by Marcelo G.R, Jacob N. and Angel V., Grade 9
Simo and Joro Z. were engaged in a heated game of chess at the MIS. As the identical twins moved their pieces around the board, their minds were focused on the game, each one desperate to outwit the other.
Over the recent months, it seems as if more and more students at MIS including are turning to the ancient game of chess as a form of entertainment. And we’re not alone in this trend either, the popular chess internet server, chess.com recently hit 100M members in December 2022, a huge jump when compared with a meagre 2M active members in 2018. So why has chess suddenly jumped in popularity? And who is the best chess player at MIS? Former Bulgarian child chess champions, Simeon and Georgi Z. help answer both these questions.
Simeon and Georgi, or as they’re known in the MIS community, Simo and Joro, came to MIS at the start of fifth grade and are currently in ninth grade. They have competed in and won multiple chess tournaments since the age of 5, both in their home country of Bulgaria and on an international level. Because of their chess skills, they are widely considered the best chess players in grade 9 and 10 and have the highest Elo (the official system for measuring the skill level of a player) of anyone in MIS. So, to find out who the best player at MIS is we conducted a match between the twins and then interviewed them to ask the question: Why has chess become so popular?
Simo very narrowly won the chess match.
Simo said that his brother and him have been playing chess for years, since they were both four years old. Their parents signed them up for lessons, and their chess coach taught them how to play the game. However, they quickly outgrew their coach and could consistently beat him. The twins have participated in several chess competitions, usually ending up in the top five.
Simo doesn’t have a chess idol but admires the two-time world champion Hikaru Nakamura. Although he really enjoys playing chess, he says that it is not his main hobby. Football is his main hobby. When asked who is better between him or his identical twin, he said;
“We are both good at chess and enjoy competing against each other, so I would say that there is no clear answer to the question of who is better at chess,” Simo said.
In Simo’s opinion, chess has become a popular hobby among students for a few reasons.
“In the past, only a few people could play chess, but now with chess.com, anyone with a computer can play.”
He also says that chess influencers and personalities help ‘hype up’ the game and show that playing chess is not only for intellectuals but can be enjoyed by everyone. Finally, he talks about how the nature of the game itself makes it popular.
“Chess is popular because it is competitive and fun to play,” Simo said. “You can compete with people and say you are smarter than them if you win.”
Simo also said that during lockdown and COVID-19 people had nothing to do at home and began playing chess online. He also said that the extremely popular Netflix series, “Queens Gambit,” inspired people to give this game a try. According to Netflix, the series broke the record of viewership at the time with 62 million households watching it 28 days after its release.
But, Simo also said that the chess craze will die out “just like any other trend.”