other way around.