Is it just me or chess isn't the same anymore?

 Hikaru chose fame over chess

No he didn't, he chose to earn a fortune from playing chess by streaming on Twitch, fame was a by-product, he is these days a pro streamer not a pro chess players and given how much he dislikes FIDE and how much he's earning plus being recently married, I imagine he is much happier now than he ever was.

 The rate of cheating here is 5% max, and probably closer to 3% or less. People' false perception of cheating is often just as much of a problem (hello, Vladimir Kramnik!)

Give your head a wobble, don't be so naive, and I concur tournaments it happens more in, cheating is absolutely rampant, the cheating statistics are completely meaningless chess.com can only catch stupid cheaters using cheating software on the browser that they're actually playing the game on, more sophisticated cheaters are using VPN's on their phone either for one or two moves in critical moments or in end games, making them virtually undetectable. Chess.com is a business and these nonsense reports monthly reports by Danny Rench are just for the optics 'look how many we've banned' etc etc. A good example of this is when you watch speed runs of Masters on youtube, where they were beaten by players way below their natural strength but were never banned despite numerous reports by viewers because chess.com's algorithm couldn't detect them. It's for this reason why I don't play Rapid, people have too much time to cheat, I imagine without knowing the stats, that the vast majority of people that are caught cheating, are Rapid players.

I almost lost to a 100 rated player in a tournament but won on time, that's not a typo, he was 100, not 1000. This same player also posted a 97.7% game after 24 moves in another game, but lost on time, he lost of time because he was taking agees to follow the computer moves. I tried to play a dumb gambit against this guy because I thought he's 100, doesn't matter, but then look at the tactic he spotted - at 100 level! https://www.chess.com/game/live/127530000985, I reported him as clearly cheating, but yet again their detection team couldn't detect him cheating. His accuracy after 25 moves was 99.6% !!!

... other legends somehow disappeared. They're not the same anymore, which is ruining chess for me, and for most of the chess fans. May be you're a little new to chess and you think "What's wrong with this guy, chess is fun for me" but for me, it used to be 3 times more fun. It was when watching legends play was more fun ...

 Hikaru chose fame over chess

No he didn't, he chose to earn a fortune from playing chess by streaming on Twitch, fame was a by-product, he is these days a pro streamer not a pro chess players and given how much he dislikes FIDE and how much he's earning plus being recently married, I imagine he is much happier now than he ever was.

 The rate of cheating here is 5% max, and probably closer to 3% or less. People' false perception of cheating is often just as much of a problem (hello, Vladimir Kramnik!)

Give your head a wobble, don't be so naive, and I concur tournaments it happens more in, cheating is absolutely rampant, the cheating statistics are completely meaningless chess.com can only catch stupid cheaters using cheating software on the browser that they're actually playing the game on, more sophisticated cheaters are using VPN's on their phone either for one or two moves in critical moments or in end games, making them virtually undetectable. Chess.com is a business and these nonsense reports monthly reports by Danny Rench are just for the optics 'look how many we've banned' etc etc. A good example of this is when you watch speed runs of Masters on youtube, where they were beaten by players way below their natural strength but were never banned despite numerous reports by viewers because chess.com's algorithm couldn't detect them. It's for this reason why I don't play Rapid, people have too much time to cheat, I imagine without knowing the stats, that the vast majority of people that are caught cheating, are Rapid players.

I almost lost to a 100 rated player in a tournament but won on time, that's not a typo, he was 100, not 1000. This same player also posted a 97.7% game after 24 moves in another game, but lost on time, he lost of time because he was taking agees to follow the computer moves. I tried to play a dumb gambit against this guy because I thought he's 100, doesn't matter, but then look at the tactic he spotted - at 100 level! https://www.chess.com/game/live/127530000985, I reported him as clearly cheating, but yet again their detection team couldn't detect him cheating. His accuracy after 25 moves was 99.6% !!!

Do you often invent fake stats ? It's probably much more than 5%. There are many cheaters, at all levels.

Magnus or not, the game is far from dead.

It's common to have chess idols, and to feel that chess has "moved on" in a worse direction, once those idols aren't playing anymore.

Imagine how I felt when, first learning as a kid, my chess idols were Kasparov and Karpov and their epic rivalry, whose games I followed through my first chess books ... (The first game I ever saw in print was a Kasparov vs. Karpov game).

I learned in the early 90s, when their rivalry had just ended, and their time in chess was just about done. So for a while, I felt a bit lost as a chess fan. So I understand the feeling.

But chess marches on. And a new chess idol will arrive, in time. Or perhaps he already has ...

Making up stats to feed your narrative is not the good way to argue. Bye bye

look at the tactic he spotted - at 100 level! https://www.chess.com/game/live/127530000985, I reported him as clearly cheating, but yet again their detection team couldn't detect him cheating. His accuracy after 25 moves was 99.6% !!!

I remember watching Magnus vs Nepo match. I watched all 14 games live. I also watched the longest game which lasted hours, and even though I wasn't that good at chess at the time, it was fun to watch all that 14 games.

