Here's something new. And my thanks to TechCrunch for the info. A new website called CrowdChess will let you play with up to thousands of people against another team made up of fewer or equally as many people!
Of course, we've all heard of something like 1 vs many (via the net). And in my office, too, the Tech guys play something they call "community chess". It's not strictly a team vs team or 1 vs team. But basically it's a game between mostly anonymous players. You come to the board at any time you like, as many times you wish, pick a colour and make a move. Once you've picked a colour, you stay with it until the game ends.
The Crowd Chess concept could have legs. From first thoughts it sounds fun. Perhaps useful for those occasional moments when you've got nothing better to do. I just don't know, however, if it will ever be accepted as being more "fun" than playing for yourself. After all, the concept does strike me as being a bit counter to the very essence of chess: individual triumph. Hence, I think we can safely assuage Erick Schonfeld's fears that Crowd Chess could destroy the game. People will play Crowd Chess, or some other variant, but will always, by instinct almost, go back to the original form. That of 1 vs 1, either via the net, correspondence or OTB.
Definitely a cool idea though.
3 comments:
A number of years ago someone set up a chess board in a corridor in one of the Department of Defence buildings in Canberra. Next to it was a double sided sign reading "White to move" and "Black to move". Anyone wandering past could make a move, and then turn the sign around.
Sadly no record of the games still exist.
Is there any reason why you are not (even in one post) mentioning about the world championship?
Yeah, I was thinking that someone might wonder. But really there are two main reasons.
(i) There's plenty of coverage on it elsewhere
(ii) I'm too busy (that's why no post on 2 days this week). So I choose to use post best by mentioning other things not already talked about.
- TCG
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