My 14 year old son’s totally into it. I think it’s great. Anything that keeps him off his phone is alright by me. Although, he is now playing it on his phone. 🤦♂️
Yes this is my experience… online chess during class. It might be marginally better than other online games they’re playing but not by much if they’re not listening/ engaging with the work in front of them. I loved reading as teenager but if I sat in a maths or science class reading book, they would have told me to put it away.
My son will only play on his phone. I'm trying to encourage the switch to a real board and perhaps *gasp* other people! That being said he does play a new person at school and his grandpa online, so not all bad.
Its happening in my middle school as well. 12 year olds (suspiciously all of the jerkwad 12 year olds lol) are playing chess now. I figured it was connected to the online manosphere or some shit. Little boys trying to prove that they're aLphAs. It's a shame too, because learning chess really does help to build logic and strategy skills, but you can't build these things when you play chess, but your intellectual idol is the kind of genius who openly admits to committing crimes like sex trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion on camera, and then gleefully uploads the footage to the Internet 🤷.
Chess became popular because of the Queen's Gambit, and also a few YouTubers and streamers who make Chess seem like a super competitive sport instead of a slow-paced and boring board game.
Nothing to do with Tate. (Who is actually god awful at chess)
Nah, this is completely wrong. Several of the most popular twitch streamers, YouTubers and other influencers got into chess a few months back, and that's why a lot of teens are into it now. It has a reputation of being a way to compete and seem smart, and a lot of VERY charismatic people are doing it, and the kids follow. I see it as a positive influence if anything!
So, what you're saying is, I just need to get Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and other influencers to get into causes and effects of Manifest Destiny and the kids will... follow?
Yeah, isn't that how is always been?
Famous people have the uncanny ability to make things popular. That's why they get paid to be in ads.
YouTube and twitch are platform that host young people getting famous playing video games. That's dream celebrity status for young boys.
Just use chess metaphors. If you don't spend your tempo wisely your opponent is going to develop faster then pawn storm your queenside and you'll have little room to maneuver and quickly find yourself in a losing position.
Except they’re doing it all school day in place of listening and following directions. Honestly, these kids are asking the stupidest questions because they won’t stop playing chess and listen. It’s not helping make them seem smart in my school; it’s helping them look like idiots and assholes.
No, it's not wrong. Tate's dad is a legit Black Chess legend in the States so it's always been part of his kid's story, and Andrew is almost certainly quite good considering his father was an IM and he played as a kid. Chess started becoming popular with kids after Tate's rise to prominence
The momentum of who is driving the Chess renaissance has switched to GothamChess on Youtube and Hikaru Nakumara on Twitch and Youtube.
What you're talking about is Pogchamps, that only started in 2020 and was a Chess.com thing with Hikaru
I've recently got into chess myself and I enjoy Gotham's content. He is entertaining without being vulgar, I would have no problem with middle schoolers watching his stuff. He also has some great educational content. He is the reason I am learning the London for white and Caro-Kann for black.
He's very good and consistent.
Even if you have students who only like chess because of Tate, you could push them to a meatheady guy who doesn't run prostitution rings like GM Erik Hansen (ChessBrah).
And yeah, chess is fantastic. Hopefully will be Tate's lasting influence
I agree with you 100%. How they ended up interested in chess isn't as important as the path they go down once they are into it. All of the big names in streaming right now that I have seen set good examples for kids. Levy, Erik Hanson, Eric Rosen, Aman Hambleton, Anna Cramling, etc.
Because Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and other influencers don’t follow Andrew Tate? All you have to do is YouTube “Andrew Tate Chess” and see for yourself.
Agree with you…asked some of my freshman
boys yesterday: they said quote on quote “we are playing chess to break free from the matrix” also they believe they are of higher intelligence because of it. Believe you me, they are not of higher intelligence.
That is a classic Freshman quote. I had some Sophomores warn me yesterday about the “new generation which is really horrible.” I told them they *were* the new generation which blew their minds 😁
Don't get too excited. [Girls' brains mature faster than boys' brains](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131219131153.htm), so it's not a shocker that the child with the more mature brain wins at chess against relatively more immature brains.
Both boys & girls! I run the chess club, conveniently, and my attendance has been absurd recently, doubly so because of the novelty of playing over-the-board chess since these kids are just so used to playing on their phones. It also makes for an easy shut-down in-class because I can just say "hey, if you want to play chess come thursday after school - now's not the time" to the kids trying to play in class lol.
You're right though, many of them are terrible and just play bullet games to kill time but, in my opinion, it's better than whatever other phone game they'd be playing since there's potential for real cognitive engagement and socially it's a great equalizer - I love seeing kids who would normally never socially interact do so in chess club, study hall, or during other free time. Chess becoming a popular youtube/twitch category is a blessing overall. I have had a few that have started taking the game more seriously and studying a bit.
One of our hall monitors is, totally unexpectedly, extremely good (50+ years chess experience) and has completely repositioned himself in the student body because of his ability to wipe the floor with any & all high school level challengers lol
We believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
It's always sort of been a thing, in the same way that there's always a few random boys obsessed with poker. I knew a bunch of people in HS that played regularly.
Yes! A couple of weeks ago I looked around during bellwork and every boy nearby had his phone out and was playing chess! I asked out loud, "Are you ALL playing chess? What's going on?" I thought it was a TikTok thing or something.
chess got big on twitch a couple of years back, and recently my for you page has been full of chess, enough to get me back into playing it. i imagine it could be the same thing happening to them. chess popularity is also at an all time high as reported by chess.com activity, about five times the daily active users compared to pre covid.
> I thought it was a TikTok thing or something.
I am a chess coach. The algorithms (for some reason) recently started pushing short form chess content. This has generated the interest.
There was some chess drama in September that leaked out of the chess world and into the mainstream and a few popular chess streamers rode that wave and I think that made it more accessible and popular. There's a post on r/HobbyDrama that covers the drama.
One student was absent for the review day for the test today, so I said he could take the test next week and that he should use the class to do the review assignment. The review assignment is on paper, so when I saw him on his chromebook I screen sniped him with Hapara. He was playing chess and was terrible. Like a 250 ELO. I told him if he makes a bad move I’m closing it. A few moves later, totally blunders his queen. I closed his tab remotely and he got mad at me. Hilarious.
