Media comments on chess

[Stewart Reuben]

Geoff. Have you tried the question: How many squares are there on a chess board? Of course it is not a joke, but a conundrum.
I can't be bothered to work out the actual number. But it starts out 64 of 1x1. Then there are 2x2. Then 3x3, etc culminating in 1 of 8x8.

University Challenge once consulted me about, 'Who is the World Chess Champion?' It was about 1995 and I advised them NOT to ask that question.
Then I suggested, How many squares are there on a draughts board? He thought 64, until I pointed only 32 re played on. He then suggested it would be better to reword the question, How many squares are used on a draughts board?

Another good question is, 'Which minister is named after chess?'

[Roland Kensdale]

Geoff. Have you tried the question: How many squares are there on a chess board? Of course it is not a joke, but a conundrum.
I can't be bothered to work out the actual number. But it starts out 64 of 1x1. Then there are 2x2. Then 3x3, etc culminating in 1 of 8x8.

Squares count:

https://www.teachingideas.co.uk/maths/h ... hessboard/

The complete list of answers is shown below:

1, 8×8 square
4, 7×7 squares
9, 6×6 squares
16, 5×5 squares
25, 4×4 squares
36, 3×3 squares
49, 2×2 squares
64, 1×1 squares
Therefore, there are actually 64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 + 4 + 1 squares on a chessboard! (in total, 204).

Another good question is, 'Which minister is named after chess?'

Would this be the Chancellor of the Exchequer?

[Geoff Chandler]

Geoff. Have you tried the question: How many squares are there on a chess board? Of course it is not a joke...

HI Stewart,

On Red Hot Pawn they have a 'Puzzles and Posers' forum https://www.redhotpawn.com/forum/posers-and-puzzles.13
A good forum that and I know that one was asked quite a while back and the answer was over 200. They set tasks not only to chess related questions but everything from logic puzzles to higher mathematics.

I googled it - 204 https://www.teachingideas.co.uk/maths/h ... hessboard/
I think I recall seeing that questions about the number of squares used in a game of draughts.
But it is not a joke and my attempts at a funny puzzle on the above forum tend to meet a polite hand clap.
(what do Australians call a Rook? 'A Kangerook!')

'Which minister is named after chess?' The Ministry of Defence? I do not know.

[Kevin Thurlow]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/67127168

A bit sloppy - Jennifer Shahade is a WGM not a GM. FIDE have not explained their decision properly. I would guess their attitude is

1) Should a 45-year-old man be allowed to win a junior prize? No
2) Should a 45-year-old man be allowed to win a senior prize? No
3) Should a 45-year-old man be allowed to win a woman's prize? No

But they don't make it clear, and they seem to be creating an argument where there wasn't one. I suspect most players don't actually care who they're playing.

I have complete sympathy with anyone changing gender, as the associated procedures must be very unpleasant.

[Chris Goodall]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/67127168

A bit sloppy - Jennifer Shahade is a WGM not a GM. FIDE have not explained their decision properly. I would guess their attitude is

1) Should a 45-year-old man be allowed to win a junior prize? No
2) Should a 45-year-old man be allowed to win a senior prize? No
3) Should a 45-year-old man be allowed to win a woman's prize? No

But they don't make it clear, and they seem to be creating an argument where there wasn't one. I suspect most players don't actually care who they're playing.

I have complete sympathy with anyone changing gender, as the associated procedures must be very unpleasant.

We all have sympathy for trans folk, unless we are backward ex-communists who can get in the bin.

Ms. Iglesias's comments about stealth trans players getting outed make no sense. If you're entering a tournament that matches the gender you identify as, there's nothing to out; if you're entering one that matches your birth gender, the rules are not about you. And if you played rated games under a previous identity that you now want disregarded, I can no more do that as a cis person than you can as a trans person.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Ms. Iglesias's comments about stealth trans players getting outed make no sense. If you're entering a tournament that matches the gender you identify as, there's nothing to out; if you're entering one that matches your birth gender, the rules are not about you. And if you played rated games under a previous identity that you now want disregarded, I can no more do that as a cis person than you can as a trans person.

