Media comments on chess

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Roger de Coverly
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:42 pm

Brian Towers wrote:I completely fail to understand the logic.

We've seen Iranian women competing in Olympic sports, physical ones, dressed in restrictive clothing that most would deem unsuitable for physical sport and that has not lead to a ban on either those sports or the Iranian team.
Do you think Iran could bid for the Olympics under conditions where it insisted that every female competitor wore restrictive clothing?

I would expect the IOC to reject the bid on first scrutiny, as FIDE should have done.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:45 pm

Chris Rice wrote:Different take on the 'hijab' row from the Telegraph. Nigel Short arguing that this is going to finish whatever possibilities there were of seeing chess at the Olympics.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09 ... king-game/

Can you "finish possibilities" when there were zero possibilities to start with?

Whatever, I’m sure the prospect of getting chess to the Olympics and a general concern for the wellbeing of women are absolutely what this is all about for Nigel. He absolutely has no underlying agenda at all. I’m 110% certain of that.

Brian Towers
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Brian Towers » Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:48 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:Do you think Iran could bid for the Olympics under conditions where it insisted that every female competitor wore restrictive clothing?
Of course not! The synchronised swimmers would drown. There would be no spectators for the beach volleyball.
Roger de Coverly wrote:I would expect the IOC to reject the bid on first scrutiny, as FIDE should have done.
Perhaps FIDE should have rejected the bid out of hand because of problems for players from the US (the so called "Great Satan") and Israel (the so called "Little Satan") travelling there, but not because it wants players to wear a headscarf and long sleeved shirt. These in no way restrict the players' ability to play chess.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

Mike Truran
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Mike Truran » Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:51 pm

These in no way restrict the players' ability to play chess.
No does wearing a bikini. See post elsewhere.

Brian Towers
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Brian Towers » Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:01 pm

Mike Truran wrote:
These in no way restrict the players' ability to play chess.
No does wearing a bikini. See post elsewhere.
Non sequitur
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

Chris Rice
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:19 am

Now there is an official statement from the FIDE Press Officer, Anastasiya Karlovich https://chessdailynews.com/345635-2/ The narrative seems to be nobody has complained about tournaments there before, nobody is officially complaining now but if you're that bothered we may discuss your objections with the Iranians.

AK cites a women's tournament played in Tehran in 2016 where it is maintained there were no complaints but you'll notice it wasn't exactly inundated with Western players, just one Swedish woman, Pia Cramling http://tehran2016.fide.com/en/component ... view&kid=2

There is a photo gallery to go with it as well http://tehran2016.fide.com/en/component ... to-gallery which shows the participants in hijabs and head scarves.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:53 am

Chris Rice wrote:Now there is an official statement from the FIDE Press Officer, Anastasiya Karlovich

FIDE in denial mode then. If FIDE wants bad press in Europe and North America, awarding women's tournaments to Iran is a good way of going about it.

I get the impression that the IOC take a hard line on female exclusion or discrimination. Saudi Arabia were particularly leaned on to send a mixed team to the London Olympics.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Oct 01, 2016 4:17 am

"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Chris Rice
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Chris Rice » Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:48 am

The matter continues to escalate. Ms Paikidze says she would rather sacrifice her own career than wear the hijab and is told by Susan Polgar on Twitter to keep her opinions to herself. http://heatst.com/world/us-chess-champi ... r-a-hijab/

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:17 am

Chris Rice wrote:... told by Susan Polgar on Twitter to keep her opinions to herself
if only Ms Polgar would take her own advice.

Polgie is simply taking a position that suits her personal agenda. Just like Nosh

NickFaulks
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by NickFaulks » Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:18 am

Chris Rice wrote:Now there is an official statement from the FIDE Press Officer, Anastasiya Karlovich
I can't find this anywhere except on Susan Polgar's news site. Strange.

[ edit : Maybe not so strange, since this looks like a private reply to a query from Susan. ]

Like so many items at the GA, this was announced out of the blue and raced through. The Agenda included only

"5.20.7. FIDE Women’s World Championship 2016.
Due to the absence of organizer the event will be moved to 2017."

Delegates were handed the minutes of the relevant Commission meeting as they arrived. These were extremely skimpy and did not mention this item.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:11 am

Much the same story in the Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 37876.html

It appears that most international (sporting) bodies avoid the issue by simply not awarding events involving the participation of women to Iran. Whether that's a formal policy or just pragmatic decisions to avoid rows and protests, I wouldn't know.

Gary Kenworthy

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Gary Kenworthy » Sat Oct 01, 2016 3:18 pm

Hitler + Lenin and Chess.

I remember reading in a history of chess article that Adolf Hitler privately told Dr Fritz Todt that he was a good player in Vienna during his jobbing street artist days. Vienna was a chess café haven. The Bohemian corporal told Todt that he had tried to eradicate this part of his personal history, due his Jewish chess playing connections.

Please See this link and the engraving – any comments on if it is another Hitler Diary story?
Would a famous Lenin play a young patzer? Doubtful.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/cult ... Lenin.html

I also notice this chess game of Lenin. The man who made Chess the official Sport of the Soviet Union (cf Chess as a Sport). [ IMHO -- Maxim Gorky looks a useful player].

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin vs Maxim Gorky
Capri, Italy (1908) · Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack. Main Line (B03) · 0-1

Not bad in 1908 a mainline Hypermodern Defence - 4 pawns attack, pre 1914 in the Balkans, pre Berlin -1918 (Budapest Defence- of Rubenstein v Dr Vidmar - the often quoted major milestone of Hypermodernism) .
Also rather beats the usually references of…
“The opening is named after Alexander Alekhine, who introduced it in the 1921 Budapest tournament in games against Endre Steiner[2] and Fritz Sämisch. “

Shades of the Lucena Book (1497) where clearly games had come from a decade or two earlier.

A picture -- a different game --- http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=100761

Regards Gary Kenworthy, Bletchley.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Oct 01, 2016 5:15 pm

Gary Kenworthy wrote:
Please See this link and the engraving – any comments on if it is another Hitler Diary story?
Would a famous Lenin play a young patzer? Doubtful.
It's not just an obvious hoax, it's an obvious hoax from 2009.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Gary Kenworthy

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Gary Kenworthy » Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:50 pm

Fairly sure it is not genuine. e.g. Lenin was unlikely to be in Vienna. He was not yet a German agent, and was in different countries. Sounds very like the Hitler's diaries in the 1980s.
I assume there some official refutation? I tried to find some - anybody else?

However, Hitler really does seem to try an improve himself in the arts, music, literature. Especially, in Vienna and heavily associating himself with Jewish patrons and intellectuals. e.g. Modern and new evidence is that he tried to marry a Jewish heiress - got short shrift.
Vienna was full of chess cafes.(more of that later). Quite believe he was a kibtzer and wood shuffler though in those Vienna days.

Further, is the V I Lenin v Maxim Gorky real, if so, that opening system in 2008 is WoW! Hypermodern before the term existed. Plus it is a Russian invention the Alekhine's. But Lenin losing?
(the picture with A Bogdanov has to be elsewhere/ later as he was in Russia till 1908/9.- or when?. They had split up by 1911).

Lets see if this ends up with "postal Players" -- [Re: Postal players ] are Soviet agents category. (Telegraph and Mail stories).