Media comments on chess

[JustinHorton]

Chess is the theme of today's cartoon in El País by El Roto.

So, Justin, who exactly are the 'tertulianos'?

They're people who appear on daytime discussion shows, or more accurately shouting matches.

[John McKenna]

That sounds like anybody in general and nobody in particular. I was hoping for an exemplary name or two.

[JustinHorton]

Well I could maybe single out Eduardo Inda, is he known to you?

[John McKenna]

No, I didn't knowingly know of him, but I do now, thanks. (A bit of a Henry Winkler [OBE] lookalike, but probably not cool, unlike the Fonz.)

https://amp.sportsmole.co.uk/people/eduardo-inda/

And, perfectamundo, I see he has chessical connections -

"En uno de sus últimos actos públicos como director de Marca, Eduardo Inda abogó de nuevo por la popularización del ajedrez y su introducción como asignatura en los colegios: “En todos los demás deportes, el exceso en su práctica es malo para la salud. El ajedrez, sin embargo, se puede practicar intensamente toda la vida con evidentes beneficios para el rendimiento cerebral. Lo he comprobado varias veces”. Inda hizo ese comentario al hilo de una noticia reciente: la comisaria de Educación de la Unión Europea, la chipriota Andrula Vasilu, estudia el fomento del ajedrez en los colegios europeos; el pasado lunes recibió al excampeón del mundo Gari Kaspárov y al presidente de la Federación Europea, el búlgaro Silvio Danáilov.

http://www.tabladeflandes.com/leontxo_g ... _2011.html

I've dim chess, but fond sherry & tapas, memories of a brief visit to the city of Leon and to the European Team Championships being held there in 2001.

Now I wonder if Eduardo might have been thereabouts at the exactamundo same time.

Días felices!

[JustinHorton]

No, I didn't knowingly know of him, but I do now, thanks. (A bit of a Henry Winkler [OBE] lookalike, but probably not cool, unlike the Fonz.)

It would be fair to say that he was one of the most disreputable journalists in Spain (a competitive enough field if not quite in the UK class).

[John McKenna]

I'll take your word for it, Justin.

And, I'd like to echo this astute comment on the cartoon -

The cartoon is of two knights, one black and one white; unable to communicate with each other - although close together; marooned in just 4 squares of a chess board unable to escape. It seems to me apposite for Brexit and the Conservative party contest.

Reductio ad absurdum...

[JustinHorton]

Suzanne Wrack, writing in the Guardian on last night's semi-final, contrasts it with

the tactical chess from Phil Neville and Jill Ellis on Tuesday night.

[Joshua Gibbs]

I just saw this on facebook https://www.itv.com/news/2019-07-05/sec ... vttKITg9IY

I honestly can't understand where these people are coming from.

1 Different people find different things more or less demanding
2 The number of idiots who can write essays is phenomenal

[Stewart Reuben]

Joshue >2 The number of idiots who can write essays is phenomenal<

Surely you must mean The number of idiots who can write bad essays is phenomenal

It is a little like the lte Mikko Markulla's joke. 'The most widely used language is bad English.

A statement that, writing s good essay is as demanding as playing chess, is not to be sneered at. Very few people can write a good essays. i presume, among the young, few try, except in the concept of schoolwork.

[Joshua Gibbs]

Joshue >2 The number of idiots who can write essays is phenomenal<

Surely you must mean The number of idiots who can write bad essays is phenomenal

It is a little like the lte Mikko Markulla's joke. 'The most widely used language is bad English.

A statement that, writing s good essay is as demanding as playing chess, is not to be sneered at. Very few people can write a good essays. i presume, among the young, few try, except in the concept of schoolwork.

Yes that's what I mean. I should have thought more before I typed.

[Neil Graham]

Not particularly a media comment on chess but a comparison with tennis.

First round singles losers at Wimbledon received £45,000 each (so a payment of £5,760,000 in total) - some of the players didn't last an hour and one of these had his £45,000 docked for not trying.

One wonders why youngsters are encouraged to take up tennis when there is so much money in professional chess?

[Stewart Reuben]

However, the expenses are far higher. It has been said that there are only about 100 players who make a living solely from playing tennis.

In England Adams and Howell have good-paying chess columns. Jones I am not sure about. McShane has a job. I am a bit confused about Sadler. Others make money coaching chess.

[NickFaulks]

In England Adams and Howell have good-paying chess columns.

Not £45k a week good, unless I'm seriously out of touch.

[JustinHorton]

The postings immediately above strike me as a potentially interesting discussion marooned in the wrong place.

Anyway, shortly after reading them I happened on a 2017 interview with Chris Arnade, in the Los Angeles Review of Books, about McDonald's and the people who go there. And if you scroll down and look at the photos...

[Kevin Thurlow]

"And if you scroll down and look at the photos..."

Interesting that the position looks quite sensible, pawns aren't scattered.