PogChamps - Part 1 of The Pros and Cons Series!
Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by, today is a start to a new series, this is the Pros and Cons Series where I a handful of subjects and dive deep into the Pros and Cons of the subject. This is a different blog than most of my other ones where instead of having chess positions we'll be discussing the good and bad in the chess community. I will be posting at least 3 blogs in the Pros and Cons series so stay tuned for that! Anyways, Enjoy!
The Pros and Cons of PogChamps
PogChamps is the main reason behind the Chess Boom besides the Netflix Series, "The Queen's Gambit". If you have been living under a rock, here's a little discussion of what PogChamps is. PogChamps is a series of chess tournaments hosted by the site you're on, chess.com. Players in the tournament are internet personalities mostly Twitch Streamers although in PogChamps 3 we have seen more of an variety of participants such as Professional Poker Player, Daniel Negreanu. PogChamps brings a wide audience of viewers but is that a good thing? And is PogChamps an embarrassment to Professional Chess?
I will mainly be using my own opinion as well as this article that World Blitz #1 Hikaru Nakamura reacted to which you can find here. The main question is, "Is PogChamps a Embarrassment for Chess?". PogChamps has obviously made chess popular but has it made it popular in a good way? The Pro-PogChamps author states a good point in 6th paragraph.
"PogChamps is not disrespecing chess, but quite the opposite: the whole thing sends a message to a huge audience, showing how easy it is to learn the game, but how difficult it is to master it. And it demonstrates that chess can be fun from minute one".
This is an fair point as we have seen many of the PogChamps participants fail most memorably where xQc lost to Mo1stCr1tikal in just 6 moves. PogChamps has made chess look very fun and no longer some random 1500-year-old board game.
Now from the Anti-PogChamps side, the author states, "The trouble with chess is that it takes years of play and study until you occasionally produce a game that is worth seeing. Letting beginners play for an audience is something one should never do".
Also a fair point, this topic really comes down to opinion either you look at is as PogChamps shows the non-serious side of chess and just shows a bunch of amateurs blundering all of the places. Or you see it that PogChamps shows how hard it is to master such a complicated game like Chess. Tell me which side you think wins in the comments below. In my opinion, I may have to give this to the PogChamp has disrespected professional chess side although it is extremely close as both sides have valid points. I asked my friend @2Ke21-0 what he thought about this topic and here is his response.
"When one claims that PogChamps is an excellent method of promoting chess, they need to elaborate and add a".com" to the end of chess. From the financial popularity perspective for the site, PogChamps is great. But as a representation of the sport of chess, PogChamps is a huge downer.
Absolute beginners are permitted to compete for fifty-thousand dollars in prize money, more than is at stake on most grandmaster tournaments. This destroyed the intrigue of classical tournaments featuring the world's best players and depicts chess as a video game rather than an iconic sport. If you want to have famous Twitch streamers manifest arrogance at the game due to their own failure, have them do it at a game that does not use the mind.
Video gamers win thousands of dollars by scholars mating their opponent while the world's best chess players struggle to make a living after dedicating their entire like to the game. Does that not say enough?"
Feel free to debate about this topic in the comments below, although no toxicity, please. I will post my next blog in a few days continuing the Pros and Cons series. The next topic will be... Bullet Chess! Anyways thanks for reading, please state your opinion on PogChamps in the comments below, Adios.
