Checkin' Chess at WSJ Doha

Pawn to c3. Knight to f6. Andrew Beaton’s playing chess on stage at WSJ Tech Live in Doha - while interviewing Danny Rensch from Chess.com.
Andrew moves the pieces. Danny plays blindfolded.

While answering questions from Andrew and the audience, Danny’s tracking the entire board in his head. He even catches when Andrew tries an illegal move.

The game unfolds while they discuss business strategy, product decisions, what it takes to build Chess.com.

There’s Multiple stimuli for the audience. Listen to Danny. Think about your next move. Conjure up a question to throw him off balance. Choose your own adventure.

We’re seeing the product work. Learning a bit about chess. Getting tactics from someone who plays at master level. All on top of the business conversation.

This is a lovely bit of format innovation: Old oak, new wine. The interview format’s ancient. The twist makes it stand out.

You don’t need a chess business to do something like this. Find a device. A surprise. Use your actual product. Borrow an existing format and bend it slightly.

Shout out to Andrew for taking the risk. Playing chess on stage while conducting an interview is considerably harder than sitting in chairs asking questions.

Which leaves me wondering - why don’t more conferences take gentle risks like this?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​