The broadcasting and communication etiquette of all American stations and streamers - not just Chess.com - is characterised by sensationalism, power acting and acting in a crushing style. Commenting on sports (but current affairs and politics, too) is always a paraphrase of physical violence. It is always about a fight, catastrophe for the loser and annihilation of the enemy, whoever that might be. The eval bar is just a part of identifying the victim to be destroyed and how little life force is left in his body.
Rather than a matter of chess culture, I am afraid this is a more general common style issue in US based media, that you also see in Youtube and even more so on Twitch: internet based broadcasting is reformulated aggression, war and destruction. The vocabulary of the commenators is narrowly limited to dominance and annihilation as the goal and the inevitable result.
Chess has been lead astray into the mediatic backstreets of everyday gun usage, cage fighting, war games, gang violence and so on.
My favourite commentators are the guys on the Spanish channel - IM Divis, GM Pepe Cuenca and GM Miguel Santos.
Rather than a matter of chess culture, I am afraid this is a more general common style issue in US based media, that you also see in Youtube and even more so on Twitch: internet based broadcasting is reformulated aggression, war and destruction. The vocabulary of the commenators is narrowly limited to dominance and annihilation as the goal and the inevitable result.
Chess has been lead astray into the mediatic backstreets of everyday gun usage, cage fighting, war games, gang violence and so on.
My favourite commentators are the guys on the Spanish channel - IM Divis, GM Pepe Cuenca and GM Miguel Santos.
Another consequence of using engines and the eval bar in the commentaries is that top players lose their uniqueness that characterized them in the past, since the commentators have access to engines that are much stronger than them. This means that watching a candidates match is a frantic wait for a mistake and a change in the eval, rather than a wait to be surprised by a great move, as within seconds the commentators immediately have access to the best moves. In addition to encouraging mediocrity in the use of the engine before a personal thought, the use of the engine causes us to lose all the magic behind the best players in the world, whose brilliance is trivialized and mistakes reviled.
sound like personalikzing the competitoin, like wreslting. I have indigestion only reading your blog. I don't like to watch other peoples games anywan. Where is the board so I can jump on it and play myself...
ok.. It sounds quite boring broadcast the sport event cheering way... i guess the other way, might have left audience hear themself think more in spite of the commentatoris...
thanks for this somewhat historical step back.. I did not know this even existed... Not that I will go watch. I prefer the chess I can play with. but good to know...
ok.. It sounds quite boring broadcast the sport event cheering way... i guess the other way, might have left audience hear themself think more in spite of the commentatoris...
thanks for this somewhat historical step back.. I did not know this even existed... Not that I will go watch. I prefer the chess I can play with. but good to know...
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ChessDojo are probably one of the main pushers of the anti-eval bar approach. www.google.com/search?q=chessdodjo+eval+bar+debate&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB944GB944&oq=chessdodjo+eval+bar+debate&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAHSAQg0ODg1ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:31b754ef,vid:bTCAd3f1NNk,st:0
i completely agree with them.
Summary: Chess is a complex game about how different positions relate, and how small changes cause large changes in evaluation. By focusing in on stuff like a swinging eval bar and stuff like blitz and bullet, it doesn't highlight the true nature of chess. As David mentions in the video, you may as well play something like candy crush if that it what you're looking for
i completely agree with them.
Summary: Chess is a complex game about how different positions relate, and how small changes cause large changes in evaluation. By focusing in on stuff like a swinging eval bar and stuff like blitz and bullet, it doesn't highlight the true nature of chess. As David mentions in the video, you may as well play something like candy crush if that it what you're looking for
The eval bar is nothing but a distraction and simplification which doesn't always translate into human terms
You forgot to mention the FIDE broadcast, featuring Vishwanathan Anand with no evaluation bars - this could be the new substitute for people who don't like eval bars
i like Lichess' commentary of this candidates; very laid back, few brakes, and commentators try to figure things out instead of using the engine !
Useful comparison. For me it depends on time. I can't begin to understand most of the positions we get in the candidates until I've been staring at them for 5 minutes. If I've got the time and mental capacity to do that, the eval bar diminishes the experience for me- it (and sensationalising commentary) creates some atmosphere that I just don't need creating.
But if I want to know how things are going while I'm doing something else, an eval and something to tell me the top few engine moves is great. But to be honest, the best of all worlds is to have a commentary without the eval bar and the option of popping onto the lichess broadcast and switching it on when I want to know what it says.
But if I want to know how things are going while I'm doing something else, an eval and something to tell me the top few engine moves is great. But to be honest, the best of all worlds is to have a commentary without the eval bar and the option of popping onto the lichess broadcast and switching it on when I want to know what it says.