Publicity Officer

[Jonathan Bryant]

What woman could resist the average congress player with his black coat and Tesco carrier bag?

Perhaps if we dressed in varieties of grey instead of black?

You know, the idea that the average congress chesser would ever be considered a sex god is considerably more plausible than the proposition that David Beckham was ever broadly popular amongst people who actually liked football (i.e. enough to pay money to go to games).

[Ernie Lazenby]

Booby Fischer was good looking, a very good speaker, controversial and one of the worlds best ever players.(if not the best) A media mans dream. We have not come close to anyone like that in the UK at any time in our chess history.
The 1992 match was embarrasing to watch. Carol Vorderman did her best when interviewing the two contestants but it was awefull to watch the post match interviews. It was not a good advert for our game.

The media currently just dont want to know about chess, nor do sponsors for that matter and thats our fault. Too many self interested egos who just dont come across well. Daniel King is perhaps the best we have got; whenever he appears on TV he comes across as normal, well spoken, a good communicator, projects a very good image and is of course a very good player. I always thought Bill Hartston was very good on TV however he seems to be out of the chess scene these days.

I am sorry to say that Chess will continue to languish near the bottom of the general publics interest and thus the medias.

I will continue to do my little bit to support chess because I love the game but I dont have any hope it will ever achieve a higher profile in this country. Thats not being pessimistic just realistic.

[Andrew Zigmond]

An idea for an article would be to round up five reasonably photogenic up and coming players for a photoshoot and an article in which they discuss a) what attracts them to chess and b) what they do outside of it, ie that they're just regular guys really. It's the sort of article that would go well in the magazine supplement of one of the broadsheets and the the kind of thing we need from the marketing director.

Let's not forget however that a critical point about chess is that anyone; male, female, young, old, blind, disabled; can compete on the same playing field. Photogenic players may appeal to a certain demographic but that's not what our game is really about.

[Andrew Camp]

It's odd though that so many of the world's WGMs are very good-looking.

[Krishna Shiatis]

He is still popular with everyone even today because of the media.

He is still popular with "everyone" today because of the man he is, not because of the media, IMO. The only people who you read bad mouthing him are those who persist in the idea that he is purely a media creation who acts only for himself.

I have no bad words to say about David. I think he is a very clever man. Anyone who thinks he would be where he is today WITHOUT the media is missing the point.

He is not a media creation at all. He has created who he is and made himself his own brand. He has done this, using the media to work for him. It has not always been easy, but he has done it well. It has helped that he is actually talented at what he does.

This is what I am saying. Our chess players are good at what they do. If we sell them first, then we will get the attention that we want and they will get the recognition they deserve.

[Richard Bates]

David didn't just break the mould. He 'played' the media at their own game. He realised early on that there is no such thing as bad publicity and because he was 'hot' he could get away with just about anything.

I think this is dubious to be honest. Post 1998 Beckham was probably the biggest hate figure in England (outside of Manchester United fans, although not unrelated to the fact that he was a Man Utd player). It took several years for him to transform himself into a national (footballing) hero and even longer to transcend the sport of football to the extent that he does today.

Anyway, a bit irrelevant to chess, I think. A better comparison would be someone like Tom Daley, or maybe to be topical some of the cyclists. Previously unglamorous activities in which British participants break the mould. Ultimately it's achievement on a global scale that brings the headlines.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Want to be my agent, Krishna? I reckon you could do a decent job of creating a media profile for me.

[Andrew Camp]

It will take something extremely rare like a junior to be so good, he qualifies for a World Title shot.

[Sean Hewitt]

It will take something extremely rare like a junior to be so good, he qualifies for a World Title shot.

Indeed. A 'Magnus Carlsen' would be useful.

[David Lettington]

we need a poster boy for chess

I suggest David Sedgwick.

[Krishna Shiatis]

An idea for an article would be to round up five reasonably photogenic up and coming players for a photoshoot and an article in which they discuss a) what attracts them to chess and b) what they do outside of it, ie that they're just regular guys really. It's the sort of article that would go well in the magazine supplement of one of the broadsheets and the the kind of thing we need from the marketing director.

Let's not forget however that a critical point about chess is that anyone; male, female, young, old, blind, disabled; can compete on the same playing field. Photogenic players may appeal to a certain demographic but that's not what our game is really about.

That's a good idea Andrew. If this is done across lots of papers and internet sites it would make an impact.

Also perhaps just do posters of our best looking players (like Magnus did) with a catchy slogan. Just raise their profiles as much as possible. People will notice all the great things about the game itself with time. First you need to catch their attention and imagination.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Ernie - Bobby Fischer was also a nightmare for organisers (his demands bordered on the unreasonable), a frustration for his fans (how many events did he walk out of after a tantrum - he was lucky he wasn't dependant upon sponsorship) and by all accounts deeply paranoid and anti semitic. He was also lucky that his enemies were the Soviets; ultimately Boris Spassky was a much more pleasant man and I'm sure it was Fischer's antics that led to his collapse in the middle of the match.

We don't know what may happen in the future which may generate interest in our game. Twenty years ago British cycling appeared to be dead in the water; the sport was sneered at, cyclists weren't welcome on the roads which made organising competitions difficult and the best talent we had was Chris Boardman - a brilliant time triallist but hopelessly limited when facing the likes of Miguel Indurain. This year Bradley Wiggins becomes our first Tour de France winner, his pictured is plastered over the front pages and a cycling boom looks likely.

[Krishna Shiatis]

Want to be my agent, Krishna? I reckon you could do a decent job of creating a media profile for me.

I would love to Jack. I think we could do lots with you. You have that intense brooding look and you play chess fast enough that nobody is ever bored watching you

[Richard Bates]

It will take something extremely rare like a junior to be so good, he qualifies for a World Title shot.

Indeed. A 'Magnus Carlsen' would be useful.

Quite. It's very easy to say "our young (always getting older) players are good at what they do..." but at the moment not at a level that is really likely to excite media interest. Unfortunately the only young-ish player potentially very close to the media eye-catching level is Luke with his recent performances, who obviously isn't quite the right person when he's a fairly infrequently playing amateur (albeit it is an interesting angle).

BTW is there any young British chess player who Krishna doesn't think is good-looking, articulate, photogenic, and charismatic...

[Ernie Lazenby]

Andrew thats a fair comment. The point I was trying to make is that Fischer by the very nature of who and what he was brought Chess into worldwide notice. Prior to him it barely made any headlines outside the USSR. He help put chess on the map much the same as Alex Higgins did for Snooker and Eric Bristow did for darts. Highly cotroversial, in many ways flawed and disturbed individuals but they attracted attention to their sports. They also happened to be exceptionally good which helped. Its a reality that in many sports the eccentric controversial people attract the most attention from the media.

I agree with what you say about Fischer being a pain in the backside for organisers and of course I found his ranting during the last decade of his life very sickening and sad given he was one of my chess heroes.