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 agree with this, but also, I think that they shouldn’t make the world championship candidates win certain tournaments, I think that instead of having someone who maybe isn’t even in the top 20 chess players have a chance of being world champion, it should be that the top 10 chess players go against each other in a tournament and whoever wins is the world champion
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.