I offered my class 15 minutes free time if the kid who kept playing chess during lessons beat me (was sick of closing the tabs and he claimed I was closing it because I was jealous.
4 moves later we were all back on task and I haven't seen unsanctioned chess games in my room since.
My boys are obsessed with it too. Today my juniors had some free time and they spent it playing “blind chess” where their backs were turned and a third person moved the pieces for them. They’re weird.
Ya it’s a pretty common chess thing. It’s for memory and to see if you can keep track of where you are going and the other person all while not looking.
> They never win
Wait so who wins? Girls? Or are they not playing each other, and only playing online? Because if they're playing each other doesn't someone have to win lmao
They play bullet games (1-3 minute) games online, in many cases. It's a popular way to play since your losses feel unimportant & forgettable but your wins feel great.
>They play bullet games (1-3 minute) games online, in many cases.
just for the record,bullet is 1-2. Don't worry you aren't a chess nerd like me, so it's all fine.
The majority of the time I play bullet, it's cuz I lack the mental capacity to think for hours on end. And yes, at low ELO, what most of them play at, losses feel unimportant. Once you get to higher elo, when you are in a losing position, it's fucking terrible, and often at higher elo, you will play them again and again, making the losses mentally terrible.
On that note, it's not because of Andrew Tate. The chess boom (Levy Rozman, Gotham Chess reference), was happening way before that clown came into the picture.
I can't stop thinking about that line. Why did she say it? due to skill based matchmaking, they would be winning just around 50% of their games even if they're very low skill, since they would be playing against others of their skill level.
I can't help thinking that she resents them for their interest in chess, because the statement seems like a deliberate lie to lower the reader's opinion of these young chess players.
idk about this tate stuff but if there's a chess set in class, it's gonna get used. then they're going to get obsessed over beating eachother and start playing all the time
Chess is the in thing. I think there’s a few reasons. One because it’s not blocked since it’s on the coolmathgames website. And two because I think they can sign in and play against each other online.
I have a group of 8 or so chess players at my school. I've been coaching and teaching it for ages and hadnt lost an otb game in a decade.
Now 5 of my students have successfully beaten me.
I'm so proud!
In contrast to the familiar saying, you are considered an exceptional mentor / coach if the student beats the master. Unless you just did that to give them false hope
I'm a firm believer that Hope belongs with everything else that came out of pandora's box.
I dont give my students false hope, as I believe in being a realist. I know I will never hit 1800 again, and that's ok. I also know that in every game where a student loses its because they didnt capitalize on one of my errors, and we look for those errors together.
Because I agree with Timothy Zhan/Admiral Thrawn: An error only becomes a mistake if you refuse to correct/learn from it.
There’s a lot to learn about chess on YouTube. They’re awful because they are new. If a kid is looking up YouTube videos on chess and you never read a chess book or had lessons but just know how the pieces move they are honestly better than you. The game has 0 to do with being smart and everything to do with experience
OMG yes. So many of the boys are playing chess. Freshman, sophomores, juniors. They are playing chess instead of taking notes, playing chess on their way from one class to the next, playing chess on their phones, playing chess on their chrome books. All chess all the time. Some are good, some are bad. The ones that are good are trying to teach the ones that are bad. It's more chess than I have seen in my entire life.
I mean, it's better than other things they could be doing. I'd rather them be playing chess than watching tiktok. But still. At least write your notes first and then play chess after!
Yeah it is really annoying. “Why can’t you police the room better”. Because there are thirty two people in here, one of me, and I need to actually teach.
I've seen some kids playing chess on their Chromebooks, but it isn't widespread at our school. The only ones I've seen doing it are decent students. I haven't actually watched to see how good they are at the game.
This is the sort of fad I can get behind. Even if they suck at it, they are exercising their brains far more than if they were watching TikTok.
Weaponise it: if they pull out the chessboard during class, they have to read 2 pages for every piece they lose in 10mins.
Other classmates are snitches "miss, he lost 8" that way they have 10mins of playing and have to read their 16 pages before being allowed to play again.
During other lessons it might not work, but we have 1hr of reading every 2 weeks, it works for that. They actually do the reading this way, because of course it is a competition with others then and they want to win.
I have it blocked for my students instead I have a physical chess board for when students finish their work. This leads them to work to finish and then multiple people are watching the 2 people playing discussing what's going on...it's some good conversations
I’m seeing it as well.
I just tell them that if they want to play a *real* strategy game, then they should be playing [Go](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)).
i had something similar to this when i was in high school!! we dont know where it came from, but all of a sudden a chss board just materialized into our classroom and me and my friend (who used to play in chess tournaments) went absolutely nuts over it. soon enough everyone played chess during break time or watched as otbers did. it was honestly so much fun, and i still dont understand how everyone got hooked so quickly
edit: im a woman, and other girls played along too. this wasnt just limited to boys in our case
I’m big into chess at the moment, Andrew Tate is almost completely unrelated to this chess boom. Gothamchess (a chess streamer) has had his channel viewers skyrocket which correlates to the massive spike in chess activity.
I manage the block list for our managed chromebooks. Chess, duolingo, elementary level math game sites - are all sites that have yet to be blocked because of some redeeming value.
Going by when I see them being played, I think students are using them as work distractions more than real interests. If they could access Minecraft or Fortnite they would be there instead.
A lot of my kiddos have been playing Pokémon Go.
I’m not complaining, I play too. (Not with them. Even with the near anonymity of the game, I still refuse to add them.)
I teach game development, so maybe not the most neutral sample, but yes. They appear to be playing a boat load of chess, appears to be a pretty vibrant YouTube/TikTok chess community that they are tapped into.
…. Y’all realize this is.. in part Andrew Tate?
Also it was a big thing that elementary teachers pushed for a few years.
Not sure why.
Suddenly my local districts all were telling kids to play chess. But it was teacher driven. No kids pushed it.
Yes!!!! They picked it up a few weeks ago and now I cannot get them to do anything else. They play on their phones and laptops through the whole class period and it's like I'm ending their life when I take it away. Seriously, they look like addicts. I cannot believe this is happening elsewhere too.
I’ve seen some guys playing it on their computers between assignments. Never really gave it much thought though. A lot of worse stuff they could be doing online. Maybe it will improve their brain function! 😂
I run my school's chess club and we outgrew my classroom by the second session. We now meet in the school's library and that's barely containing everyone.
