Chess is for you, me and everybody

When you think of a chess player back in the day, you’d be greeted with the thoughts of an old man smoking a pipe while waiting for you to make your move. Nowadays, chess is so well-known and frequently played that there was a time a few years back when school teachers were telling kids to stop playing chess!

Erik Allebest and his team at chess.com have worked hard to make chess a multi-generational game that caters to everyone of every skill level and age. On a side note, you’d be surprised to know that there is a record of a nine-year-old defeating a chess grandmaster.

We had a blast learning about the origins of chess.com in our recent podcast. From bootstrapping businesses to how streaming affected the chess world, there are a lot of interesting things to learn in this episode!

Five game insights we think will pique your interest!

Want to play chess with a friend somewhere peaceful but don’t want to lug around your big pieces and board? Check out this kinetic chessboard inspired by origami! Stylish, light and portable, this is perfect for any chess enthusiast to have in their car for those impromptu matches!

Everyone in a competition wants to win. Who wants to lose, right? But there’s such a thing as going too far to win; instead of moving pieces on the board, this chess player moved to poison her opponent with mercury. We don’t think “mercury to e4” is a good and legal move at all, but fortunately, the opponent was tough in both mind and body and even was able to finish their games!

Speaking of competition, we’d like to congratulate Nashke Native Games for being a finalist in the Minnesota Cup! Well played and good game!

Is normal chess too basic and easy for you? Looking for a new challenge? Feeling like the new Magnus Carlsen of this generation? Well, time to bust out the big guns: 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel. In this version of chess, you can’t be checkmated… if the opposing piece was defeated in the past in the first place.

Yes. It’s a thing. Even Hikaru Nakamura had a hard time grasping it.

When you think of a powerlifter, you’d think that they’d be all brawns and have no interest whatsoever in chess. What if we told you that one of the most well-known game streamers at the current time, Tyler1, a very brawny-looking powerlifter/gamer, has just reached the top 0.5% of chess.com players in the world?

Chess has come such a long way since its inception a millennia or more ago. From a game that only a select few in an old societal hierarchy could play, to a worldwide pastime that even children can recognize from afar. Truly, the advances in technology and culture have brought chess into a spotlight where everyone can have fun and be proud to call themselves a chess player. 

Gone are the days when chess clubs were exclusive to a certain demographic. Now, most businesses and media understand the power of games in swaying public opinion and even changing cultural norms.

And to that, we share a quote made by Erik Allebest, CEO of chess.com and business investor, recently made in our podcast:

“Everybody understands the power of games, and so it's just very interesting to see the evolution of how content and gaming sit so close to each other.”

And that’s our piece for this week! Don’t forget to start your day off by giving our daily games a swing! We especially recommend a combo of Wordga, Crosswordle and ending it with a refreshing Squeezy.

And if you want to learn more about what we’re up to at Hey, Good Game, you can find out more right here.

See you next Friday!

-The Hey, Good Game Team