What does chess have to offer the world?

Today I thought, what does chess (ideally uniquely) have to offer the world, in a concrete way (even assuming the pandemic were no longer going on)?

Chess has been thought of as art, sport and science, besides offering educational benefits (it may help raise someone's IQ, as do other activities). Then I thought, what of value does chess offer the world anything like the way the arts do? While a painting or a song are things a huge number of people are willing to pay good money for, it's a much smaller market for, say, chess game scores (which continue to be thought the property of tournament organizers, until shortly released to the public at large) - annotators can add value to such, though nowadays many settle for getting answers to questions from a chess engine. Aside from that, many people do use chess as a form of art in small ways, by buying decorative sets for coffee tables, or chess-themed wallpaper, for example. In short, for chess to be seen as art, it's to be by chess insiders rather than by someone who barely knows the basic rules of the game (if that). The story is similar for those who would see chess as a science.

Chess as a sport is where there might be more room for the public at large to stop and gawk at chess on TV or in other media, especially if they have a countryman/junior battling for a top chess event finish. Even then, unlike for popular physical sports, it is not so simple to explain a fraction of the strategy of chess to the average non-chess player than compared to say part(s) of the strategy of hockey to someone who hasn't much played that game themselves, either. So, unless chess is taught as a core subject in schools all over the place, it's hard to see a show about chess (that goes into a game in some depth) ever making it to prime-time.

On the bright side, for those who do wish to get into organized chess, and can manage to stick with it for a number of years, I'd suppose at least 1% of all such chess players would then reach a rating by which they could earn a living just by playing chess alone (that is, International Master strength or greater - although at the moment Canadian players at the top have to travel to outside the country to do that, due to lack of a sufficient infrastructure of tournaments, as has been the case forever). Unfortunately, 1% is a low percentage, but the good news is that players who reach master level (which anyone probably can, with good coaching at least) can then make a living by some combination of playing and teaching chess, if not writing as well - even in Canada (though at the moment such would make for a modest living at best).

All very well, and if chess can grow dramatically (say in Canada), how to offer more to the public, besides maybe TV shows in prime-time someday decades ahead? Well, on the lighter side, besides an old idea of mine (chess resorts, as had almost got started in a big way in the US during the Fischer-boom, which might include chess engines fed by quarters for those without an engine :), or a pool with floating chess sets, Alice in Wonderland playset, checkered ballrooms...), there's my latest 'joke', 'chess art museums', which besides portraits of players could include demonstration boards on walls with chess positions that guides could explain to the public - I hope no one will accuse me of not dreaming big. :)


Here's some links to inspire, starting with a modern chess theme park in Turkey:

https://www.dailysabah.com/life/2016...pens-in-yalova

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Hall_of_Fame

http://wikimapia.org/1541558/Museum-of-Chess

[edit: If there's ever not quite enough material about chess that can be assembled to suit all or some of the public/chess crowd, material about at least some chess variants [or their parts] could be included.]

I added some links to my previous post, for any who may have missed it.

Aside from anything concrete chess (in organized competitive play, or in other ways) may have to offer the world (e.g. I forgot to mention it can help fight dementia, as do some other activities), the public at large often enjoys the virtually free pleasure of playing the very occasional game of chess, for fun or for an intellectual challenge, e.g. playing a game in the park, or having a contest between e.g. grandparent and child. Fwiw, here's a CFC Discussion Board Blog entry of mine, where I suggest a number of reasons why people might play chess:

http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/en...-to-play-chess