Russian chess grandmaster and former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is in Seoul to participate in a local sports fair. And since South Korea is the capital of eSports, it was inevitable for him to weigh in on League of Legends and StarCraft, which are essentially the number one rivals of chess.
Here are his thoughts on these games and eSports, shared on Twitter. Pretty solid ones I have to say:
Hello from Seoul, Korea. I bet only Santa Claus spent more time in the air than I did on Christmas Day! Here for Youth Mind Sports Fair.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Chess & baduk (go) are far less popular here than “e-sports”, the multiplayer computer game competitions Koreans love & dominate. For now!
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Tough for chess to overtake League of Legends, the most popular game here, but I don’t think they’ll play that in 100 years. Chess, yes!
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
People get bored with a computer game as soon as a new one comes out with slightly better graphics. Chess has captivated us for centuries.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
As lazy as we like to pretend we are, our brains crave challenge & development all our lives. Chess feeds this need perfectly for all ages.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
You can’t change your hardware, that’s your DNA. But you can definitely upgrade your mental software by questioning & learning every day.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Actually, I do know quite a bit about videogames thanks to my son, who is a big expert at Warcraft among many others.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
I have also talked & worked with many game makers over the years. Narrative & graphics are great, but they also age, often quickly.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
I am in no way dismissive of e-sports or videogames. Many offer rich environments & strategic decision-making, not just cool pictures.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Point was that the strategic purity of chess (or go, etc) is timeless for a reason. No storyline to tire of, no expansion packs to buy!
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
A group of business school students I spoke to at Oxford-Martin are interested in collaborating on an online decision-making game with me.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Not expecting that decision-making game to require good graphics. Or if it does, I can get some CGI hair out of the project!
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Only the best books, movies, & songs age well & only classics last many generations. Videogames too, but much newer form so more change.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Yes, I have often joked that like many Soviet kids I got good at chess because of limited options for entertainment! @Northsealimpet
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
I will know much more about eSports after today’s visit to the World Youth Mindsports Fair here in Seoul! They are the best, I’m told.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 26, 2013
Garry Kasparov [Twitter]
Comments
7 responses to “Former World Chess Champion Gives His Take On ESports In 15 Tweets”
Fun.
Clearly doesn’t get it.
Am I a bad person for mentally reading those tweets in my head in a stereotypical Russian accent?
He’s probably right you know.
While what he says is true, Chess isn’t a limitless experience. Its strategy is pretty much already worked down to a point where people know set plays and such. Without the freedom to expand, Chess will die. It will become completely worked out, heck I’m sure computer Chess is already. Sure you can add more human elements to it by straying from the strategy books, but so can you in eSports. Look at games like Starcraft, which are old OLD ideas aging to board games and table-top strategy games themselves. They will remain popular because they have the freedom to expand. Fighting games are another one. Just like real-world sports, each player develops their own style. Their own way of moving and using their digital character. You can recognise this if you know the different players and how they play. Chess is a game of moves, and counter-moves. Those can be learnt by anyone with time. People can develop styles, but they are limited in how they can play those out. Theres only so many squares and pieces in a chess game, whereas video games like Starcraft, DoTA, LoL, have room to expand, and that *isn’t* a sign to say they will die.
The lack of change is a sign something is bound to die, not the over-use of said change.
I agree that chess has limitations on the number of moves possible in any given situation and that there are even less number of appropriate moves in said situation. Whilst many may memorize all the appropriate moves, the vast population won’t and thus will make the “wrong” move. Granted the memorization of moves is really just a time saver to avoid calculating each position.
RTS has build orders which is exactly the sameas chess opening books. Don’t execute the build order correctly and you might add well gg after 90 seseconds and save everyone the time (granted this doesn’t account for uber micro)
Of course, and thats why theres a professional side of the game Chess, but Chess isn’t and hasn’t changed at all, so it will become only more and more known with no change in the game, and little to no personalisation. It will still always be one of the greatest strategy games invented, but it won’t stay high up in competition (which I don’t even think it is nowadays, but I don’t live anywhere where people play Chess competitively, so I can’t say that with full knowledge). Games have room to grow, even RTS games, and more strategy to learn with extras. There is always a basic build order that is required, but then the strategy kicks in on how you are going to approach your enemy, and thats where the personalised playstyles and strategies come in.