The pinnacles of chess and CS coincide this year, and there’s a lot they can learn from each other

In a funny coincidence, the classical world chess championship match in Singapore and the year’s second CS2 Major in Shanghai overlap, making for a bonanza of nerd fun and allowing for some interesting comparisons between the games – and the way they are broadcast to the audiences of today.

The twenty-first Counter-Strike Major is right around the corner, and it will be the last one to feature the 24-team format we’ve gotten used to since 2018. Two Swiss stages and a playoff bracket, near-identical to what we’ve seen for a while now, all to determine the strongest team of the world. The best and brightest of CS2 are all aboard the hype train, with teams represented from all over the globe.

It’s a much more contentious affair over in the world of chess. One of the coolest parts of the competition in the royal game is the so-called lineal legacy of world champions, basically meaning that you have to defeat the champ in match play to become the champ. World wars, deaths, and hissy fits have caused various wrinkles in the system, but there is still a very clear line going all the way back to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886.

It's not quite the case this time, however, as Magnus Carlsen, the five-time world champion and one of the greatest players of all time, simply refused to defend his title in 2023, citing various issues with the format. Now, a cycle later, it’s world #4 Gukesh D challenging #22 Ding Liren for the title, who’s had a horrid year and has been battling with mental health issues, making him a ghost of the chess world rather than a heavyweight champion.

Still, match play is a rare bird in high-level chess, and it is always fun to watch, as the relative inexperience of 18-year-old Gukesh and the fallibility of Ding have produced exciting games so far.

Broadcasting these very different games produces a radically different set of issues, but since many chess people have continued to vie for an esports designation and a more audience-friendly approach, there are some interesting comparisons to be made. (Here’s a funny gameplay idea: maybe try a pick-ban phase for a set of selected openings for a mini-match?)

From a technical perspective, even a bootleg Counter-Strike LAN puts FIDE to shame. From poor microphones at the press conference to ill-advised guest selections on the various broadcasts, we still clearly haven’t found a way to

Not that it is an easy job. There is no guarantee of how much silence broadcasters need to fill at any given time since no one knows how long a player might think over a specific move, and beyond the contentious eval bar, it can be tough to convey what’s going on to a layperson, something that is never really an issue in CS. Nevertheless, when even a mere studio setup is a rarity – chess.com tried it for the Candidates in 2022 and never brought it back – it’s hard to take the streams seriously.

In fact, it all feels like a co-stream, and the nature of chess, where the relayed moves themselves are available to everyone – though, funnily enough, there was an attempt to copyright those as well during the 2016 Candidates Tournament, which thankfully went nowhere – lends itself very well to these third-party, lighter, less focused watch parties, like the ones Nakamura provides. While the main broadcast’s quality is always clearly lacking for what is trying to market itself as an esport, there’s a surprisingly strong and burgeoning community discussion going on at all times in a way that often puts actual esports to shame.

For example, over in the chess world, we’ve clearly mastered the art of the recap – and the discussions generated by the commentary of other elite-level players on the important action is a great way to keep fans engaged, and something we definitely don’t see enough of in CS. While it’s easy to disseminate highlight plays, it’s tough to discuss an entire match in a concise manner, but judging by the success of videos like this, that feels like an obvious Counter-Strike content avenue to explore.

Ultimately, I, for one, find both these events to be super fun, and I will enjoy flicking back and forth between the streams for what should be a fantastic set of weeks for fans of cerebral games of all kinds.