Media comments on chess

[Ian Thompson]

For an early Lloyds Bank Masters.
journalist 'How many people are playing?'
'128'.
How many boards and sets are used in the competition?'

Perhaps he thought they wear out quickly, like tennis balls , or maybe that the players get to take them away after the game.

I did actually get to take the board home at the end of one tournament - the organisers announced that the winner of each game could keep it (or Black in the case of a draw).

[Alex Holowczak]

While on the subject of journalistic ignorance...

Real Madrid were playing a La Liga game against Real Valladolid tonight. Notable here only because they got "Some Spanish sportsman" to perform the ceremonial kick-off...

[David Sedgwick]

That must have been the most ignorant journalist you have ever come across.

That's probably true, but Alex's spot beats it, I feel.

[Mick Norris]

While on the subject of journalistic ignorance...

Real Madrid were playing a La Liga game against Real Valladolid tonight. Notable here only because they got "Some Spanish sportsman" to perform the ceremonial kick-off...

Gareth Bale will want him there every match now

[Richard Bates]

That must have been the most ignorant journalist you have ever come across.

That's probably true, but Alex's spot beats it, I feel.

Really? If it had been Bobby Fischer in 1972, maybe, but i don't see why a football commentator, quite possibly commentating from a studio in West London, would be expected to recognise Magnus Carlsen, on sight. Perhaps if he had been given the full name it might have twigged. A world champion in anything other than chess and i imagine most of us would be saying "who he?". More a sign of how chess isn't quite as closely followed as some would have us believe...

Ok, so "Magnus" isn't a particularly obvious name for a Spaniard, just unlucky on the day I guess

[Richard Bates]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03k07jy

49:26 in.

[Alex Holowczak]

That must have been the most ignorant journalist you have ever come across.

That's probably true, but Alex's spot beats it, I feel.

Really? If it had been Bobby Fischer in 1972, maybe, but i don't see why a football commentator, quite possibly commentating from a studio in West London, would be expected to recognise Magnus Carlsen, on sight. Perhaps if he had been given the full name it might have twigged. A world champion in anything other than chess and i imagine most of us would be saying "who he?". More a sign of how chess isn't quite as closely followed as some would have us believe...

Ok, so "Magnus" isn't a particularly obvious name for a Spaniard, just unlucky on the day I guess

I agree with Richard.

The football commentator was there to talk about football, and suddenly found himself ad libbing during the ceremonial kick-off because it was on the stream.

By contrast, the person who turned up to interview Ray Keene was there to talk about mindsport, and apparently knew nothing about the man he was interviewing or mindsports in general.

I assume the football commentator was able to talk about football!

[JustinHorton]

By contrast, the person who turned up to interview Ray Keene was there to talk about mindsport and apparently knew nothing about the man he was interviewing or mindsports in general.

Yeah, but if they were on a local paper then here's no particular reason why they should know about mindsport or indeed about the Penguin in particular. (Just as well for him, too.) Actually in some ways it's quite intertesting that somebody should think "grandmaster" was a nickname.

Anybody know who the football commentator was? I don't know, incidentally, what they said on the Spanish commentary, as I didn't see the game. By coincidence I happen to be in Valladolid at the moment - I might pop down later and see if the local paper reports thought Carlsen's appearance was of great significance.

[JustinHorton]

Well, the regional paper El Norte de Castilla had a small photo and a paragraph of text among their six pages on the match. MARCA, the Spanish daily sports paper which is largely a Real Madrid fanzine, had a short paragraph on page six and a photo on page eleven of Carlsen shaking hands with Sergio Ramos.

[Clive Blackburn]

Actually in some ways it's quite intertesting that somebody should think "grandmaster" was a nickname.

Have you never heard of Grandmaster Flash?

[JustinHorton]

Of course! But have the kids today?

[Stewart Reuben]

Andrew Paulson interview

http://www.chessdom.com/interview-with- ... ederation/

[Roger de Coverly]

Andrew Paulson interview

From the interview

The English chess community, unlike elsewhere in the world, is opinionated and contrarian.

I would have thought the English community genteel by comparison with the Americans or for that matter the Scots, who have closed their forum to outsiders.

A key difference between the English Chess Federation and with World Chess Federation is that our members are people and FIDE’s are federations.

That's really not true, as the voting membership of the ECF is almost exclusively chess organisations. What is a key difference is that ECF votes are proportionate to size, so small bodies are unable to hold the rest to ransom.

the ECF has no Strategic Plan as it never had a budget or a long event horizon

The ECF has had a published strategic plan for many years, it even had a Strategic Planning Officer. Like many strategic plans, its intent was to deliver the impression of doing something, whilst ignoring important on the ground issues.

supposedly 58% of Indian adults play chess regularly; and I’m a pretty good salesman. I was wrong: it wasn’t easy. It was impossible. Zero.

Whilst putting salesmen in a position of power and influence can have beneficial effects, in practice they believe in their own half truths, which is not good for a realistic assessment of prospects of financial support.

I will remain clear-eyed, consider the consequences of our vote, and try to lead the ECF to make the right decision as to how to vote. Nigel has convinced me: we will not abstain!

Any attempt to support Kirsan is likely to lead to a mass revolt. At an minimum the price should be the abolition of FIDE support for zero time defaults. It's a reason not to support Kasparov either, given the presence on his ticket of the most hostile organiser to amateur players.

I find Zurab a very compelling figure.

Something of a "hold your nose" candidate. There was the "take the move back" incident and also the alleged fake tournament in Bosnia, which disclosed a number of Kasparov novelties.

[Roger de Coverly]

The ECF has kept its distance in recent years from both FIDE and the European Chess Union for reasons of emotionalism and demagoguery, a holding-our-noses ‘strategy’ without goals: an antipathy to their leaders,

It's a straightforward narrative.

FIDE is controlled by a nutter and his stooges who believes that aliens invented chess. Furthermore he supports initiatives calculated to discourage amateur players from playing. Attempts to remove him from office fail because of the number of "small" Federations open to inducements (aka bribery and corruption).

[Kevin Thurlow]

I agree with Roger's assessment of the Paulson interview. The interview reads like one of those Chief Executive speeches where the CEO pretends he understands what the staff are doing, but all the staff (except the senior management) know he's wrong. Sprinkle in some buzzwords and jargon, an earnest expression and carefully rehearsed hand gestures...

The bit about, "The English chess community, unlike elsewhere in the world, is opinionated and contrarian." is quite possibly the most stupid comment I have ever heard. If he takes the "unlike elsewhere in the world" out, I would agree. I assume what he means is, "I have taken over and they're daring to disagree with me! How dare they!"