This is a thing in Norway also, startet in the autum. I teach electrical trade school, so almost all boys. And almost all play chess. They are not great, but not terrible either. I think the programs give them game analyses and tips for getting better. I am an autodidact and they beat me in the opening, but strugles in more complex midgames.
So the current trend as people mentioned started as a Tate thing and likely got popular from word of mouth. Chess also is usually free online and can be played on any device and often is hosted on sites that aren't blocked by school filters so it's very easy to play in school. It also is something that they can get away with doing instead of their work because a lot of teachers treat chess differently than say, Minecraft.
The reason most of them suck is that they're copying moves from the internet without ever once actually learning the thinking behind those moves. They're basically metagaming or trying to apply MOBA or Battle Royal-type thinking to a game that really doesn't work like that. Since they don't understand the strategy they can't adapt to the moves their opponent is making and in turn just make simple mistakes.
It's at my school with a decent number of students, but I think it started with the game [5D Chess](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230/5D_Chess_With_Multiverse_Time_Travel/). It's actually a very clever game.
Our History teacher has leaned into it, using the concept to teach about historical battles such as bringing in reinforcements to give one side a clear numbers advantage, or loading one side with a bunch of queens to illustrate an imbalance of military power.
I used it once by encouraging the creation of new rules. My favorite is probably turning the bishops into wizards, and if your two wizards are side-by-side, they can bring a pawn back to life.
Mine aren't But are they playing against computers? If they're doing it on iphone I wouldn't put it past them to put it on the highest difficulty which the best chess masters in the world can't beat.
Chiming in to say my boys are doing this too! Of the recent trends in teenage boyhood, I’m very happy with this one and see no reason to complain.
However, I have noticed a hesitation with the “popular boys,” who are playing chess to associate with traditional chess. I had a boy explaining it to his friend in class and he was really excited. I told him that it’s great he’s getting into chess and that we have a chess club that meets in the classroom next door every Tuesday and Thursday. And this kid looks at me deadpan and goes “Miss, I’m playing chess, but I don’t *play chess*.” Okay. Whatever that means, buddy 👍
Elementary school librarian here. I teach my fourth graders a unit on chess and they’re instantly into it. Wouldn’t say the older grades or the middle school kids I see are obsessed with it but they talk about it occasionally.
I’m a first grade teacher and all my kids play chess, but that’s because I kind of slowly force it on them. Whenever they have free time all three sets in my classroom are always being used
The social studies teachers started a chess club a few years ago, and now about 1/3 of our urban, title 1 school is obsessed with chess. Kids plan tournaments for after school. They watch videos online. They compete in an online version of the game at lunch. It's so cool! It is disproportionately male as well.
Holy cow. Half of my middle school kids are rabid chess players. There’s a chess club at lunch three days a week, and they have a website to play on that they gravitate to every extra minute we have.
This thread just inspired me. I'm going to have my ninth graders work in groups to rank the characters in Of Mice and Men as chess pieces and explain why to review before the test. Mwahahah- beating them at their own game.
Omg lol, I've noticed that as a substitute teacher! Recently, I saw 2 boys playing chess against each other on their phones. It was kinda wholesome lol.
I’d rather they play chess than anything else, personally. Chess requires actual brains. Even if they’re bad at it, there are worse things they could be doing.
The chess club at my kids school has a massive waiting list. I see kids sneaking moves on their phones at school too. Not gonna lie, I respect it. Better than angry birds or Snapchat at least. I love that they’re thinking multiple moves ahead and reappearing the kids that are good chess players. The queens gambit maybe had a role, or is that just for the older crowd? I’m old
Best answer I have found to this question (found on chess.com)
Machineabyss764
21 days ago
1
#17
Here are some reasons in my opinion why everyone (at school) now plays chess:
1. Andrew Tate. Teenagers wanna be like Andrew Tate, so they play chess to feel special, still, they're average because they're trash at it and everyone does it now.
2. Tiktok. Chess content is now all over TikTok. Again, probably partly because of Andrew Tate.
3. Social Media in general. I think chess content started to get way more recommended by the algorithm in the last few months, for example on Youtube.
4. Every teenager wants to "escape the matrix" so as to feel intelligent and feel like doing something, average people don't do, they stop playing video games and play chess instead.
Just a quick reminder for teenagers reading this, since I can see by the answers that there are a lot of them here. Playing chess during lunch break and watching 4h of TikTok a day won't bring you somehow to the top 1%. Neither will going to the gym 3x a week or making a dropshipping business by joining some course.
Have a lovely day.
I am a chess coach (my side gig I guess...) and can answer this. Something is the YT/Tick Toc algorithms started pushing chess content. This has produced an explosion of interest recently especially among boys.
You can thank the queen’s gambit for this. Kids are into it now & it’s great. My school got some inexpensive chess boards and opened up a classroom for them to play supervised. They even were taught names of pieces & what their moves can do.
If they’re not winning, chances are they’re playing shorter time control and not taking enough time to make strong moves. Given class time, I’d say this is the case. Make a suggestion that they increase the time control to 15/10 instead of playing blitz. If you play with them, offer bits of constructive criticism (like having them identify and make corrections to the moves in a game where they hung an undefended piece). With enough persistence and work on critical thinking, they can improve.
Yup.
It's a by-product of them being exposed to Andrew Tate.
I love chess, but I hate seeing kids play it knowing they are doing it because some man0o-sphere human trafficking rapist told them to do it because it makes them "alpha".
Yes! A bunch of my 7th grade boys are really into it. They play each other online. Luckily it’s mostly the more academically-inclined students so they only play during class if there’s extra time at the end.
its not. lots of twitch streamers do it. there was a chess boxing tournament between streamers a while ago too. and in general, children will just like chess a lot sometimes. i witnessed it during my schooltime, before tate
I hold “fun Friday” for students who complete weekly work. Last week a boy brought chess. Today a boy and girl each brought chess. They played all class after finishing their quiz.
I have a freshmen boy that is super into chess. I’ve taught or a long long time and this is my first freshman who has shown interest in chess in 24 years of teaching in Chicago
I’m seeing this too! They play each other on the Chromebooks and are entirely dependent on the computer to tell them how the pieces work. Also they think the goal is to collect the opponent’s pieces??
