Exclusivity in chess

I love Antonio Radic's breakdowns of professional chess games, and I don't even play chess. He devotes most of this 14-minute video to posing a question about the efficacy of a chess tournament hosted on Twitch to promote chess.

It comes as no surprise Radic himself and the majority of YouTube commenters think the PogChamps chess tournament is a good thing because they think anything to promote chess is a good thing. Chess brings them joy and they think it will bring joy to others. There's a sense of validation in seeing your pastime increase in popularity.

The man who thinks PogChamps is bad for chess seems to take his minority stance as a given and goes full curmudgeon. In the process, he gives short shrift to a straightforward, reasonable argument. For the crux of the matter is this: Is outreach to grow membership in your club a worthy endeavor?

If you answer in the affirmative, you are assuming:

1. There are people who have not heard of chess who would love it.
2. "Chess," or the chess community, will be enriched by letting in more people who were not willing come on their own.

Both these assumptions are specious, and as a matter of principle they should be rejected. There are very few people in the world who have not seen a game of chess. Going out and finding them is a quixotic endeavor. As for the second point, history shows that absorbing and catering to newbs weakens a community's distinct culture and cohesion. Your ranks will swell, but cultural bonds will weaken.

Someone who is willing to join a community on the community's terms, to learn, to be silent and listen, that is the kind of person chess—or any club—should want. They're the kind of people who will form the next generation of leaders. But you don't find them with outreach programs. You find them by steadfastly being who you are.

Counterintuitively, the best way to grow your club, as it is, is to embrace it as it is, with its present makeup. It's okay if that turns some people away. Clubs wouldn't be clubs if they weren't inherently exclusive.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments. If you like hard sci-fi, check out my books Seeds of Calamity and Tendrils to the Moon. You can find extended previews for each here and here.