Media comments on chess

[Nick Burrows]

Anyone else watching the latest series of ' The Traitors ' ? One of the contestants, Anthony, cites his profession as a Chess Coach. The 3rd episode will be on tonight.
Let's wish him good luck !

Some brief details here - 45 years old, from Birmingham and there's a photo.

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/430480

[Tim Spanton]

Latest Private Eye has a Bishop's Move removals van on the cover.

And a chess diagram on page 30 referring to eight-year-old girls and double-eight-year-old darts players.

[Geoff Chandler]

Latest Private Eye has a Bishop's Move removals van on the cover.
And a chess diagram on page 30 referring to eight-year-old girls and double-eight-year-old darts players.

Hi Tim,

I was going to join in on the current darts thread saying how long, like chess, will it be before we see good darts players 9-10 years old appearing on the telly, it seems P.E. has beaten me to it.
I was also going to add, for a joke, 'why are boys better at darts than girls.' Ha! Ha!
However I thought I'd better google that just in case I'm figure skating on thin ice and found:

'Men are 'better at throwing sports due to concentration skills''

https://www.mdx.ac.uk/news/2023/02/lind ... psychology

Due to being born left-handed and forced to write with my right hand, which I do, I bowl left handed, play the guitar left handed, kick left footed, prefer to move my chess pieces left-handed with my clock on the left side but throw darts right handed! Don't tell me I've been concentrating more at darts than I do playing chess!

And returning to chess and the male/female game. Before I met her, my wife played darts for the 'Laird and Dog' team and would often relate how men took great exception to being beat by a women.
It seems the sports are linked in that respect.

[Tim Spanton]

Very interesting article - and hairstyles! - but not without controversy, I would have thought

[Paul Habershon]

Anyone else watching the latest series of ' The Traitors ' ? One of the contestants, Anthony, cites his profession as a Chess Coach. The 3rd episode will be on tonight.
Let's wish him good luck !

Some brief details here - 45 years old, from Birmingham and there's a photo.

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/430480

I see he says that he's good at keeping his emotions in check

[NickFaulks]

Very interesting article - and hairstyles! - but not without controversy, I would have thought

It looks like genuine, unbiased research. Why should it be controversial?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Very interesting article - and hairstyles! - but not without controversy, I would have thought

It looks like genuine, unbiased research. Why should it be controversial?

I agree with Nick F. For those not following along, a top women's darts player did her PhD thesis on gender differences in throwing (both underarm and overarm and anything inbetween) and while it would be best to actually read her thesis, she (Duffy) said this (from the article linked above):

women can pay attention to ten things at once, where men can only focus on one thing’ which is a joke, because it’s not true for everyone, but I do believe there’s some truth when you are looking at sports which require real focus and concentration such as darts, chess, bowls and archery.

“I think men manage to block out a lot of the white noise, if you like, and focus on what they need to do a lot easier than women. That makes them better.

This makes a lot of sense (and may seems obvious to some, but it needed saying) particularly when you see within the male and female populations that those who can concentrate better do better (well, duh!) when compared to those of the same gender.

EDIT: Duffy's story is quite inspiring and the barriers and attitudes she faced quite similar to chess (worse in many ways).

This would seem to apply to chess as well:

There’s very little difference across the top 16 players in the world, but the one that wins the most tournaments is the one who has prepared mentally and is up for the battle, and that’s usually only a few people.

[Tim Spanton]

Very interesting article - and hairstyles! - but not without controversy, I would have thought

It looks like genuine, unbiased research. Why should it be controversial?

Because it highlights supposed gender differences that would explain why women cannot hope to successfully compete with the top men at activities such as darts and chess.

[Kevin Thurlow]

It may also be that men tend to be more competitive.

[Matt Mackenzie]

But then we come back to the question how why that tendency exists - how much is "natural" as opposed to socialised?

[Stewart Reuben]

Tim Spanton wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 9:41 am
Latest Private Eye has a Bishop's Move removals van on the cover.

Sadly, when I contacted Bishop's Move a long time ago, they were uninterested in the possibility of chess sponsorship.
Written in Tenerife.

[Geoff Chandler]

Sadly, when I contacted Bishop's Move a long time ago, they were uninterested in the possibility of chess sponsorship.
Written in Tenerife.

Hi Stewart,

I've often thought of contacting them to ask if in the past if they have moved families called 'King' or 'Knight' across the country, possibly from Chesham to Chester. In 2013 it was noted that Bishop's Move moved the Archbishop of Canterbury.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articl ... anterbury/

The Link starts off with; "As you may have noticed in the news or on Twitter this week, much to the public’s delight, Bishop’s Move the UK’s largest family owned removals company, were responsible for the relocation of the Bishop of Durham, Justin Welby, soon to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury."

[Stewart Reuben]

If I remember correctly, it is called BISHOP'S MOVE because that was the name of the founder. But, at the time, they felt no need to spend money on advertising. The logo on the vans did as good a job. It may be worthwhile contacting them again. But change the name to King or Knight would only confuse potential customers.

[Tim Spanton]

But then we come back to the question how why that tendency exists - how much is "natural" as opposed to socialised?

Well, if you watch young kids playing when left to their own devices, boys tend to play competitive games in which, in theory, there are winners losers, eg cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, soldiers, etc (I say in theory, because in practice it is unusual for anyone to admit defeat). Girls tend to play cooperative games, eg a pretend tea-party, or mummies and daddies, in which some girls have more important roles than others, but there are no winners and losers, even in theory - everyone is working towards the same goal.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

But then we come back to the question how why that tendency exists - how much is "natural" as opposed to socialised?

Well, if you watch young kids playing when left to their own devices, boys tend to play competitive games in which, in theory, there are winners losers, eg cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, soldiers, etc (I say in theory, because in practice it is unusual for anyone to admit defeat). Girls tend to play cooperative games, eg a pretend tea-party, or mummies and daddies, in which some girls have more important roles than others, but there are no winners and losers, even in theory - everyone is working towards the same goal.

That is a slight oversimplification, is it not? As anyone who has experienced it will know (and this is human nature) groups of individuals will socialise in ways that (particularly when growing up and learning how to interact with others) form networks, cliques and groupings that can be unpleasant when the underlying motivations are 'bad' and affirming when genuine friendships are nurtured. The 'games' can be part of this.

Bonding while part of a team is something that may apply more to chess than darts (I will likely be told the opposite is true!) but far less than 'true' team sports.