lichess.org
Donate

drawing arrows in live games

I want to know peoples thoughts on this feature. I personally think it makes calculation a whole lot easier as you can draw out a whole plan of attack and don't need to visualise anything. You are not allowed a separate analysis board next to you in live games so I don't really agree with this feature. I understand it can be helpful for coaching etc though.
The feature is great for when streamers or youtubers etc are trying to explain their ideas during the game to their audience. I doubt that being able to draw arrows really has any significant impact on calculation ability.
The arrows are terrible when you want to visualize what happens, so I don't think there is an upside in live games. It's only useful when helping weaker players understand your thought process as a streamer. But if you're the one who calculates the lines, then the arrows are just an extra handicap.
I find it useful, but only for short calculations or exchanges.
I personally don't like it when streamers/youtubers draw the arrows during the game since it's unnecessary for 2/3 move calculations and makes the board messy when used for long lines. It's also less engaging for the viewer who doesn't have to actively listen and think.
The trick is that as always, there's just no way to make everybody happy.

Stronger players will, in general, find the visual aids more distracting than helpful, since they can more easily just follow along on their own.

Players who are earlier on in their chess development will, in general, be more appreciative of the visual aid.

Audiences for these streamers are generally mixed between the groups, so not everyone will be happy.

I don't really mind it so much, but I'm also not a huge fan of watching streamers anyway; I actually generally prefer just watching games and listening to music :)

The flip side of Owen's point is that many other players I know actually watch streamers for exactly that reason: they view it more as entertainment and not study or training, so actively listening and thinking is already off the table :)

Preferences are highly varied; it's simply too much to expect them all to be met by a single approach to streaming.
Yeah it might be a little unfair, but everyone gets to draw arrows.

As a twitch viewer, I can't stand it when people draw more than 2-3 arrows. Even then they usually leave them on screen for way too long and I find it distracting, because viewers start calculating other variations with all the arrow clutter on screen.

Also, I don't like how most people draw an arrow to a square then also circle it. Like wtf? KC does that shit.
How do you draw arrows?

Signed,
A weaker player

This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.