Making Chess Simpler for Americans

Chess is is great game with a long history but like football it can never be considered truly global until it has conquered the most wealthy country in the world.  Think about it - 8 billion people live in China and can you name a single Chinese chess player?  Of course you can't they all play Go over there.  It's a cultural thing I think.

What I would propose is a similar approach to that which worked so well to break the game in the good old U S of A.  To recap from Pretzler's seminal work The American game:

"The game was radically simplified here to cater for the domestic American market.  The King and Queen were removed ("What's with this Limey Monarchist baloney?" source: Robin Fischer GM) and replaced with a single all powerful President which could pretty much do what it wanted.  The other pieces were all replaced by Cowboys with big hats and bigger guns.  Time control was strictly limited to ensure games did not out-last the attention span of the indigenous population.  The game can now easily be completed in its entirety during the advertisement break in The Simpsons over a Bic Mac supper..."

These small alterations had units literally flying off the shelves and General Electric's Chess TM was the biggest grossing game ever in that short period which constitutes American history.

I'm sure some small changes could be successfully made for the Chinese market any ideas Chess.com?

I think not. Also: Wang Yue. I do appreciate the satire.

 Wang you too!

I can name a couple of women GMs from China:

1. Xie Jun (because of her book)
2. Hou Yifan (child prodigy, strong player and a regular in strong tournaments)

I still prefer the standard Staunton chess set compared to anything fancy. I like it  style even better then the pieces are made of heavy wood, smooth to the touch and stained cleanly. The designer sets are great ornamental pieces, starter sets or one-time fads. They are not condusive for long term play and serious training.

If you want to spread chess throughout China, sell the sets for less than a single unit of the Chinese currency and offer cash prizes to the best players/teams by holding tournaments in every province regularly.

EDIT

Just so you know, there is an increasing influx of Chinese chess players into the International scene. The Women's World Chess Championship sees it more.

The harder challenge is: How can you get "Go," a game that is older and harder than chess yet only uses two types of pieces over a 19x19 grid, to become more popular in the USA and Europe?

Cut it out - the both of Yue - two Wangs do not make it right!

I appreciate the attempt at satire, but it just doesn't come off well when it's directed a nationality foreign to your own.

China is not the richest country in the world. All their money is in U.S. debt which we all know is going to default (defaulting on loans is what we do best).

That's part of the satire. We come in thinking he is talking about us, and bam, fish to the face! But like I said, joke's on him. I can't wait for Mao to start making collection calls... whole thing will be hilarious, in a deeply apocalyptic way.

What? Doesn't the U.S. owe China like, 3 or 4 trillion? Ah well, since we get the bombs and land, it's all good.

I'm kidding

Greetings.

Given that xiangqi is a popular chess variant in China, I think one way to popularize chess in that country could be creating and promoting chess sets that use xiangqi pieces instead of the more traditional "chessmen" style pieces; i.e., using round pieces with '兵' for white's pawns, '卒' for black's pawns, '相' for the white bishops (which in xiangqi are the elephants), etc. That way xiangqi players would have a new gaming expirience in chess, while retaining the familiarity with the original game. Not sure about what non-xiangqui players would think, though...

And by the way... happy first post (to me!!)

Everything will be just fine in a few years. In just a few years, China will make absolutely everything on the planet and Wal-Mart will sell all of it. Simple, really.

"Think about it - 8 billion people live in China and can you name a single Chinese chess player?" -  Beast719

Since when did China go from 1 billion to 8 billion? I need to google that one.

O.K. China is up from 1 billion to 1.25 billion.

But with the exchange rate it works out.

So then, 7.25 Wongs do make a Wright?

+1

We have already discussed this topic, but previously some admin (probably American) closed the thread. And I notice it for the second time -- acording to my extensive research you are indeed wrong -- approximately 2 billion people live in China, not 8 billion; that's a huge overestimation on your side.

 Great post, took the words out of my mouth (but I didn't have the cool Chinese writing)!  But yeah - the Chinese have their own complete version of the game, so considered yourself ONWED!

What is usually used in Xiangqi is not pieces but wooden planks with drawings of elephants etc., or even with characters. 

(I have a problem with the idea that the American President is all powerful. The only ones who tried to exercise real power by getting getting a grip on the contry's money supply egLincoln, Garfield and Kennedy were assassinated by those that pull the strings of the puppet presidents ! (eg Reagan,Bush I, Bush II, Obama !!!) and most of the others...but that's the illusion of democracy that exists in most of the western world.. )