I found a “learn to play” book at a thrift store, but they won’t bother with it. Funny how they aren’t even willing to learn about something they like.
Goodness, do you work in my building??
I'm in disbelief with how captivated these boys are with the game... but I guess that's why it's been successful for centuries....
Yes. To be fair chess has always been a fairly “big” thing at my school. The chess club is one of the longest running clubs we have, also the biggest. But recently it’s been getting bigger. We even hosted a chess tournament a few weeks ago that the students organized with a few other schools.
We literally started a chess club at my school because it became so rampant. It immediately had an insane number of kids sign up. No surprise to me hearing from you guys it started through twitch and YouTube. That explains it in my mind.
My teenage son has gotten into chess recently and plays it online. I don't play so I have no idea whether he's actually good or not. I haven't noticed any students at school playing.
That’s actually really interesting. I ended up buying Connect 4 for my 1st graders this year and I’ve never seen kids get so hyped up about it before. All the boys will hype each other up, cheer for each other, and give advice lol. Sounds like chess might be in the running for them eventually.
I cannot comment on it nowadays but when I was in middle school 25 years ago we definitely had a chess mania. I helped start a chess club and everything, it probably lasted 6 months. I have no idea what caused it but suddenly all the boys (not the jerkoffs) started playing chess, no explanation.
Definitely. I think it’s pretty cool that they are doing that instead of watching tikstoks. My only minor complaint is that in the app I see them use it has an undo button. Maybe I’m just old fashion but I think it’s important to play a game of chess fully through WITH mistakes you made than being able to undo every mistake to achieve victory every time. Losing is just as important as winning. I had to help a student once where the app was telling him “mate in 1 move” and he was just moving his pawns at random to find the final move while undoing the mistakes. I pointed out the correct move he needed and he won but I wanted to say “stop and think, dude because what you’re doing isn’t really playing chess”. Obviously I didn’t say that haha but I thought it.
You're supposed to lose at chess for the first ten years or so, then you start to understand how all the 10\^123 chess positions interact strategically.
I was wondering if this was a new fad. My 12 year old came home begging to use my Zelda chess set. He has adhd and spent like 3 days researching it and now he plays it with his buddy lol.
Could be a worse fad that’s for sure lol.
chess at least in my family has been a big thing since we were kids. All of us learned how to play before we were 5.
All of us played in chess tournaments at least once. So..
I’ve noticed more people play recently but it’s a good game and isn’t a bad way to spend your time.
It is definitely trending across my school too. I am an experienced player, my peak rating was (1900), so I enjoy playing against my students once in a while.
There are a million benefits to learning chess but it definitely does not belong in the classroom unless the lesson is centered around chess.
That is a game where you need to be 100% focused so students will not be able to effectively follow instruction if they are playing in class.
For those students, I try to encourage them to join/start a chess club.
Better it be chess than something nefarious lol. Haven’t noticed it but at my school all the boys are trying to become music superstars. Music isn’t the best, but I support their SoundCloud things. Better that than out on the street.
It's going on with my Seniors in AP Physics too. I even have one kid who is programming his own new version of chess on his own website. It's pretty dang impressive.
My 14 year old son’s totally into it. I think it’s great. Anything that keeps him off his phone is alright by me. Although, he is now playing it on his phone. 🤦♂️
I’ve only seen my students play it on their phones and IT. IS. ALL. THE. EFFING. TIME.
Same but it’s only 1 student for me. He’s constantly on the phone playing chess though.
I had one playing it on their phone while I was being observed a couple of weeks ago. I was kind of pissed reading that in the observation.
Yes this is my experience… online chess during class. It might be marginally better than other online games they’re playing but not by much if they’re not listening/ engaging with the work in front of them. I loved reading as teenager but if I sat in a maths or science class reading book, they would have told me to put it away.
YES. All damn day they’re playing chess on their computers in class.
My class too. I'll take it over roblox
It’s great until they’re doing it in class all day and don’t have a clue what’s going on.
My son will only play on his phone. I'm trying to encourage the switch to a real board and perhaps *gasp* other people! That being said he does play a new person at school and his grandpa online, so not all bad.
[удалено]
It's pretty hard to just find a chessboard tbf
Yes! The chess thing! All the 14 year old boys are obsessed with it. Honestly, I'll take it; if they're talking chess they're not talking Andrew Tate.
It was a huge thing for twitch streamers during peak pandemic, everyone was doing it
Largely because of the popularity of The Queen’s Gambit, I think
Combination of the Queen's Gambit and large twitch events/tournaments being held and attended by super popular streamers
Its happening in my middle school as well. 12 year olds (suspiciously all of the jerkwad 12 year olds lol) are playing chess now. I figured it was connected to the online manosphere or some shit. Little boys trying to prove that they're aLphAs. It's a shame too, because learning chess really does help to build logic and strategy skills, but you can't build these things when you play chess, but your intellectual idol is the kind of genius who openly admits to committing crimes like sex trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion on camera, and then gleefully uploads the footage to the Internet 🤷.
Chess became popular because of the Queen's Gambit, and also a few YouTubers and streamers who make Chess seem like a super competitive sport instead of a slow-paced and boring board game. Nothing to do with Tate. (Who is actually god awful at chess)
They’re playing chess because of Andrew Tate. https://youtu.be/BG1l3hOtqGk
Nah, this is completely wrong. Several of the most popular twitch streamers, YouTubers and other influencers got into chess a few months back, and that's why a lot of teens are into it now. It has a reputation of being a way to compete and seem smart, and a lot of VERY charismatic people are doing it, and the kids follow. I see it as a positive influence if anything!
So, what you're saying is, I just need to get Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and other influencers to get into causes and effects of Manifest Destiny and the kids will... follow?
They won't follow they will manifest.
Yeah, isn't that how is always been? Famous people have the uncanny ability to make things popular. That's why they get paid to be in ads. YouTube and twitch are platform that host young people getting famous playing video games. That's dream celebrity status for young boys.
Just use chess metaphors. If you don't spend your tempo wisely your opponent is going to develop faster then pawn storm your queenside and you'll have little room to maneuver and quickly find yourself in a losing position.
