We often talk about the value of just showing up, and how that random chance of meeting someone has been lost during the Pandemic. In one of our recent podcasts, we got to talk to someone who has been a shining example of “Just Showing Up,” entrepreneur and Chess Grand Master and Chess.com host Robert Hess.
As you will hear amongst many tidbits in the podcast, I met Robert on a fire escape at Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gym, where he was there with another rising sports and entrepreneurial star (and no co-founder of Overtime Sports) Zack Weiner. I was there for the semi-finals of The Basketball Tournament, which was being held at Fordham, and Zack and Robert were there because they were running a media platform called The Sports Quotient, which looked to take a deeper dive into the analytics and business of sports.
While that venture is no more, I have stayed in touch with both Robert and Zack and have watched them both grow their businesses and successful media efforts way beyond a data analytics site.
With the success of “The Queens Gambit” and the rise in overall interest in chess during The Pandemic, we talked to Robert about his path to being a Grand Master (achieved at 17, second only in age to the legendary Bobby Fisher amongst all Americans), balancing school and chess at Yale, and a host of other things.
Some other key takeaways:
The values chess brings to those in athletics, and those in business today: Hess touched on skills like individual responsibility, strategic thinking (the ability to see ahead several moves is not just fiction used in the Netflix series), the ability to pace yourself and manage your time…literally…efficiently, and the ability to constantly learn from loss.
The connections that have grown in recent years from esports and gaming to a game of strategy, like chess. The growing synergies between a Grandmaster turned esports professional like Hikaru Nakamura show how skills translate, and how pro esports players may find a path to learn and hone skills from the centuries old board game.
The growth of sponsorships as chess events have moved to streaming. While the majority of income for elite players still comes from events and from private teaching, Hess sees the time coming when the large numbers being drawn through streaming platforms like Twitch will translate to traditional sponsorships and more mainstream acceptance and dollars for elite players.
Twitching For Interactivity. As a quiet, solitary game, Chess has leant itself really well to streaming, and the commentary and explanations that can come around the game. The audience is extremely curious and wanting all the detail that we see in esports, and in traditional sports, and Twitch has helped build and enhance a community of both avid and casual fans.
The hour-long discussion takes us from Hess’ early years and his affinity to his current role, and we touch on speed chess, multiple game play, even playing blindfolded, and is a great lesson in the growth and expansion of a game with strategy tied to it to a new, more engaged audience. And a hit Netflix show hasn’t hurt its growth.
