Thoughts on Mind Sports, Part 5: Money and the Media

As for mental sports, things are bad with both money and the media: Mental sports lack major sponsors, and the activities of Estonian mental athletes are not sufficiently covered in the media. This is especially important from the perspective of young people: who would want to start engaging in a field that does not bring material benefits or public recognition. Let's talk about money first. It seems to me that we are somehow in a closed circle in this regard: a) To get young people involved in mental sports, money would be needed (some may argue against this statement, but I am sure that if the prizes for checkers/chess tournaments were smartphones, laptops and other goodies, there would be more participants and greater interest) b) There is no money because there is no interest from sponsors (We cannot count on such money from the state level - we have to look for supporters from the private sector) c) There are no sponsors because the field is not popular (there is not enough media coverage to arouse interest in sponsors) d) There is no media coverage because there are no world-class players (in the more popular fields - chess). e) And we lack world-class players because there are not enough young people who would start working in the field (the larger the number of beginners, the more likely it is that someone will reach the top of the world). I must also mention that to play at the world level (especially chess), you have to be a professional, i.e. working in the field should also bring bread to the table. Unfortunately, I do not see such a model working in Estonia at the moment. This can also be seen today in the best chess players in Estonia, who mainly earn a living by playing poker. It is important for young people to be recognized among their schoolmates / friends. Today, for example, those who play checkers / chess are rather socially excluded: they are considered nerds and weirdos. Young people reflect very well what is happening in the adult world: Looking at what sells in the columns of newspapers, it is currently popular to be a weather girl or the star of a reality series. For me, it even makes sense: People like topics like "This could happen to you too" - you don't have to work hard to achieve popularity. You don't have to work very hard to get a reality series or read a text like a weather girl, right?! For comparison, chess or checkers, where top players struggle for years/decades to reach their level. There seems to be a chicken-and-egg problem here: the media writes about what sells. What sells is what is popular among the people. And mind sports are not like that. Should the media start covering things related to mind sports first, or should mind sports become popular in some other way before the media starts covering it? Here too, we could say that money makes things happen - it is possible to buy coverage in newspapers/television. In conclusion: I am not saying that nothing can be done without money - we will hold the Mind Sports Olympiad for Schools (48 tournaments) without any support or prizes. At the same time, if the number of participants remains small and we do not achieve media coverage, then we need to change our approach and look for new solutions.

should have a personal approach - you need to go to each school and explain to the hobby group leader how important it is to have a brain and force them to select/put the school team in the Olympiad there.

It still seems to me that the main issue is not money but low population. Isn't it more or less the same percentage of the population that plays checkers and chess everywhere? And aren't there many nerds who used to play checkers and chess, because others were ahead elsewhere, but now in the age of the internet there is no longer much difference between a nerd and someone comparable to a nerd. And smartphones and cookies don't help in generating more interest either. They are accepted and if they don't hand out cookies anymore, everything will go its own way. The population should be increased to at least 27,000,000 and if there are not enough of their own, a better breeding population should be brought in to keep the country going anyway. Of course, top-level checkers and chess players will also be born in Estonia. I think that we should keep going in the same spirit and don't start trying too hard. We should stick to a narrow but very masterful level of play. A top player will soon be born in such a district. There is no point in wasting resources, but keep at the top. If you get the top from a narrow circle, the other problems will solve themselves.