CHENNAI: At the chess World Championship in Singapore, one senior journalist was asked to leave the arena because 'you keep talking'. At Norway Chess, casual fans had to keep exiting the arena to understand if games were about to finish. They had access to live boards but of course the eval bar was switched off.
At the ongoing Chennai Grand Masters, a ticketed event, the priciest ones set you back `3500 (VIP ticket) to watch Sagar Shah and his guests discuss games in real time. The eval bar is available on tap. They are also allowed full time access to the playing hall but sans phones. To see them, first, they will have to deposit their mobile phones, walk through a corridor before entering the playing hall. There, they will again be asked to 'maintain silence'.
It's basically one of chess' biggest quirks. You pay for the privilege of watching the world's best but you won't be allowed to behave like a normal match-going fan. If you like to shout, chess may not be the game for you. For decades, the game's organisers have been fine with this attitude. With respect to noise from inside the playing hall, it's like Wimbledon on steroids in terms of decorum and etiquette.
2025, though, has seen a few disruptors wanting to challenge that particular status quo. The Las Vegas -- staying true to the loud and gaudy nature of the place — leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam was a crystal ball into the game's future, or at least one version. There were fans inside the Stadium with access to live commentary and eval bar. Players had access to noise-cancellation headphones.
It was like the chess world had channeled the blingiest version of themselves and marketed it. Not every player liked it. Fabiano Caruana, one of the best in the game, hated it.
The Las Vegas event, though, was just an appetiser. The main event came at the eSports World Cup in Riyadh two weeks ago. The chess was loud, the format was crazy (10 minutes and zero increments), the games were super fast and it was atmospheric. An adjective that's seldom been used in a chess setting.
It started another round of debates on whether chess can become a spectator sport. Nihal Sarin, one of the many elite players part of the inaugural eSports World Cup, replied in the affirmative. "For chess to grow," Sarin said, "that is exactly what it needs, a huge audience. A sport needs money to grow and for that you need an audience. For now, chess is not a spectator sport. This (eWC) was a great initiative."
Arjun Erigaisi, who finished fourth at the eWC, was more guarded in his assessment but he termed it a conditional success. "During the event, I felt this is exactly what needs to happen for chess to become a spectator sport," Erigaisi said."It's more entertaining." One thing the Indian had an issue was with the noise-cancelling headphones. "I disliked players being forced to wear it, I have a problem with headphones so it wasn't ideal."
Headphones, though, are important because players, the theory goes, won't be able to experience the crowd noise. Vincent Keymer, the runaway leader at Chennai Grand Masters, is okay with the crowd inside arena but qualified his statement. "It can work but you first need to get into people's heads that it can work," the German said. "Secondly, you need to make it very appealing to the masses and, at the same time, to keep the conditions such that players can still produce high calibre chess (without feeling distracted).
"You have to find the fine line where both is possible. But it's on a good way and I think once we start having many tournaments, then you get feedback from both tournaments and players."
While there are enough chess aficionados to fill out a playing hall where 'silence please' is stuck everywhere, the game knows it has to expand their footprint. But Anish Giri, another elite player who featured at the eWC, cautioned against making these kind of events the norm. "It is ridiculous and something that looks ridiculous cannot be the main thing," the Dutch GM, who has now drawn six games in Chennai, said. "That being said, I think they positioned the game well. The event stands on its own, it is absolutely fascinating, the prize fund is amazing. There's a qualification system. I really like the event, of course the headphones are a nuisance and the games are very short. If every tournament is like this, then the chess world will have gone in a direction which I don't think I will like."
For the time being, there are only a couple of disruptors. By and large, chess fans will have to deposit their phones in the 'locker', and tip-toe while inside the playing hall. But as the events in Las Vegas and Riyadh showed, there's a growing appetite to market the board game in a different manner.
Results (Rd 6)
Masters: Vidit Gujrathi drew with Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer drew with Arjun Erigaisi, Jorden van Foreest bt Nihal Sarin, Awonder Liang bt V Pranav, Karthikeyan Murali drew with Ray Robson
Challengers: Adhiban Baskaran bt Diptayan Ghosh, Leon Mendonca bt Aryan Chopra, M Pranesh bt Abhimanyu Puranik, D Harika bt R Vaishali P Iniyan drew with Harshvardhan GB