But to be honest, I only watched 2 or 3 games of Ding vs Gukesh. What I mean by "watched" is just analyzing the game after it ends, usually I was just checking the result and not even taking a look at the game. The reason is simple, it wasn't really fun to watch them.

Of course that wasn't going to be fun, because Ding Liren was stressed and depressed for no reason and for me, watching Gukesh isn't fun. His play style is very boring to me. None of them played that strong. If we say Fabiano or Nepo in the finals, not much would change, but at least I'd watch all the games because that would be fun. Nepo/Caruana are legendary players and it's always fun to watch them, unlike Gukesh.

I just saw Gukesh win the World Champion title and my reaction was like "Oh, well, good job" and nothing else. Believe it or not, chess is slowly dying and I know only one person who could bring back chess... That name is Magnus. 

After Magnus stopped playing and after he withdrew from World Championship, chess changed a lot. Seeing Gukesh and Ding in the world's biggest chess competition is also one of the signs saying that chess is dying.

And here are all the reasons why chess started dying:

- Classic time control started to get boring...

As a professional, it's not boring for me to watch classic chess, because I can see what they're trying to do, or at least I can understand something. I can guess most of the moves and I calculate the deep Grandmaster positions, which might be fun. But for non-professionals, it's not the same. They just watch the game and don't understand anything, and classic games last hours, so only professionals can enjoy classic chess. "It is the same for rapid" - no it isn't, because rapid games aren't going as deep as classic games and rapid is much faster, so it's more enjoyable to watch, for non-professionals. Also, the world is getting modern, everything is getting faster, most people aren't patient enough to watch the whole classic game, so I think Chess could also get a little faster and rapid could become the main time control.

- Magnus stopped playing...

Sounds like that is not related with chess getting boring, but it really is. Magnus has a unique playing style, everyone enjoys watching his games. Some people doesn't even watch his games, but just like him as a personality, he is the real GOAT of chess. And after Magnus said that he withdraws from being the World Champion, chess started getting boring as Liren became the World Champion. Don't get me wrong, Liren is also a very strong player, but he became very depressive, so everyone knew whoever wins Candidates tournament can easily defeat Liren and become the World Champion. Which is the reason why it wasn't fun to watch it. Nobody was rooting for anyone. Most people were like "I want Liren to win because I don't know who Gukesh is". But it wasn't the same when Magnus and Nepo was playing each other.

- Cheaters...

Cheating at chess gets easier every day. They find many methods, and it's the same for both online and OTB tournaments, which is slowly ruining chess. In a few years, it would be almost impossible to stop cheaters. A few years ago there weren't as much cheaters as today.

- There are no GOATs left...

May be one of the main reasons why chess used to be fun was that we had favorite chess players. I can't imagine how happy I was when I took a photo with Fabiano. I remember I had a few favorite chess players. Magnus, Nepo, Fabiano... Not only them, but there were so many legendary players. I remember how excited people were when they see Magnus and Hikaru/Nepo playing. Richard Rapport, Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Anish Giri, Levon and there were many other legendary players. Where are they now?!

Magnus stopped playing. Hikaru chose fame over chess. Radjabov chose money and politics over chess. Mamedyarov started getting older, Rapport couldn't reach his peak. And all other legends somehow disappeared. They're not the same anymore, which is ruining chess for me, and for most of the chess fans. May be you're a little new to chess and you think "What's wrong with this guy, chess is fun for me" but for me, it used to be 3 times more fun. It was when watching legends play was more fun than just playing bullet.

And to be honest, there are not that strong players left anymore. Nepo is already lost mentally, same for Liren. May be Fabiano can do something, but not sure. May be any other young players such as Nodirbek. But right now, even the World Champion Gukesh isn't fun to watch, and personaly, I don't think he is a legend.

How could chess "revive"?

1 - Magnus should return. 

He quit chess because "Chess got boring" for him and he is true. 

2 - Rapid should be the main time control. 

Classic chess is for real getting boring these days.

3 - Chess sites should find a way to stop cheaters. 

Cheaters are ruining the true chess experience.

4 - Chess sites should get better. 

Lichess is free, not laggy, but full of cheaters and arrogant staff members. Chess.com is laggy, not free and I see more ads than the chess board itself. There should be a new opponent. 

These are all my thoughts about chess getting boring. If you have anything you want to add, or if you don't agree, you can leave a comment because I'd like to know what everyone else think about that. 

Have a nice day!

I had a similar experience to the OP. However, I wouldn't attribute it to what he did. Firstly, who came before Magnus? Kasparov. Who came before him? Fisher. Etc. Magnus is not the sole reason chess has been interesting for thousands of years, and he has every right to retire with a very fleshed out career behind him. I agree better with the statement: We are experiencing a transition period. I didn't find the WCC remotely interesting this time either. But I don't find it to be Magnus' fault. Rather, I've taken some steps away from chess as I reached my goal of 2000 Rapid, and I find that to be my reasoning for a lack of interest. For others, I'm assuming it might have to do with the statement I provided above.