For those who don’t know, a confession booth in chess is a private corner where the player goes in the middle of the game to talk about their thoughts on the game to a camera, i.e. the viewers. It’s completely voluntary, but even top players like Magnus Carlson and Hikaru Nakamura use it frequently, sometimes even more than once during the game.
While personally I’d rather spend my time thinking about the game than expressing my thoughts on it to a camera, it may be entertaining for the viewers to hear what the top pros are thinking during the game.
This is basically what OGS “malkovich” chat exists for, yeah? It’s a neat idea, I think the limiting factor is more “getting players and broadcasters in the west invested in this philosophy of sharing and teaching” than the logistics of specific formats.
Maybe it’s sometimes good to get thoughts off your chest? It would surely be interesting for spectators, but I wouldn’t like it if players found it distracting and that they had to do it (for the fans).
That’s what is already mostly happening in the streaming (gotv). Interaction are difficult, with quite some lag so the usual way is simply to listen for the spectators.
I was thinking about this last week. I watch @vexalcafe and the recently resting @onthelox stream because they’re both just a bit ahead of me, then I realize they’re maintaining their (very steady) rank while streaming. That must unavoidably soak up a chunk of attention.
I think for instance in a large match it would be fascinating to hear their thoughts, excitement, frustration. It would also give commentators more to work with.