The Halloween Gambit - A Creative Non-fiction Piece About Modern Chess Culture

Takes...
Takes...
Ng5+ Kh6 Bb4 hxg3...
No wait...
Bb7 Bc6 c4 bxc4...

To the untrained ear, that probably sounds like a bunch of nonsense: arbitrary numbers, notations, and diction. Yet it is a common dialogue for those like us who enjoy the royal game on 64 squares: chess.

Speaking esoterically is one of many innate characteristics of us chess players. Whether to ourselves or to an audience live on stream, or whether it is over the board or on an online website, we instinctively spit out random algebraic chess notations or German and Italian words like ‘zugzwang’ or ‘intermezzo’, as they calculate 20-move-long sequences.

Our brevity and stoicism are also notable. If you have ever walked into an over-the-board tournament hall filled with hundreds (or even thousands) of people, you may have noticed that it is very unlikely to hear more than a handful of voices:

*silence*
*hits clock*

*silence*
*sips water*
*hits clock*

*silence*
*touches piece*
“Adjust”
*hits clock*

*silence*
*looks up at opponent*
“Draw?”

“No”

*handshake*
“Good Game”

“Good Game”

The game of chess, at its purest, is one without emotion and interaction (besides the handshakes at the beginning and end of games). Ironically, though, people’s reactions upon hearing that someone is a chess player are the exact opposite:

*staring at your game*
“I have no idea what’s going on!”

“OMG you’re a chess player?? You must be so smarttttt”

“So, you’re good at math, right?”

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I joined the chess community right around the beginning of what was known as the ‘chess boom’ of the early 2020s. Following the release of the limited Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit”, chess caught the attention of Twitch streamers and lots of other people who traditionally would not associate themselves with such a ‘nerd’ game, hence sparking the biggest influx of chess players the world has ever seen (although my entry into the community was not influenced by this show). If you were to have walked up to a random person in the early 2010s and asked them what they thought about chess players, you would likely hear one of these stereotypical remarks:

“Naturally smart and gifted...”

“Good at STEM subjects!”

“VERY high ego.”

“Mysterious nerd?”

Nowadays, the response would likely be different.

“Pogchamps Master–”

“Flamboyant hustler!”

“A true chad.”

“Homie!”

♔ ♛ ♖ ♝ ♘ ♟

Recently, I visited the Koenji chess club. Casual, bilingual, and welcoming to all skill levels. It was the first one I’ve been to in a while. It took me two transfers and about 2000 meters of walking while following Google Maps into some random coordinates in the back alleys of Koenji Station.

After a long search, I found the inconspicuous little building I saw on the club homepage. No big sign saying “Come play chess here!” or “OO chess club” displaying what was going on, just the sounds of chess clocks being hit and the pieces being delicately lifted and landed on squares as I was going up flights of stairs that signaled I was in the right place. I grabbed a drink, sat in front of a board, and waited for an opponent. After around three minutes, an older guy approached me (I reckon he was in his 50s) :

“Do you want to play a game?”

“Of course!” I replied.

*handshake*

*grabs a white and black pawn*“Left or right?”

“Right”

*reveals black pawn*
*change seating places*

“Bullet, Blitz, or Rapid? Maybe Classical? I prefer 10+0 or 3+0”

“Me too, although I do also like 3+2 or 5+0.”

“10+0 it is”

“Alright, good game my friend”

“Good game”
*starts clock*

After a hard-fought game, we ended in a draw by agreement. I played a couple more 10+0 games against other opponents, ranging from a complete beginner who just came by with their friend to dedicated veterans identifiable by their elegant touch on the pieces and ability to set up a physical chess clock.

Now, it is without a doubt that the game still remains a benchmark for intellectual capability and “makes you feel smart when you win,” as one regular member remarked. But after the massacre and vicious atrocities on the board came to a halt, though, there were periods of ceasefire and exchange. Outside the battlefield, you see the victorious enlightening the defeated on how they could win future combats while having a drink together.

“So here you could have attacked my knight on c5.”

“ohhh”

“And then I would have had to defend with Bb4, losing a tempo.”

“I see...wow I didn’t see that. Thank you!”

Chess has historically been and continues to be a game of respect, sportsmanship, and discipline...and modern players seem to remain well-dedicated to those principles...

...at least OTB (over the board). The same cannot really be said for the other side of the community: online chess.

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As a busy high school senior, each of my evanescent sessions at a chess club lasts perhaps two hours, at most three. Taking into consideration commute time, it may even be less than that. It’s certainly not enough to fully satisfy my insatiable desire to play the game.

So I do what any modern chess player and what most of us would do: I pull out my phone. In the era of sub-6G internet, I can access tablebases containing data of billions of games, play against computers stronger than world champions, and start a game against someone from halfway across the world within seconds.

Online chess is, in theory, everything a chess player could want. In practice, however, it turns into a breeding ground for toxicity. It’s the same game, played by the same people, made almost unrecognizable by the cloak of anonymity.

Report Player “joe123”

Abuse

• Verbal Abuse / Cursing / Trolling
• Racism
• Violence / Threats
• Sexual Harassment

Fair Play

• Cheating
• Stalling / Quitting Games
• Sandbagging

Other

• Avatar
• Username
• Spamming

Block joe123?

