E-Chess and Performatics

Jacek Szymala's "E-Chess and Performatics" proposes a framework for understanding chess, particularly computerized and online chess, through the concept of performatics, which he characterizes as causative, efficient, equal, and active. The central thesis holds that computerization paradoxically diminishes chess's performativity by archiving games and eroding the "here and now" immediacy of live spectatorship, even as it deepens human-computer collaboration. The author situates this argument against the 1996–2006 period, when matches between Kasparov and Kramnik and computer opponents marked a shift toward technical performance and hybridity between human and machine play.

The analysis draws on autoethnographic material, including a 2005 hot-seat team game on kurnik.pl and a school chess tournament the author organized in 2021–2022 using online platforms and physical sets. Observations on online identity are a notable strand of the work: many players on chess.com and kurnik.pl adopt pseudonyms, generated usernames, or visual motifs from popular culture such as The Queen's Gambit. The author also identifies a performative and ethical concern in the ability to abandon games on online platforms without visible statistical penalty.

Quantitative evidence is limited, consisting mainly of a list of online chess platforms and their launch dates. The argument rests instead on interpretive and anecdotal grounding, including a critique of generalizations about generational differences in computer use among chess players. The concluding emphasis is that digital platforms erase age barriers and integrate generations, as illustrated by senior champion Henryk Seifert's use of multiple online apps, and that a performatic perspective broadens public perception of chess beyond the media's focus on young elite players.