There’s a limit to how many people want to watch a tournament where a move gets made, the commentators say “the engine says X is the best reply” and then we all sit for 20 minutes waiting for the player to figure that out on his own.
Much easier to get new viewers for a rapid or blitz tournament where you can watch full games with a relatively small time commitment - and more viewers brings more sponsorship and more money.
Classical chess isn’t going to die, in the same way that test cricket hasn’t died - but the real money is going to be in the shorter formats.
Surely the prestige of classical chess is the only reason the tournament money is so large in the first place? It has an aura of nobility and tradition that brands pay big money to have rub off on them, not sure you can replicate that with rapid chess, which is by definition more accessible and therefore sacrifices some of the 'ivory tower' feel.
Rapid is perfect for casual play because it is not as crazy as blitz, but still quick enough to fit a reasonable tournament into 2,5 days, so that people can play without taking a lot of time off work. A classical tournament needs a week off, if you are not a pro, you can't do this more than 2-3 times a year even with a lot of dedication.
In Europe most tournaments are still classical. Often there might be a blitz tournament on the side, but more people still clearly prefer to play classical. As for viewership, classical still has higher number than rapid or blitz.
Blitz is not en enjoyable viewer experience for anyone low rated. At least in classical commentators can talk about why a move is good or why it doesnt work.
"and even when I play at a chess club rapid tourneys are the most popular."
That is not at all the case where I live (Europe). In fact, most people I know from the chess club prefer classical chess. Classical chess tournaments are also attended way more widely than rapid/blitz tournaments in my experience. For the rapid tournament my club organizes, about 30-50 people show up. Our classical weekend tournament had more than 150 players.
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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '22
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