by thom on 6/5/25, 7:41 AM
I think everyone here can probably sympathise when a job stops being about the bits you actually enjoy or are good at. I have no doubt Magnus is the best ever, but the vast majority of the effort in classical chess is spent away from the board. Slogging through an opponent and their team’s computer driven opening prep just isn’t super fun and probably isn’t why most people fall in love with chess. Anyone who has gone from being a programmer to being stuck in meetings and managing other people all day perhaps knows what it’s like to fantasise about packing it in and returning to simpler times.
by fracus on 6/5/25, 6:20 AM
As a casual spectator of chess tournament streams, I find speed chess to be much more enjoyable to watch. It isn't fun when the players aren't making mistakes. Classical chess feels like F1 racing where the work is done before the match with very little passing and timed chess feels like a derby rally with a lot of bumping and grinding. Just way more fun to watch.
by eterm on 6/5/25, 6:02 AM
It's hard for some of the very best when they're no longer at their peak.
Don't get me wrong, Magnus is still world #1 for a reason, but he used to be at a level where no-one could even scratch him. Now he has to fight much harder for victories, and he's not enjoying that.
It's hard to determine how much is down to that factor, how much is how he feels over not being world champion anymore, and how much is a financial incentive in attempted break aways from FIDE to promote "freestyle chess" ( random chess ).
by Scarblac on 6/5/25, 6:29 AM
As an amateur player (~2000 ish), classical is where it's at. I love the feeling of deep focus that is so hard to find in the rest of life these days but that I can still get into in a serious, slow over the board game.
The problems of the top players are not those of amateurs.
by Theofrastus on 6/5/25, 8:06 AM
Chess960/Freestyle Chess is where it's at for me. There, the game feels fresh, it's about creativity and clever positional play. Sometimes when playing classical, it feels like a contest of who can memorize better, without room for creativity or passion.
I'm not a particularly good classical player, but the mountain of grinding to get good just seems insurmountable to me.
by bsder on 6/5/25, 5:47 AM
The grind at the top is still a grind--in fact, it is the worst grind. To top that off, Magnus is in his mid-30s now.
Anyone doing anything at the level of "Elite in the World" is putting in an amount of effort that borders on mania that would be classified as mental illness.
by mellosouls on 6/5/25, 8:08 AM
Old news tbh. Why do you think the current classical champion isn't Magnus?
He's long said he's bored with it; the recent Gukesh slam-the-board viral moment has just resurfaced his frustration with it.
by kibwen on 6/5/25, 6:21 AM
by baruchel on 6/5/25, 7:05 AM
Just my two cents: a very interesting website for playing chess variants —
https://greenchess.net/ . It has a simple, efficient, and uncluttered interface with no ads and many variants available. Unfortunately, the number of active players is a bit low.
by usrbinbash on 6/5/25, 8:45 AM
The core problem is, that chess is essentially a solved game now.
There is no human that can outplay the top chess algorithms. This commodization of top skill, means everyone can afford to play against, and learn from, an entity that is above human skill.
Once this point is achieved, the skill focus dramatically shifts: The better player is the one who can hold and query more data learned from the above-human-skill entity in his human brain. Which, don't get me wrong, is still a beyond-impressive skill at the level of top players, but its not what people really enjoy or mean when they talk about "Chess".
In a very general way, this is a problem that afflicts not just Chess, but all solves games where players have complete information about the game state.
by addandsubtract on 6/5/25, 1:32 PM
I would just like to appreciate how good of a picture that is, where Magnus is slamming the desk, Gukesh is looking at him, and the chess pieces are suspended in mid air. You couldn't have staged that picture any better. I'm not sure what annual photo contests there are (sports? history?), but this picture should win an award.
by keyle on 6/5/25, 6:24 AM
Can't blame him. Getting older, the search space being so much clearer than before, razor thin margins, the concentration, the time spent before and during.
I think he plays a bit of poker too, maybe he can shine in that space too.
by bawolff on 6/5/25, 8:27 AM
I could imagine people are into chess for the challenge of it, and if you make it to the very top, the challenge goes away as there are no peers to play with.
by hn92726819 on 6/5/25, 12:08 PM
by globular-toast on 6/5/25, 8:44 AM
This is the main reason I don't like games or sports. It's fun when everyone is new to the game, but the moment you get people practising and studying outside of the game it becomes work. Some people just have a higher threshold for this than others, it seems.
by debuggerson on 6/5/25, 8:40 AM
Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of chess, and I don't know much about the different rules or playstyles. However, I’ve come across some of Magnus’s videos before. I admire his confidence in his abilities, but I know some people don’t like him, thinking he has a high ego and can come off as cocky at times. While many may be happy to see his recent loss to Rukesh, there’s no denying he’s been the best for so long. Maybe he hasn’t found someone who excites him in classical chess, someone at his level.
After all, being unbeatable can be a lonely place.
by JodieBenitez on 6/5/25, 5:18 AM
Try chessboxing maybe :-P
by d_silin on 6/5/25, 5:20 AM
Blitz chess is still fun.