"Gregory Topov" wrote in message
.. .
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't shogi also played without time
controls? Games regularly last 8 hours or more. Surprisingly to some
perhaps, this hasn't detracted from its popularity in Japan. It seems
then
that reducing classical time controls isn't the key to improved acceptance
of chess. It is Western culture's thinking about chess that needs to
change, not the thinking time we give the players!

To elaborate, quoting from my earlier post in another thread:

Shogi = Japanese chess (which is based on a concept similar to the chess
variant popularly known as "crazyhouse") is hugely popular in Japan. One of
shogi's greatest stars - Habu - enjoys great popularity on the level of
Kasparov, and the equivalent of Tiger Woods. (As an aside: if I'm not
mistaken, Habu has also performed fairly well in chess games, even against
GMs on one occasion.)

I suspect that the cultural element is a significant factor in shogi's
popularity. In Japan, due to cultural differences, shogi is encouraged and
highly regarded. In Western media, at least in North America anyway,
mind-sports like chess do not receive much coverage, and there's far more
emphasis on "primitive" gladiator-style sports based on physical
brawn/talent - such as hockey, basketball or football. Unlike in Japan, pop
culture in America is not receptive to chess. For chess to enjoy any kind
of popularity like its Japanese counterpart shogi, it's not chess that needs
to change, but culture. For American culture to be more warmly receptive to
chess, a cultural change (improvement) is necessary first. Contemporary
American culture focuses more on passive entertainment (TV, GameBoy etc) or
the achievements of physical sports (basketball, football, hockey etc).
Such an emphasis implicitly promotes less thinking, and results in an
increased mindlessness. The influence of television has largely contributed
to this development, and an overall dumbing-down has resulted. A passive
and thoughtless mindset is naturally mutually exclusive with chess, which
functions as the gymnasium of the mind. Until the American public is
willing to give such mental gymnasiums the credit they deserve, there's not
much hope of chess ever getting the credibility and respect it deserves.

--
Gregory Topov
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"I don't necessarily agree with everything I say." - Marshall McLuhan