Louis Blair wrote:
Liam Too wrote (31 Jan 2006 07:56:01 -0800):
It's the excitement of the game that differs poker from
chess. If chessplayers will be able to overcome the
presence of some noises, then chess is ready for TV.

In Sam Sloan's book on Chinese Chess, he described
the atmosphere of the game as being quite different
from that at a European chess event.

I have not read Sam Sloan's book on 'Chinese Chess'
(xiangqi). I am disinclined to accept Sam Sloan as
any authority on Chinese culture(s) or language(s),
though I suppose that the more ignorant readers
in rec.games.chess.* may do otherwise.

Evidently, there was a lot of crowd participation.

In China one may observe xiangqi often being played
in the streets. These games tend to be considered
social gatherings at least as much as they may be
considered 'intellectual' competitions. And there's often
verbal interaction among the players and spectators.

Perhaps we need to be more like the Chinese.

If 'you' were perceived as 'more like the Chinese',
then 'you' would experience more racist stereotyping,
condescension, prejudice, and hatred in the West.

Until a few years ago, I would hear some Western
chess players saying (with varying degrees of
euphemism) that it must be impossible for any
Chinese players ever to play chess as well as
strong Western GMs.

By the way, Chinese teams have dominated the
recent International Mathematical Olympiads.

--Nick