The 2021 World Chess Championship is on a rest day today, with the first 3 games all being drawn. This extends the draw streak in classical World Championship games to 17, with the last decisive games being Carlsen's game 10 win over Karjakin in 2016.
Although the first 3 games were interesting, it was something else that struck me. In the age of streaming, what matters isn't how exciting the games are, but instead, how exciting the commentators can make them look. I did a quick surf across a number of streaming sites and noticed that in almost all of them, exciting novelties, possible breakthroughs, and amazing variations were being discussed, while the players themselves looked far less excited (and exciting). This, I may add, isn't a bad thing, as chess being an online spectator sport is one of the more surprising things to happen in the last few years. For this online commentators and streamers should be thanked, especially as the increasing accuracy at the top level is making the result more predictable.
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