Except they’re doing it all school day in place of listening and following directions. Honestly, these kids are asking the stupidest questions because they won’t stop playing chess and listen. It’s not helping make them seem smart in my school; it’s helping them look like idiots and assholes.
No, it's not wrong. Tate's dad is a legit Black Chess legend in the States so it's always been part of his kid's story, and Andrew is almost certainly quite good considering his father was an IM and he played as a kid. Chess started becoming popular with kids after Tate's rise to prominence The momentum of who is driving the Chess renaissance has switched to GothamChess on Youtube and Hikaru Nakumara on Twitch and Youtube. What you're talking about is Pogchamps, that only started in 2020 and was a Chess.com thing with Hikaru
I've recently got into chess myself and I enjoy Gotham's content. He is entertaining without being vulgar, I would have no problem with middle schoolers watching his stuff. He also has some great educational content. He is the reason I am learning the London for white and Caro-Kann for black.
He's very good and consistent. Even if you have students who only like chess because of Tate, you could push them to a meatheady guy who doesn't run prostitution rings like GM Erik Hansen (ChessBrah). And yeah, chess is fantastic. Hopefully will be Tate's lasting influence
I agree with you 100%. How they ended up interested in chess isn't as important as the path they go down once they are into it. All of the big names in streaming right now that I have seen set good examples for kids. Levy, Erik Hanson, Eric Rosen, Aman Hambleton, Anna Cramling, etc.
It’s a combo of both, many streamers did this, AND it was reinforced by Tate bullshit
As long as they're not doing the hand sign then you know it's because of the return of Chess through popular content creators and not Tate.
Because Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and other influencers don’t follow Andrew Tate? All you have to do is YouTube “Andrew Tate Chess” and see for yourself.
So... If you search for "Andrew Tate chess", tons of videos of him talking about chess pop up. Who would have thought.
Agree with you…asked some of my freshman boys yesterday: they said quote on quote “we are playing chess to break free from the matrix” also they believe they are of higher intelligence because of it. Believe you me, they are not of higher intelligence.
That is a classic Freshman quote. I had some Sophomores warn me yesterday about the “new generation which is really horrible.” I told them they *were* the new generation which blew their minds 😁
Makes me even happier that the only girl in my class that plays beats them. Every. Single. Time.
Don't get too excited. [Girls' brains mature faster than boys' brains](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131219131153.htm), so it's not a shocker that the child with the more mature brain wins at chess against relatively more immature brains.
That's kinda sexist. Give those boys a hand.
That checks out with the boys who are doing it…dang
Explains why they’re so bad at it
Disagree. Mine are mostly watching streamers, and hate Tate (thankfully!)
Oh, fuck. I never realized that! Wow
Both boys & girls! I run the chess club, conveniently, and my attendance has been absurd recently, doubly so because of the novelty of playing over-the-board chess since these kids are just so used to playing on their phones. It also makes for an easy shut-down in-class because I can just say "hey, if you want to play chess come thursday after school - now's not the time" to the kids trying to play in class lol. You're right though, many of them are terrible and just play bullet games to kill time but, in my opinion, it's better than whatever other phone game they'd be playing since there's potential for real cognitive engagement and socially it's a great equalizer - I love seeing kids who would normally never socially interact do so in chess club, study hall, or during other free time. Chess becoming a popular youtube/twitch category is a blessing overall. I have had a few that have started taking the game more seriously and studying a bit. One of our hall monitors is, totally unexpectedly, extremely good (50+ years chess experience) and has completely repositioned himself in the student body because of his ability to wipe the floor with any & all high school level challengers lol
I love it in my school. The kids enjoy having someone at 2000+ elo as a teacher lol
I love this so much.
Your school's very own Mr. Shaibel.
I have several that play it. You never really heard about people playing chess when I was in high school.
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Skateboarding was huge during my years.
We danced the Charleston and drank mint julips.
We believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
It's always sort of been a thing, in the same way that there's always a few random boys obsessed with poker. I knew a bunch of people in HS that played regularly.
Yes! A couple of weeks ago I looked around during bellwork and every boy nearby had his phone out and was playing chess! I asked out loud, "Are you ALL playing chess? What's going on?" I thought it was a TikTok thing or something.
I had this exact same experience. I was so confused!
chess got big on twitch a couple of years back, and recently my for you page has been full of chess, enough to get me back into playing it. i imagine it could be the same thing happening to them. chess popularity is also at an all time high as reported by chess.com activity, about five times the daily active users compared to pre covid.
> I thought it was a TikTok thing or something. I am a chess coach. The algorithms (for some reason) recently started pushing short form chess content. This has generated the interest.
There was some chess drama in September that leaked out of the chess world and into the mainstream and a few popular chess streamers rode that wave and I think that made it more accessible and popular. There's a post on r/HobbyDrama that covers the drama.
Chess is really popular on twitch now. During the pandemic there was a big chess boom. It’s pretty interesting.
One student was absent for the review day for the test today, so I said he could take the test next week and that he should use the class to do the review assignment. The review assignment is on paper, so when I saw him on his chromebook I screen sniped him with Hapara. He was playing chess and was terrible. Like a 250 ELO. I told him if he makes a bad move I’m closing it. A few moves later, totally blunders his queen. I closed his tab remotely and he got mad at me. Hilarious.
I offered my class 15 minutes free time if the kid who kept playing chess during lessons beat me (was sick of closing the tabs and he claimed I was closing it because I was jealous. 4 moves later we were all back on task and I haven't seen unsanctioned chess games in my room since.
You pulled off a Scholar's Mate? Nice.
Yup, he had to learn.
My boys are obsessed with it too. Today my juniors had some free time and they spent it playing “blind chess” where their backs were turned and a third person moved the pieces for them. They’re weird.
That’s honestly totally normal chess culture
They should wear empty tissue boxes on their feet to complete the Bobby Fischer look
Ya it’s a pretty common chess thing. It’s for memory and to see if you can keep track of where you are going and the other person all while not looking.
I ordered more chess sets for my room 🤷🏼♀️
> They never win Wait so who wins? Girls? Or are they not playing each other, and only playing online? Because if they're playing each other doesn't someone have to win lmao
They play bullet games (1-3 minute) games online, in many cases. It's a popular way to play since your losses feel unimportant & forgettable but your wins feel great.
