I’m a hobby chess player. I play on Lichess. And whenever I find the time, I love watching live tournaments. But I have a recurring issue: the moment I start watching, I inevitably end up rooting for one of the players. It feels almost compulsive.
The thing is, my bias isn’t even consistent. It shifts based on the format, the tournament context, off-board drama, and sometimes just pure whims. Here are some specific examples from my own viewing habits:
Format matters: When it’s Gukesh vs. Nihal, I root for Gukesh in classical time controls, but I switch sides completely and root for Nihal in bullet.
Leaderboard dynamics: When it’s Gukesh vs. Pragg, my support entirely depends on the standings:
- If one of them is already mathematically out of title contention, I root for the one still fighting for the top spot.
- If they are right next to each other on the leaderboard, I root for the guy in second place (the chaser).
- If one is at the absolute top and uncatchable, I’ll root for the other guy, even if he’s not even on the leaderboard.
- If they are tied neck-and-neck on the leaderboard, I genuinely don’t care about the result and just watch neutrally.
Controversy and personality override nationality: Despite being my fellow countrymen, Vidit and Samay have never been my favorites. In fact, I actively root against them. This is purely due to off-board reasons Vidit’s public spat with the Liver Doc and Samay’s insensitive jokes in his shows have completely turned me off.
This bias creeps in through identity, personality, context and sometimes just a completely irrational subconscious pull, like instinctively rooting for Gukesh against one opponent and then rooting for that same opponent against someone else.
The consequence is pretty frustrating. When the player I’m rooting for loses, I genuinely struggle to accept the outcome. Sometimes, it even ruins my mood for a while. This emotional toll has gotten so bad that I’ve completely stopped watching live chess for the past six months.
My question to you: Have you ever experienced this kind of shifting, irrational emotional bias while watching live games? How do you personally deal with it? Is it even possible to remain completely neutral as a spectator? And if bias does creep in, do you have any mental tricks or mindset shifts that help you accept a loss gracefully?
I really miss watching chess live, but I don’t want to keep putting myself through this stress. I’d love to hear your experiences and advice.
(translated with help of AI)
Congratulations, you’re a sports fan.
Sounds like you have a normal experience. Rooting for someone is fun. What you can learn is to handle the post-game. It doesn’t need to bother you when you train in that area. Gg
It’s called rooting for the underdog. It’s a lot more satisfying to cheer for the lower odds to win. Nothing weird about it.
If you don’t like the stress, don’t watch, go relax.
But I like the stress. The rest of life has the volume turned down so much…all of old, nothing else ever. The thrill of the turning tides in a hyper-dynamic chess match can really timewarp me to beddy-bye quickly
The only ones expected to remain unbiased in a spectator sport are the judges.
Do you enjoy the neck-and-neck matches where you remain neutral and don’t care about the result more or less or the same than the ones where youre actively cheering for one player? I mean during the game, not how it feels afterwards.
Personally I tend to root for the underdog, so my allegiance can change mid-game. I never dare go to live mass-appeal sporting events like football, because I’ll inevitably get beat up when I start cheering for the opponent in the wrong section.
I very much enjoy the emotional roller-coaster, but I also don’t care one bit the moment the game ends and will cheer for the winner regardless so I don’t suffer regardless of who wins.
Perhaps you can try taking a few minutes after a match to analyse why the winner won so you can appreciate their plays to understand and accept the result, and (mentally or verbally) congratulate them on winning to practice letting go of your own disappointment and being happy for them.
It’s fine, there’s a whole industry trying to turn chess into a spectator sport based on the hopes that viewers will root for their favorite players and buy stuff from the advertisers, or whatever. Compared to competition level players I barely understand the game, but I still enjoy spectating. These days of course everyone roots for the evaluation bar.
