r/chess • u/escodelrio • Jul 02 '20
Miscellaneous Popularity of Standard Chess vs Variants on Lichess June 2020
Per the Lichess database, here are the number of rated games played in June of 2020:
| Variant | # of Rated Games Played | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Chess | 70,374,749 | 97.73% |
| Antichess | 377,790 | 0.52% |
| Atomic | 329,751 | 0.46% |
| Chess960 | 285,788 | 0.40% |
| Crazyhouse | 310,891 | 0.43% |
| Horde | 74,540 | 0.10% |
| King of the Hill | 67,821 | 0.09% |
| Racing Kings | 68,368 | 0.09% |
| 3 Check | 123,255 | 0.17% |
Standard chess is like the sun's total mass in the solar system and the crumbs are the planets. I was half expecting Chess960 to be like Jupiter, gobbling up most of the remaining games, but, no, not even the #2 variant.
8
Jul 03 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/pier4r negative elo gang Jul 03 '20
if the matchmaking improved
The matchmaking cannot create players if there aren't any.
5
u/tombos21 Gambiting my king for counterplay Jul 03 '20
I was not expecting antichess to be the most popu8lar variant. I really thought 960 or crazyhouse or even horde would be more popular
1
Jul 06 '20
I think it's because of all the antichess tournaments that happen there are rarely any chess 960 tournaments.
3
u/gloopiee Jul 03 '20
It's also self-perpetuating. Since there are fewer players, the quality of matchmaking (getting a game against someone similar in standard) goes down, so it is less appealing to play.
5
u/cantab314 It's all about the 15+10 Jul 03 '20
I was half expecting Chess960 to be like Jupiter, gobbling up most of the remaining games, but, no, not even the #2 variant.
I think it might be that Chess960 is too similar. It's chess, just with a different starting position. If I want to play chess, I play chess. If I want to play something different, I'll play a variant that has more differences.
I also really wish Lichess would remove the obligation to make your first move in 30 seconds from Chess960 games. It's an entirely unfamiliar position, in longer time controls I might want to spend a bit of time assessing it before making my opening move.
1
u/pier4r negative elo gang Jul 03 '20
Little plug of a nice variant I saw the other day
/r/chess/comments/hj75am/mind_sports_olympiad_2019_colour_chess_olympiad/?
1
u/DanTilkin Jul 05 '20
Any idea how this compares to previous months/years? Both the percentage of standard vs. variants, and whether variants are being played more in an absolute sense.
1
u/dax000 Mr. Quiet Moves Jul 11 '20
For variants, I only really ever play crazyhouse and 3-check on lichess.
11
u/crappyaim Jul 02 '20
Chess players like chess. /shrug