English Chess Forum

Richard James wrote:Magnus Carlsen is the Justin Bieber of chess according to this.

Definitely not impressed with Joseff Thomas, visited his website, that Richard linked to, no mention of chess there, so he has not understood how chess has enormous cultural value, in terms of teaching the very young, the value of semiotics.

I guess he was good as a youngster, then he discovered when he played the big boys, that he was not half as good as he thought he was, hence no mention of chess on his website, but then the BBC rang him, and he thought hooray I'm a media hero, so he put a tie on quick and headed for his career, as the next Michael Portillo and to be able to stick his snout in the BBC trough and slurp up all those big houses and sexy cars.

IM Jack Rudd wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:The video clip (which I've not watched) says "Former British Chess champion Joseff Thomas". Anyone know who that is?

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1801333

He won the U-16 title, if I recall correctly.

Thanks, Jack (and thanks, Richard).

His ECF rating history is here:

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/menu.p ... ile=player

No need to be that harsh, Peter. Though I'd need to watch the video clip (on a better connection) before saying more. It does seem bizarre how some people get contacted by the BBC, though. Does the video clip shed any light on that?

I would be surprised if the BBC sought Joseff Thomas out as a chess expert. It seems much more likely that he is doing an internship or the like at the beeb then when the World Chess Championship story came out they cross referenced their employee files. Joseff is a more than competent player and what he said is fairly reasonable for the average punter.

PeterTurland wrote:Definitely not impressed with Joseff Thomas, visited his website, that one of us linked to, no mention of chess there ...

Agreed. His website also suggests that doesn't know much about his degree subject either. His CV might look better if he did mention his achievements at chess and didn't mention his skills in "object orientated" programming twice. He also didn't seem to know much about the Anand-Carlsen match in his interview either. He said he thought it had lasted about a month.

Matthew Turner wrote:I would be surprised if the BBC sought Joseff Thomas out as a chess expert. It seems much more likely that he is doing an internship or the like at the beeb then when the World Chess Championship story came out they cross referenced their employee files. Joseff is a more than competent player and what he said is fairly reasonable for the average punter.

So why is there nothing about chess on his website?

BTW I hate being called a punter.

Ian Thompson wrote:

PeterTurland wrote:Definitely not impressed with Joseff Thomas, visited his website, that one of us linked to, no mention of chess there ...

Agreed. His website also suggests that doesn't know much about his degree subject either. His CV might look better if he did mention his achievements at chess and didn't mention his skills in "object orientated" programming twice. He also didn't seem to know much about the Anand-Carlsen match in his interview either. He said he thought it had lasted about a month.

I used to code many years ago, in basic, Z80 and 6502 and then I became a continental truck driver for 8 years, so no longer practised my coding hobby, when I tried to pick it up again in 1995, found out sadly, because I had lost the knack, mainly because I no longer understood the language they used, a particular example being "object orientated".

It is my observation, that human beings obfuscate language and promote a private language, so few people can understand what they are on about, chess fights this, and it possibly explains the paucity of chess on British media, in terms of a wonderful language, that teaches the young, what an ego is.

PeterTurland wrote: then I became a continental truck for 8 years

That sounds painful.

PeterTurland wrote:I had lost the knack, mainly because I no longer understood the language they used, a particular example being "object orientated".

I doubt it. Do a Google search on "object orientated programming" and see what it does. Then you will probably understand why I don't think much of Joseff's CV.

David Shepherd wrote:

PeterTurland wrote: then I became a continental truck for 8 years

That sounds painful.

Fixed lol.

Only just read the Chessbase report:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/chennai-g1 ... d-champion

There is a great picture at the end of the report. That has to be a candidate for the best-ever celebration, surely?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Only just read the Chessbase report:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/chennai-g1 ... d-champion

There is a great picture at the end of the report. That has to be a candidate for the best-ever celebration, surely?

That water looked very wet.

At last a European champion, hooray.

PeterTurland wrote:At last a European champion, hooray.

"At last"? Which continent do you think Kramnik is from, then?

IM Jack Rudd wrote:

PeterTurland wrote:At last a European champion, hooray.

"At last"? Which continent do you think Kramnik is from, then?

You choose I have run out of continents, because I can only cope with one planet at a time.

Matthew Turner wrote:I would be surprised if the BBC sought Joseff Thomas out as a chess expert. It seems much more likely that he is doing an internship or the like at the beeb then when the World Chess Championship story came out they cross referenced their employee files. Joseff is a more than competent player and what he said is fairly reasonable for the average punter.

I suppose we should be grateful they didn't put some random cab driver on.

IM Jack Rudd wrote:

PeterTurland wrote:At last a European champion, hooray.

"At last"? Which continent do you think Kramnik is from, then?

Well Kramnik is Russian and most of Russia is in Asia, however the boundary for Europe has been steadily creeping Eastwards for some time. Once upon a time it was at the Bosphorus and Istanbul straddled both continents. Now they say that the Caucasus Mountains are the divide between continents. That doesn't really help much as they run East-West along the Georgia-Russia border.

According to Wikipedia the standard convention of the continental boundary between Europe and Asia follows the Caucasus crest, the Urals River and the Urals Mountains to the Sea of Kara...
Pah! That would mean Kazakhstan is partly in Europe too!

So (Wiki) officially Turkey is not in Europe! Some might find that amusing...