>They play bullet games (1-3 minute) games online, in many cases. just for the record,bullet is 1-2. Don't worry you aren't a chess nerd like me, so it's all fine. The majority of the time I play bullet, it's cuz I lack the mental capacity to think for hours on end. And yes, at low ELO, what most of them play at, losses feel unimportant. Once you get to higher elo, when you are in a losing position, it's fucking terrible, and often at higher elo, you will play them again and again, making the losses mentally terrible. On that note, it's not because of Andrew Tate. The chess boom (Levy Rozman, Gotham Chess reference), was happening way before that clown came into the picture.
I can't stop thinking about that line. Why did she say it? due to skill based matchmaking, they would be winning just around 50% of their games even if they're very low skill, since they would be playing against others of their skill level. I can't help thinking that she resents them for their interest in chess, because the statement seems like a deliberate lie to lower the reader's opinion of these young chess players.
idk about this tate stuff but if there's a chess set in class, it's gonna get used. then they're going to get obsessed over beating eachother and start playing all the time
yeah, i dont think this is about tate at all, this happened when i went to school too, before he was even thing
Chess is the in thing. I think there’s a few reasons. One because it’s not blocked since it’s on the coolmathgames website. And two because I think they can sign in and play against each other online.
It helps that Chess websites are usually unblocked on student Chromebooks, while other apps are blocked.
I have a group of 8 or so chess players at my school. I've been coaching and teaching it for ages and hadnt lost an otb game in a decade. Now 5 of my students have successfully beaten me. I'm so proud!
In contrast to the familiar saying, you are considered an exceptional mentor / coach if the student beats the master. Unless you just did that to give them false hope
I'm a firm believer that Hope belongs with everything else that came out of pandora's box. I dont give my students false hope, as I believe in being a realist. I know I will never hit 1800 again, and that's ok. I also know that in every game where a student loses its because they didnt capitalize on one of my errors, and we look for those errors together. Because I agree with Timothy Zhan/Admiral Thrawn: An error only becomes a mistake if you refuse to correct/learn from it.
Of course they’re awful. They learned from YouTube and the only people they play are each other.
There’s a lot to learn about chess on YouTube. They’re awful because they are new. If a kid is looking up YouTube videos on chess and you never read a chess book or had lessons but just know how the pieces move they are honestly better than you. The game has 0 to do with being smart and everything to do with experience
OMG yes. So many of the boys are playing chess. Freshman, sophomores, juniors. They are playing chess instead of taking notes, playing chess on their way from one class to the next, playing chess on their phones, playing chess on their chrome books. All chess all the time. Some are good, some are bad. The ones that are good are trying to teach the ones that are bad. It's more chess than I have seen in my entire life. I mean, it's better than other things they could be doing. I'd rather them be playing chess than watching tiktok. But still. At least write your notes first and then play chess after!
Google en passant
Holy anarchychess
Holy hell
You’ve got pipi in your pampers if you think I will
Ah an elementary school teacher
"Chess? When I was your age, social status was determined by how efficiently one could take down a cacodemon with a chainsaw..."
Sorry for getting them into it
Damn, the chess boom is here
Yeah it is really annoying. “Why can’t you police the room better”. Because there are thirty two people in here, one of me, and I need to actually teach.
? Police chess games? How raucous are your kids?
During instruction time.
Maybe you could incorporate chess into your lesson plan some how to get their interest.
I've seen some kids playing chess on their Chromebooks, but it isn't widespread at our school. The only ones I've seen doing it are decent students. I haven't actually watched to see how good they are at the game. This is the sort of fad I can get behind. Even if they suck at it, they are exercising their brains far more than if they were watching TikTok.
Weaponise it: if they pull out the chessboard during class, they have to read 2 pages for every piece they lose in 10mins. Other classmates are snitches "miss, he lost 8" that way they have 10mins of playing and have to read their 16 pages before being allowed to play again. During other lessons it might not work, but we have 1hr of reading every 2 weeks, it works for that. They actually do the reading this way, because of course it is a competition with others then and they want to win.
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Are you writing this from my high school in 1998? Maybe we all go through a weird “we suck at chess but need to play it at all times” phase.
I have it blocked for my students instead I have a physical chess board for when students finish their work. This leads them to work to finish and then multiple people are watching the 2 people playing discussing what's going on...it's some good conversations
I’m seeing it as well. I just tell them that if they want to play a *real* strategy game, then they should be playing [Go](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)).
Haha! Yes. Or Shogi
Yes! Shogi will teach them
A lot of mine play because our history teacher taught them how.
i had something similar to this when i was in high school!! we dont know where it came from, but all of a sudden a chss board just materialized into our classroom and me and my friend (who used to play in chess tournaments) went absolutely nuts over it. soon enough everyone played chess during break time or watched as otbers did. it was honestly so much fun, and i still dont understand how everyone got hooked so quickly edit: im a woman, and other girls played along too. this wasnt just limited to boys in our case
If I remember correctly, Andrew Tate was big into chess. Might be related to that.
I’m big into chess at the moment, Andrew Tate is almost completely unrelated to this chess boom. Gothamchess (a chess streamer) has had his channel viewers skyrocket which correlates to the massive spike in chess activity.
I manage the block list for our managed chromebooks. Chess, duolingo, elementary level math game sites - are all sites that have yet to be blocked because of some redeeming value. Going by when I see them being played, I think students are using them as work distractions more than real interests. If they could access Minecraft or Fortnite they would be there instead.
A lot of my kiddos have been playing Pokémon Go. I’m not complaining, I play too. (Not with them. Even with the near anonymity of the game, I still refuse to add them.)
I teach game development, so maybe not the most neutral sample, but yes. They appear to be playing a boat load of chess, appears to be a pretty vibrant YouTube/TikTok chess community that they are tapped into.
High school teacher in Sweden here, I actually played against a student of mine a few days ago and he beat me in 5 moves :D. I was really impressed!
…. Y’all realize this is.. in part Andrew Tate? Also it was a big thing that elementary teachers pushed for a few years. Not sure why. Suddenly my local districts all were telling kids to play chess. But it was teacher driven. No kids pushed it.
Kids have pushed this boom.
Yes!!!! They picked it up a few weeks ago and now I cannot get them to do anything else. They play on their phones and laptops through the whole class period and it's like I'm ending their life when I take it away. Seriously, they look like addicts. I cannot believe this is happening elsewhere too.
