New York Times axes chess column

[JustinHorton]

"They have to be world-class players, either past or present."

This is cobblers, isn't it? Many fine columns have been written by players of much more moderate ability.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Yes, but Kavalek and Short are good writers and if you can get both a top player and good writing, that would be the best way to go. The anecdotes of a top player are priceless (though the anecdotes on this forum and others are not bad either). I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the chess column of the London Times yet...

[Jonathan Bryant]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the chess column of the London Times yet...

Well since you raise it, The Times' chess columnist is in Private Eye again this week. (Page 6 I'm told)



I agree with about Short, btw.

[Stewart Reuben]

So, Arshad, and others will be happy to see chess columns, books, magazines and live teachers vanish as chess on TV has already done. They will then bemoan the fact that, partly with the help of their influence, the number of chessplayers, clubs and tournaments drops away dramatically.
People don't access chess material online, unless they are already committed chessplayers.
Of course, it is likely that this century people will have embedded computers in their brain. That will surely indeed be the end of competitive chess. Some months ago somebody applied to an ethics commission for permission to do such an experiment on himself.

Of chess columns, I primarily access those in the Daily Telegraph and Times. Ray's is not a daily news column of course. Currently he is comparing great, or strong, tournaments of the past. Malcolm's is much more topical. I wish that of Michael Adams were more about his perceptions as a strong player. It is always easier to be destructively critical than be constructive.

[JustinHorton]

Ray's is not a daily news column of course. Currently he is comparing great, or strong, tournaments of the past.

Fascinating. Is he doing it is his own words or somebody else's? Which of his friends and relatives is he managing to plug while he does it?

[JustinHorton]

Yes, but Kavalek and Short are good writers

Mmm, up to a point. I quite enjoy reading Nigel, regardless of whether I like either the author or the content, but I don't think he actually writes well.

Still, at least it's recognisably his own stuff.

[JustinHorton]

Ah, I see today Ray plugs "Daniel Johnson, editor of Standpoint Magazine" who, it transpires, is important to mention in the context of Linares 1994.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

People don't access chess material online, unless they are already committed chessplayers.

Actually, there are at least two current younger members of Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club who have primarily been playing or come to chess through playing online, and have branched out from there to club chess. So I think there are far more casual chess players online than you might think. How they learnt the moves, is another question. But then chess columns don't do that either. But keeping chess as part of the general cultural fabric is important, I agree. Something that children find interesting enough to at least learn the moves and parents, other relatives and family friends know enough about to be able to encourage those that take an interest.

[JustinHorton]

He did Johnson two days ago too. (But not yesterday, when he was churning out another set of "based on" notes.)

[John McKenna]

Stewart Reuben>Of course, it is likely that this century people will have embedded computers in their brain... Some months ago somebody applied to an ethics commission for permission to do such an experiment on himself.<

It only took a moment to realise you could mean Borislav Ivanov.

[Arshad Ali]

So, Arshad, and others will be happy to see chess columns, books, magazines and live teachers vanish as chess on TV has already done. They will then bemoan the fact that, partly with the help of their influence, the number of chessplayers, clubs and tournaments drops away dramatically.

Oh, I said that, did I? So the fact that I see chess columns as a bit of an anachronism must mean I have the same sentiment towards books, magazines, and live teachers? Brilliant logic. Now all I have to do is get rid of the 1500 chess books I've amassed over the last quarter century. How silly of me not to see the intimate connection between a few paragraphs in a newspaper and some of the more serious chess monographs I have ....

[Stephen Moss]

It's surely important for chess to cross into the mainstream, which is why columns in general newspapers are helpful. I recall during the Karpov-Korchnoi match of 1978 the Times running detailed daily reports of the games + showing all the moves. Unimaginable now. If we lose the general public, the game is in a ghetto, and the notion of chess as something close to an artform with a contribution to make to wider society is lost. Which is why I, for one, will carry on evangelising on its behalf.

[Jonathan Bryant]

People don't access chess material online, unless they are already committed chessplayers.

Stewart, you’re way out of touch with this statement. It’s true that nobody is going to go to Chessbase (or here) unless they are committed players, but there are lots of chess sites that appeal to folk who wouldn’t dream of playing rated/graded chess.

www.redhotpawn.com for example - the majority of the guys playing there are not club players.

[Francis Fields]

People love newspapers and chess columns can only encourage people to show more interest in the game. I believe there have chess columns in newspapers since the 17th if not the 16th century. I doubt if they will all disappear overnight.

[Simon Brown]

People don't access chess material online, unless they are already committed chessplayers.

Stewart, you’re way out of touch with this statement. It’s true that nobody is going to go to Chessbase (or here) unless they are committed players, but there are lots of chess sites that appeal to folk who wouldn’t dream of playing rated/graded chess.

http://www.redhotpawn.com for example - the majority of the guys playing there are not club players.

Absolutely. My daughter plays happily online, but has never been to a club and hasn't wanted to play OTB since she was bullied at a Mike Basman event, by an older boy who announced mate when it wasn't, shook her bemused hand, whilst being watched by an "arbiter" who refused to intervene and said that the handshake was evidence that she had lost. She was 9 at the time.