Numbers Tell Stories

I learned so much from examining the stats for my chess960 blog -- see Stats and More Stats -- that I decided to do the same for my two other blogs. Google's Blogger.com offers statistical breakdowns over five time periods: Now (last two hours), Day (ending with the start of the current hour), Week (ditto), Month (seems to be the last 28 days), and All time (starting '2010 May', although I see nothing before July 2010). Since it's always useful to know what interests your site's visitors, it's a subject I'll return to from time to time. Let's look at the most popular posts for the month of January 2011 and for 'All time'.

Chess for All Ages

I'll start with the top three posts on this blog for January, listed together with the month when I wrote the post:-

• King Kong vs. Godzilla [Oct 2009]
  
• Chess Torrents [Jul 2007]
  
• Chess in Africa - FIDE Members [Feb 2009]

This blog, 'All time':-

• Chess Sets, 'Never Been Used' [Jul 2010]
  
• King Kong vs. Godzilla [Oct 2009]
  
• Crash Course in Soviet Geography [Feb 2008]

It's curious that most of these posts are several years old, contradicting the general perception that blog visitors are most interested in current topics. Only two January posts make the top-10 list: The Brady Bunch and Levenfish's Rook Endings. I have no idea why the 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' ranks in both lists. Do non-players associate chess with monsters?

World Chess Championship

Here are the top three posts from the World Championship blog for January:-

• 2009 FIDE Executive Board : Whither the World Championship? [Dec 2009]
  
• Current Events [Jan 2011]
  
• FIDE Historical Ratings 1971-74 [Jan 2008]

World Championship blog, 'All time':-

• 2009 FIDE Executive Board : Whither the World Championship? [Dec 2009]
  
• FIDE Historical Ratings 1971-74 [Jan 2008]
  
• FIDE World Cup Qualifiers (2007) [Apr 2007]

The 'Whither the World Championship?' post appears first on both lists and has more than three times as many views as the second ranked post on the 'All time' list. It's a long post with most of the text copied from the 2009 Executive Board minutes. I suspect that its many, varied keywords give it a good ranking on searches related to FIDE politics. If you're interested in FIDE doings, there is an index page on Fide.com at FIDE Minutes.

Chess960 (FRC)

Chess960 blog, January:-

• More on Chess960 Engines [Jan 2011]
  
• Brady on Fischer Random [Jan 2011]
  
• Fischer Compares Chess960 to Puffed Wheat [Jan 2011]

As for 'All time' stats on my chess960 blog, I covered them in 'Stats and More Stats' linked at the beginning of this post. It's encouraging that the posts on the January list were all written in January. It confirms my impression that interest in chess960 is increasing slowly. Eventually we'll learn if this is just wishful thinking on my part.

***

As I mentioned earlier, I'll try to do occasional posts on my blog stats over the next few months. Web stats, which at first sight often appear random, can show remarkable regularity over time. Interpreting the numbers can reveal many stories about what people are seeking.