How technology reinvented chess as a global social network

The writer is the founder of Sievedan FT-backed site on European start-ups

When IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, some thought it was checkmate for mankind, as well as for the ancient sport itself. Weekly magazine had advertised the contest between the calculating machine and the then strongest player in human history as “The Brain’s Last Stand”. “Every human being who has worried about losing his job to a computer . . . is rooting for this compact and good-looking 34-year-old Russian to prevail,” the reporter wrote Steven Levi.

Despite his formidable talents, Kasparov suffered a narrow, crushing and heavily symbolic defeat. Subsequently, he expressed dismay at lose to a programmable “10 million dollar alarm clock”.. But he also admired the human ingenuity behind a computer that could systematically evaluate 200 million moves per second and win with “brute force to crush the numbers.” Advances in computing power since then have been such that Deep Blue seems strangely archaic. It could be beaten by most of the chess apps we carry on our smartphones today. In 2017, Google DeepMind has announced that its AlphaZero the machine learning system had taught itself how to become the world’s best player in just nine hours.

Yet a funny thing has happened to chess in the quarter century since Deep Blue’s victory. Rather than killing the sport, technology has helped it thrive by spurring creativity and expanding accessibility. “Chess has never been more alive than now” concluded the Chess.com website, following a thrilling final match of the world championship in which Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren beat his Russian opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi on Sunday. The site, which streamed superb live commentary from 18 games, has grown to over 100 million registered users over the past 15 years. Such was the popularity of Chess.com that its database crashed this year when 10 million members logged on to play in a single day.

There are several reasons for the rise in popularity of this sport. Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 lockdown has increased its appeal as millions of bored gamers, trapped at home, have sought alternative online entertainment. The big TV hit of 2020 The Queen’s Gambit, the most watched Netflix miniseries in 63 countries, has also won new fans, especially among girls who want to emulate the triumphs of chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon. The real-life success of Chinese grandmaster Ju Wenjun, the reigning women’s world chess champion since 2018, has helped popularize the sport in China, where it was once banned during the Cultural Revolution.

For the non-enthusiast, watching hours-long chess games, which often end in boring draws, ranks up there with snail racing as a parody of fast-paced entertainment. But the chatty and creative influencers on TikTok, Twitch and YouTube have attracted a younger generation of fans. With his lightning-fast play, witty commentary and Hawaiian shirts, five-time US chess champion Hikaru Nakamura has attracted 1.8 million followers on Twitch, the streaming channel. Chess has evolved from a static board game into a dynamic social network and global community.

The personalities of some protagonists have also aroused great interest. Norwegian magnet Magnus Carlsen, five times World Champion, missed the last tournament, thus giving up his title. He seems bored with weaker challengers, who he says only try to “park the bus” -speaking of football- when they play against him to avoid defeat. This left number two ranked Nepomniachtchi pitted against number three ranked Ding. But the 32-year-old Carlsen will no doubt be back, promising new dramatic storylines.

The restless and aggressive Nepo, as Nepomniachtchi is known, demonstrated courage both on and off the board: he was one of 44 Russian chess players sign a letter last year opposing the invasion of Ukraine. Though lower-ranked, Ding displayed tremendous resilience after a shaky start and conjured up a stunning move in game 18 to clinch the win. A new generation of exciting teenagers challengers are also emerging rapidly.

Larger lessons can be drawn from the successful reinvention of chess at a time when many are concerned about the impact of generative AI. The triumph of Deep Blue, which seemingly symbolized the eclipse of human intelligence in the most cerebral of sports, helped usher in a new era of technology-assisted connection and creativity. As Kasparov knows to his cost, technology can destroy old certainties and raise fears of human obsolescence. But it can also generate unimaginable new opportunities.