If today there is an obvious parallel that we can draw between chess and esportit is a debate that the practice of one or the other activity has generated for years: sports or not? To this question, it now seems accepted by everyone that the answer is yes. And the bridges between the two disciplines are numerous. So, a few days ago, the third edition of Detection, a tournament organized with Société Générale, ended with the victory of young Timothé Razafindratsima, 15, one of the talents of the French chess world. After two editions on Fortnite, the esports tournament has chosen the French Chess Federation for its Detection 3. In total, the event accumulated 220,000 views and 7,500 live viewers for the final. 1300 male and female players aged 13 to 18 fought for a place in the final.
“Chess clearly lends itself to esports. Especially since this sport has had a very good dynamic recently, “taking advantage” of an audience stuck at home during confinement, but also of the broadcast of the Queen’s Game on Netflix in 2020“, explains Eloi Relange, president of the FFE interviewed by Eclypsia.
“”The Queen’s Game” on Netflix helped a lot”
Thanks to the event, the young player already followed by the federation will experience a boost and follow-up for his professional career. A member of Cannes Échecs, he notably won the title of Fast Champion of France under 14 years old. “It’s difficult to win a tournament of this size. This victory will give him the means to experience great progress. Thanks to the tournament, he wins a computer and he needs a solid one for the chess programs, he also wins help with training, travel, costs for the trainer. It’s not nothing in a professional career»explains the president who hopes to see him quickly reach the rank of International Master“And the next step could be Grand Master International and the French team in 4 or 5 years.“.
Chess has experienced a huge leap in recent years. If we count 5 million participants, we estimate that 25 million people are able to get started, and the 800 federation clubs have seen an increase in registrations since confinement. “The number of licensees in 2021-2022 has returned to the level of 2019, this is not the case for all sports. In addition, we have a lot of first-time licensees. Online platforms have helped to make people discover this practice, but also the fact that France is a great European nation, in particular thanks to a title of vice-champion of Europe.“. The elitist side of chess is still somewhat present, concedes Eloi Relange, but the work with schools has paid off and, just like for video games, “there may be some “introverted geeks”, but not only, far from it“.
“It is certainly a sport that can seem elitist, but above all it is very popular. There is no distinction of age, social category or origin. And above all, it is of great interest to young people. We transmit a lot of virtues such as the value of sport, fair play, working together, but also concentration, planning“. Today, two thirds of the licenses are under 20 years old. It is therefore quite natural that the discipline has approached media such as Twitch or Youtube to reach its audience. Especially since the parallels with certain games that require a lot of strategy are obvious, such as MOBAs (League of Legends…) or auto-battlers (TFT). “Yes, it’s true: when streamers like Sardoche took up chess, we felt a certain ease that can come from playing video games“.
“There is no doubt that esports, like chess, is sport”
Eloi Relange now hopes that esports competitions and the many chess sites will lead players to discover more in clubs in France. “We want to encourage young people to go out, talk, meet other people. It is also a public health issue“. Moreover, the practice itself is known to be physical, exhausting at times. “In fact, we have a lot in common with athletes. The search for performance, the strategy to achieve it… Except that athletes have to work on their mind, and we work on our physique. But overall we have all three points: the technique, the physical and the mental to get there. In our discipline, you clearly need a foolproof mind and know how to manage your emotions. But beginners can be reassured, in chess there is always an opponent within our reach, you just have to push the door of a club to find one.“. Now the FFE has several development projects for online esports tournaments to continue to ride on its good progress. In any case, for Eloi Relange, “the debate is long gone: esports is a sport just like chess is a sport, there’s no doubt».