If FIDE openly shows on their rating site the detailed history of the player, how can you say "there's nothing to out"?
These comments seem to me as superficial and insensitive as the FIDE regulations.

[Chris Goodall]

If FIDE openly shows on their rating site the detailed history of the player, how can you say "there's nothing to out"?
These comments seem to me as superficial and insensitive as the FIDE regulations.

Did you read the BBC piece?

"If a trans player was stealth [had not disclosed their trans identity] and playing in a country where being LGBT is illegal or dangerous, if Fide decide to out you, it could be life-threatening."

So in this scenario a person assigned male at birth successfully transitions to female in a country where being LGBT is illegal, and then takes up chess and enters a tournament under her true gender, and FIDE can tell from Russia that she's trans but the local organisers can't. Does that seem far-fetched to anyone else?

[Paolo Casaschi]

So in this scenario a person assigned male at birth successfully transitions to female in a country where being LGBT is illegal, and then takes up chess and enters a tournament under her true gender, and FIDE can tell from Russia that she's trans but the local organisers can't. Does that seem far-fetched to anyone else?

Your sentence above makes no sense.

However, if someone transitioned from male to female, and this information is publicly available from the FIDE website, I can see situations where this person could be a target when visiting a non LGTB friendly country. A number of countries ask for social media account information on immigration forms, it does not take much to imagine that publicly available information on the web could also be collected.

[Chris Goodall]

Your sentence above makes no sense.

Read it again.

However, if someone transitioned from male to female, and this information is publicly available from the FIDE website, I can see situations where this person could be a target when visiting a non LGTB friendly country.

Of course. But it isn't. Show me where on Yosha Iglesias's card it says AMAB.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Of course. But it isn't. Show me where on Yosha Iglesias's card it says AMAB.

It says “female”. If this is the only information shared with local organisers, then we are good and she would be able to play female events.

The FIDE rule about banning trans players from gender restricted event can only be enforced if FIDE shares gender history information with federations and local organisers.
It might not be on the public website but it’s still somehow shared.

[Chris Goodall]

with federations and local organisers.

No, the rules apply only to high-level competitions run directly by FIDE, which is how the ECF were able to disregard them and let everyone compete as their true gender. So to the extent that the information is being "shared", it is FIDE sharing information with FIDE.

[Paolo Casaschi]

with federations and local organisers.

No, the rules apply only to high-level competitions run directly by FIDE, which is how the ECF were able to disregard them and let everyone compete as their true gender. So to the extent that the information is being "shared", it is FIDE sharing information with FIDE.

Anyone organising events impacted by the rule will need to be told who can be admitted and who can’t.

All good as long as YOU don’t have any concerns with SOMEONE ELSE’s confidential information being manipulated by FIDE?!

Looking at the participants list at current FIDE official events, that same organisation does not seem to take safeguarding issues very seriously.

[Chris Goodall]

All good as long as YOU don’t have any concerns with SOMEONE ELSE’s confidential information being manipulated by FIDE?!

I have concerns about everything FIDE do. There is a difference between a dumb piece of red tape and a threat to your life.

[Paolo Casaschi]

I have concerns about everything FIDE do. There is a difference between a dumb piece of red tape and a threat to your life.

to THEIR life.

[Stewart Reuben]

I wrote in the 1984 Olympiad Bulletin, something like, 'I look forward to the time separate women's chess is no longer needed'.

Year's later when Miko Markkula was chairman of the FIDE Qualification Commission and I was secretary, we consider the following problem - BEFORE it came up. A man has a reasonable rating, but too low for the FM title. His rating drops down below the WFM title level. He now becomes a woman.
Is she entitled to claim the WFM title based on her old rating when she was a man?
We decided NO. I doubt this appears in the statutes.