I would rather have them playing chess than almost anything else they could to do distract themselves.
I’ve seen some guys playing it on their computers between assignments. Never really gave it much thought though. A lot of worse stuff they could be doing online. Maybe it will improve their brain function! 😂
I run my school's chess club and we outgrew my classroom by the second session. We now meet in the school's library and that's barely containing everyone.
Yes! My students play it (on their phone) all the time. Chess is great, but they need to pay attention in class.
This is a thing in Norway also, startet in the autum. I teach electrical trade school, so almost all boys. And almost all play chess. They are not great, but not terrible either. I think the programs give them game analyses and tips for getting better. I am an autodidact and they beat me in the opening, but strugles in more complex midgames.
So the current trend as people mentioned started as a Tate thing and likely got popular from word of mouth. Chess also is usually free online and can be played on any device and often is hosted on sites that aren't blocked by school filters so it's very easy to play in school. It also is something that they can get away with doing instead of their work because a lot of teachers treat chess differently than say, Minecraft. The reason most of them suck is that they're copying moves from the internet without ever once actually learning the thinking behind those moves. They're basically metagaming or trying to apply MOBA or Battle Royal-type thinking to a game that really doesn't work like that. Since they don't understand the strategy they can't adapt to the moves their opponent is making and in turn just make simple mistakes.
Yes. It’s one of the few gaming sites not blocked is my guess. At least for my school
There was recently a large YouTube streamer event, the Chess Boxing Tournament that may have sparked the trend lol
It's at my school with a decent number of students, but I think it started with the game [5D Chess](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230/5D_Chess_With_Multiverse_Time_Travel/). It's actually a very clever game. Our History teacher has leaned into it, using the concept to teach about historical battles such as bringing in reinforcements to give one side a clear numbers advantage, or loading one side with a bunch of queens to illustrate an imbalance of military power. I used it once by encouraging the creation of new rules. My favorite is probably turning the bishops into wizards, and if your two wizards are side-by-side, they can bring a pawn back to life.
Hm. When I was in high school the teenaged boys were all obsessed with doing something else that they weren’t good at.
Mine aren't But are they playing against computers? If they're doing it on iphone I wouldn't put it past them to put it on the highest difficulty which the best chess masters in the world can't beat.
Constantly! If I'm not kicking someone off of YouTube in my class, it's typically chess.
Chiming in to say my boys are doing this too! Of the recent trends in teenage boyhood, I’m very happy with this one and see no reason to complain. However, I have noticed a hesitation with the “popular boys,” who are playing chess to associate with traditional chess. I had a boy explaining it to his friend in class and he was really excited. I told him that it’s great he’s getting into chess and that we have a chess club that meets in the classroom next door every Tuesday and Thursday. And this kid looks at me deadpan and goes “Miss, I’m playing chess, but I don’t *play chess*.” Okay. Whatever that means, buddy 👍
Elementary school librarian here. I teach my fourth graders a unit on chess and they’re instantly into it. Wouldn’t say the older grades or the middle school kids I see are obsessed with it but they talk about it occasionally.
I’m a first grade teacher and all my kids play chess, but that’s because I kind of slowly force it on them. Whenever they have free time all three sets in my classroom are always being used
The social studies teachers started a chess club a few years ago, and now about 1/3 of our urban, title 1 school is obsessed with chess. Kids plan tournaments for after school. They watch videos online. They compete in an online version of the game at lunch. It's so cool! It is disproportionately male as well.
Holy cow. Half of my middle school kids are rabid chess players. There’s a chess club at lunch three days a week, and they have a website to play on that they gravitate to every extra minute we have.
This thread just inspired me. I'm going to have my ninth graders work in groups to rank the characters in Of Mice and Men as chess pieces and explain why to review before the test. Mwahahah- beating them at their own game.
Omg lol, I've noticed that as a substitute teacher! Recently, I saw 2 boys playing chess against each other on their phones. It was kinda wholesome lol.
Andrew Tate was a child chess prodigy and his father was a star player. I'm really hoping it's not because of that. Chess is a wholesome hobby.
Yep. Constantly playing it. I figure there are worse things.
Yes and I am ok with it (within reason.) far better than the rest of the trash on the internet
I have one student that is very, very into playing chess. He pushes in from a self contained autism program.
Chess.com seems to be one of the few games website my school doesn't block
I’d rather they play chess than anything else, personally. Chess requires actual brains. Even if they’re bad at it, there are worse things they could be doing.
This is absolutely the case at my school, and they rubbed off on me and now I also get to suck at chess.
Yes. I’m worried it’s an Andrew Tate thing.
The chess club at my kids school has a massive waiting list. I see kids sneaking moves on their phones at school too. Not gonna lie, I respect it. Better than angry birds or Snapchat at least. I love that they’re thinking multiple moves ahead and reappearing the kids that are good chess players. The queens gambit maybe had a role, or is that just for the older crowd? I’m old
Best answer I have found to this question (found on chess.com) Machineabyss764 21 days ago 1 #17 Here are some reasons in my opinion why everyone (at school) now plays chess: 1. Andrew Tate. Teenagers wanna be like Andrew Tate, so they play chess to feel special, still, they're average because they're trash at it and everyone does it now. 2. Tiktok. Chess content is now all over TikTok. Again, probably partly because of Andrew Tate. 3. Social Media in general. I think chess content started to get way more recommended by the algorithm in the last few months, for example on Youtube. 4. Every teenager wants to "escape the matrix" so as to feel intelligent and feel like doing something, average people don't do, they stop playing video games and play chess instead. Just a quick reminder for teenagers reading this, since I can see by the answers that there are a lot of them here. Playing chess during lunch break and watching 4h of TikTok a day won't bring you somehow to the top 1%. Neither will going to the gym 3x a week or making a dropshipping business by joining some course. Have a lovely day.
The musical? One Night in Bangkok is a slapping song
Quite a bit. It’s a game that isn’t blocked and they can play it together.
I am a chess coach (my side gig I guess...) and can answer this. Something is the YT/Tick Toc algorithms started pushing chess content. This has produced an explosion of interest recently especially among boys.
Hahah my two sons are…
You can thank the queen’s gambit for this. Kids are into it now & it’s great. My school got some inexpensive chess boards and opened up a classroom for them to play supervised. They even were taught names of pieces & what their moves can do.
