The Fastest Growing Hobby in the Country – And Why You Should Partake in it

You see large, stony pillars towering over you. You see their slender curves and sharp edges. You make out a sort of cross on the top of the tallest one. You see a jagged crown on another. Castle towers rest on the very edge of your vision. Great horsemen and their noble steeds stand frozen on the sides. Suddenly, time unpauses: you see shorter pillars move first with the horsemen following. Soon, you see war up close – countless stone columns come crashing down, rumbling and crumbling in their cursed descent. You see what your mind tells you is a king cornered between its own crowded warriors with no escape left. “Checkmate,” you hear the gloomy groan. What is this magical place? Where have you been taken? This is the magical world of chess, an ancient board game, and a hobby swiftly seizing the world’s attention as it rises to the top.

Over the year or two, everyone has been stuck indoors due to the global pandemic, leaving us with more spare time than we could have ever imagined before. With so much additional time, we have fully explored all our hobbies, but what to do now? You’ve grown bored of your old hobbies; therefore, it is time for a new one: chess. Over a thousand years old, this game is a perfect hobby for anyone to enjoy – it is easy to pick up, fun to play, and popular. What else could one ask for?

Chess and easy to pick up? Most people disagree. People have associated chess with intelligence for as long as anyone can remember. Many people argue chess is a nerdy game that not everyone can play. On the contrary, several studies have found that intelligence may be a factor in getting good at the game; it is not necessary. In fact, people who are not naturally as smart as the nerds can get just as skilled, if not better, through practice and hard work! For example, in a study with a group of 53 young chess players and another group of 23 children, results showed that practice was the biggest factor in skill growth rather than intelligence (Bilalić, Merim, et al.). Similarly, you do not need to possess an IQ that rivals the top 1% of the population to play, learn, and enjoy the game.

Additionally, chess is a really fun and satisfying game. It is a limitless game – other hobbies like knitting and video games might become repetitive at one point, but chess never will. The total number of legal chess positions after a set of 40 moves is estimated to be at least 10120, an incredibly large number known as Shannon’s Number. Moreover, many information theorists believe that chess may never be solved by feasible technology, or rather it will never be known whether chess is a definite win, loss, or draw. With such features, chess will always be a mysterious game, shrouded by limitless opportunity. Chess has been played for thousands of years and will be played for thousands of years more. The game is a never-ending adventure full of surprises.

With chess being over a thousand years old, many people might argue that it is a game of the past, and not many people continue to enjoy it today. Despite its immense age, chess is still incredibly popular and has adapted to the digital age by moving online to appeal to the masses. For example, the most popular chess sites Chess.com and Lichess both support millions of users daily, and Twitch streamers like GMHikaru often stream chess to hundreds of thousands of viewers in total! Additionally, PogChamps, a chess tournament including many famous internet celebrities, and The Queen’s Gambit, a Netflix original that focuses on the life of a chess child prodigy, brought a great influx of new players to the game. All in all, chess consists of an incredibly large community of players united by the same passion: to get better at a game with friends.

Chess is a perfect hobby for almost anyone, but it also imparts some amazing benefits. Though intelligence is not required, chess can give many educational benefits to its players: a study on the benefits of practicing the game claims that the game helps players strengthen their reasoning skills, problem-solving skills, and pattern recognition through extensive practice as major portions of chess rely on the calculation of several lines or strings of moves and recognizing patterns in the structure of the pieces on the board (Gliga, Fotinica, and Flesner). These skills are fundamental to critical thinking, meaning anyone can gain something from playing the game for a little while everyday. 

With so much extra time nowadays, anyone can get a good start on learning the game immediately. Even a few minutes a day doing chess puzzles seriously boosts your brain activity and your chess skills. Anyone can enjoy the game regardless of their skill level. For this reason, hundreds of millions appreciate the hobby despite not being grandmasters. So make a free account on a popular chess site, watch your favorite people stream the game, and join interactive communities united by a burning passion to start your own chess adventure.

Works Cited

Bilalić, Merim, et al. “Does Chess Need Intelligence? – A Study with Young Chess Players.” Intelligence, JAI, 30 Oct. 2006, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289606001139. 

Gliga, Fotinica, and Petru Iulian Flesner. “Cognitive Benefits of Chess Training in Novice Children.” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 11 Mar. 2014, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814003450.