While looking like an average reporting tab, this page reveals a lot about the cynicism that exists in modern chess culture. Especially on large sites like chess.com, where millions of people cross paths during their commutes, late nights, or break times to play some chess, you’re bound to come across some seriously uncomfortable comments and unsportsmanlike behavior:

[Some DMs I recently received on chess.com]

“Buy some dignity”3 weeks ago
“loser bozi txa”4 weeks ago
“Very easy to win Kim the little ***** ”5 weeks ago

Admittedly (and almost hypocritically), I’ve been on both sides of the accusations. Even though I am aware of the consequences that it may have or that it’s contributing to the toxic nature of online chess sites, sometimes, I get triggered by rage and anger after a streak of 4 losses or losing a completely winning position because of time or external factors like the internet. I’ve also closed the app midgame or stalled a 30-minute game as an act of ‘revenge’. I'm sure a lot of us share this experience. We are guilty of being toxic online at some point, even if we actively try not to.

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Now, while these reportable actions are most certainly unpleasant, one stands out from the rest. It’s likely the biggest problem that’s plaguing the online and competitive landscape of chess: using AI to cheat.

A huge scandal hit the chess world not too long before Kramnik’s cheating accusations against Naroditsky. In late 2022, Five Time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen accused Grandmaster Hans Niemann of consulting an AI chess engine during their final tournament match, in which Hans defeated Magnus.

Carlsen has called cheating an “existential threat” to the game. But combating the threat is hard, especially given that most cheat detection is probabilistic and can never be definitive.

But perhaps the more serious threat that exists in modern chess is more cultural. As journalist Jordan Himelfarb notes, chess players have a "killer instinct, an almost animalistic will to win." For masters, self-worth becomes inextricably linked to the result on the board. In a game where a single loss can define you, combined with the possibility that opponents could be using powerful engines or other cheating devices at any moment, the temptation to cheat and accuse is only to be expected.

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Since my first entry into the chess community, my favorite places to visit have been the Lichess forums and the r/chess subreddit (r/anarchychess if I am feeling cocky). What I’ve noticed is that the average person you see in these online communities and forums is surprisingly less intellectually monstrous while simultaneously being a lot more talkative and friendly than the stereotyped stoic chess player. Of course, there are inevitably some toxic comments, but the ratio is far less than I (and I’m sure other chess players who regularly use chess.com) would expect. It’s a virtual community of over two million built entirely on memes and absurdist humor.

Someone once posted a "game" consisting entirely of very rare en-passant captures with the caption: "theory is theory." It had tens of thousands of upvotes. This is also a modern chess community now. But unlike the tense landscapes that characterize professional chess championships or online sites like chess.com, this place, like the Koenji chess club, is oddly welcoming. The same people who report "joe" for sandbagging will spend an hour helping a beginner understand why their queen got trapped on move six.

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No one can argue against the fact that Stockfish will forever demolish any human world champion.

So what remains for us human chess players?
The numerous local communities?
The world championships?
The online subcommunities?

Why do we humans still play chess? Is there a purpose?

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The Halloween Gambit is one of, if not the most, hyperaggressive and risky openings.
Sacrifice everything.
Leave your king in a dangerous-looking spot.
Break all basic principles right from the start.

The computer evaluates the position as -1.3...
...but the Lichess database (of human games) says the position has a 79% win rate for YOU.

Despite having LITERALLY SOLVED CHESS FOR 7 PIECES OR LESS, computers have yet to comprehend the complexity and chaos of human chess.

The tablebase that has mathematically solved all positions possible with 7 pieces or less on the board was developed in 2013.

Although a game between two chess computers is analogous to the fight between two formidable titans, it lacks the inaccuracies (!?), mistakes (?), and blunders (??) present in all of our 'imperfect' games from intense Candidates games between two 2500+ elo grandmasters or a game between two beginners worthy of a Gothamchess meme YouTube video.

Modern chess, with its trash talking, streamers screaming at their screens, grandmasters accusing each other of cheating, anonymous players sandbagging their ratings, and memes about en passant flooding a subreddit with 2 million members, may look like a mess. But maybe modern chess is like the Halloween gambit: messy but somehow viable. Because it contains aspects that computers like Stockfish can’t recreate. Beautiful Imperfections. That’s exactly why human chess is still a thing.

Even as the machines dominate the landscape of the 64 squares, we humans still gather under their dominion, eager to play imperfectly together.

The computers have already gotten a huge material lead. It is no longer feasible to try to win against it. But modern chess culture is evolving in response to that. We are changing our strategy. Instead of accuracy, we hone in on our ‘inaccuracies’:

Playing styles.

Emotional outbursts (friendly or toxic).

Dirty tactics like flagging.

That’s what draws me, and millions of others in the community, to chess. In a world where machines dominate the royal game, we human chess players are trying to find those who also refuse to stop playing.

In that sense, we are avoiding our inevitable defeat at the hands of our formidable mechanical opponents (that is, the death of chess as a game played by humans) and forcing a draw by stalemate in a seemingly lost and hopeless position.

References

• Koenji Chess Club, Personal interview. 18 March 2026.
• Koenji Chess Club, Personal interview. 1 April 2026.
• Himelfarb, Jordan. “Daniel Naroditsky’s Death Exposes an Existential Threat to Chess.” Time, 15 Dec. 2025, time.com/7340438/daniel-naroditsky-death-chess-grandmaster-cheating-allegations/.
• (Shashinottharoor), Shashi Karanke. “Chess Culture and Community: A Vibrant Tapestry.” Chess.com,www.chess.com/blog/Shashinottharoor/chess-culture-and-community-a-vibrant-tapestry. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
• “Chess Analysis Board and PGN Editor.” Chess.com, www.chess.com/analysis. Accessed 9 Apr. 2026.
• “Chess Openings.” Lichess.org, lichess.org/opening. Accessed 9 Apr. 2026.