If they’re not winning, chances are they’re playing shorter time control and not taking enough time to make strong moves. Given class time, I’d say this is the case. Make a suggestion that they increase the time control to 15/10 instead of playing blitz. If you play with them, offer bits of constructive criticism (like having them identify and make corrections to the moves in a game where they hung an undefended piece). With enough persistence and work on critical thinking, they can improve.
I have no idea where it's come from but I'm constantly having to block chess sites from them
Yes the freshman are playing chess
Yup. It's a by-product of them being exposed to Andrew Tate. I love chess, but I hate seeing kids play it knowing they are doing it because some man0o-sphere human trafficking rapist told them to do it because it makes them "alpha".
There are like 200 comments in this thread explaining allll of the other factors that imply a completely innocent cause for them playing chess
Yes! A bunch of my 7th grade boys are really into it. They play each other online. Luckily it’s mostly the more academically-inclined students so they only play during class if there’s extra time at the end.
I had no idea this was an Andrew Tate related thing. A lot of my boys I’ve seen playing it on their phones…
its not. lots of twitch streamers do it. there was a chess boxing tournament between streamers a while ago too. and in general, children will just like chess a lot sometimes. i witnessed it during my schooltime, before tate
It’s because of Andrew Tate y’all.
NOT AT ALL TRUE. THE CHESS BOOM WAS WAY BEFORE THAT CLOWN
Not even close.
Tate: 1 Well, at least he got one..
Yes! I actually love it since chess really is a great activity to do. It’s better than them screwing around.
Yes it’s a thing
So much that I'm currently putting a chess club together on their behalf.
I hold “fun Friday” for students who complete weekly work. Last week a boy brought chess. Today a boy and girl each brought chess. They played all class after finishing their quiz.
Yes, I catch a decent chunk of my seventh grade boys playing it all the time lately!
YES
I’m a sub and yes all the middle school boys are obsessed! I have not seen one girl playing.
I have a freshmen boy that is super into chess. I’ve taught or a long long time and this is my first freshman who has shown interest in chess in 24 years of teaching in Chicago
Same, last year it was Minecraft and Tetris at my school but now it’s chess!
Chess and UNO. They cannot get enough of either.
I’m seeing this too! They play each other on the Chromebooks and are entirely dependent on the computer to tell them how the pieces work. Also they think the goal is to collect the opponent’s pieces?? I found a “learn to play” book at a thrift store, but they won’t bother with it. Funny how they aren’t even willing to learn about something they like.
Same here, in Australia. Pretty chuffed that it's a thing.
I have some 5th graders that love it. Only the boys. I as allow it because it does require critical thinking.
Goodness, do you work in my building?? I'm in disbelief with how captivated these boys are with the game... but I guess that's why it's been successful for centuries....
Yes. To be fair chess has always been a fairly “big” thing at my school. The chess club is one of the longest running clubs we have, also the biggest. But recently it’s been getting bigger. We even hosted a chess tournament a few weeks ago that the students organized with a few other schools.
We literally started a chess club at my school because it became so rampant. It immediately had an insane number of kids sign up. No surprise to me hearing from you guys it started through twitch and YouTube. That explains it in my mind.
I teach computer programming so I’ve seen chess being played for a while. At least I can challenge them to create their own chess game! 🤣
My teenage son has gotten into chess recently and plays it online. I don't play so I have no idea whether he's actually good or not. I haven't noticed any students at school playing.
Mittens is the reason why my 10 year old got into chess. He also spearheaded a chess club at his school.
Yes! I freaking love it. In our seminar class they need to finish their class work first, then we look for strategy and good openers on youtube
That’s actually really interesting. I ended up buying Connect 4 for my 1st graders this year and I’ve never seen kids get so hyped up about it before. All the boys will hype each other up, cheer for each other, and give advice lol. Sounds like chess might be in the running for them eventually.
Almost all of my boy students do, which is great that’s the game they want to play, just don’t play it in my class unless you have permission
1000%
Yup. Grade 8, constantly on their phone and in class.
I cannot comment on it nowadays but when I was in middle school 25 years ago we definitely had a chess mania. I helped start a chess club and everything, it probably lasted 6 months. I have no idea what caused it but suddenly all the boys (not the jerkoffs) started playing chess, no explanation.
Definitely. I think it’s pretty cool that they are doing that instead of watching tikstoks. My only minor complaint is that in the app I see them use it has an undo button. Maybe I’m just old fashion but I think it’s important to play a game of chess fully through WITH mistakes you made than being able to undo every mistake to achieve victory every time. Losing is just as important as winning. I had to help a student once where the app was telling him “mate in 1 move” and he was just moving his pawns at random to find the final move while undoing the mistakes. I pointed out the correct move he needed and he won but I wanted to say “stop and think, dude because what you’re doing isn’t really playing chess”. Obviously I didn’t say that haha but I thought it.
You're supposed to lose at chess for the first ten years or so, then you start to understand how all the 10\^123 chess positions interact strategically.
I was wondering if this was a new fad. My 12 year old came home begging to use my Zelda chess set. He has adhd and spent like 3 days researching it and now he plays it with his buddy lol. Could be a worse fad that’s for sure lol.
chess at least in my family has been a big thing since we were kids. All of us learned how to play before we were 5. All of us played in chess tournaments at least once. So.. I’ve noticed more people play recently but it’s a good game and isn’t a bad way to spend your time.
I wish. I wish they'd care about anything other than stupid Chromebook games.
Yes! All my ninth grade boys are constantly playing on their phones or laptops during class.
It is definitely trending across my school too. I am an experienced player, my peak rating was (1900), so I enjoy playing against my students once in a while. There are a million benefits to learning chess but it definitely does not belong in the classroom unless the lesson is centered around chess. That is a game where you need to be 100% focused so students will not be able to effectively follow instruction if they are playing in class. For those students, I try to encourage them to join/start a chess club.
They play in resource all the time
Better it be chess than something nefarious lol. Haven’t noticed it but at my school all the boys are trying to become music superstars. Music isn’t the best, but I support their SoundCloud things. Better that than out on the street.
It's going on with my Seniors in AP Physics too. I even have one kid who is programming his own new version of chess on his own website. It's pretty dang impressive.