Media comments on chess

[Neil Graham]

Paris Olympics 2024

Break Dancing IN but Chess OUT!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/55223554

[Geoff Chandler]

The Private Eye cartoon Kevin Mentioned (page 20) is a man and woman playing chess, the caption reads:

"I was hoping you'd wipe the board with me in a defiant and sexually provocative way."

The spoof article (page 34) is about chess players who never knew television existed.

"One Grandmaster added, 'So absorbing is this telly-watching that I've given
up chess completely in order to devote my life to staring at a screen.'

[jholyhead]

Paris Olympics 2024

Break Dancing IN but Chess OUT!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/55223554

Be careful what you wish for.

Being added to the Olympics is a double edged [s]sword[/s] position. Using Judo as an example - when Judo was admitted to the games, it lead to a massive increase in funding (most UK sports funding is reserved for Olympic sports), which was great for the top players in the country, but it did also lead to a number of rule changes intended to make the sport more attractive/exciting to Olympic broadcasters. Imagine Castling being removed from the game or allowing the Bishop to move through pieces - those are the kind of drastic rule changes that the IJF implemented in order to secure continued Olympic status.

Chess being in the Olympics will have very few benefits for club level players, but it does add a whole new layer of politics and risk - and FIDE already has enough of that.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Being added to the Olympics is a double edged [s]sword[/s] position. Using Judo as an example - when Judo was admitted to the games, it lead to a massive increase in funding (most UK sports funding is reserved for Olympic sports), which was great for the top players in the country, but it did also lead to a number of rule changes intended to make the sport more attractive/exciting to Olympic broadcasters. Imagine Castling being removed from the game or allowing the Bishop to move through pieces - those are the kind of drastic rule changes that the IJF implemented in order to secure continued Olympic status.

Chess being in the Olympics will have very few benefits for club level players, but it does add a whole new layer of politics and risk - and FIDE already has enough of that."

Yes - I'm sure you're right. Was it the Olympics that fouled up table-tennis by making it first to 11 instead of 21? Also you will get drug-testing, which is utterly pointless for chess, and totally mismanaged by WADA anyway. (I had intended at one stage to offer my expertise to WADA in return for a modest remuneration, but suspect it would be too stressful trying to get any sense out of them. After the last sentence before the parenthesis, they might say "no"!)

[Kevin Thurlow]

Just stumbled over this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stRPLIkyKTQ

Our footballing friend struggles a bit. I did discover that (a) I have been mispronouncing Jovanka's name forever (I thought it was "hoos-ka"), and (b) she used to watch Crystal Palace.

[David Sedgwick]

I did discover that ... I have been mispronouncing Jovanka's name forever (I thought it was "hoos-ka")...

I think she pronounced it "hoos-ka" when I was BCF International Director in the late 1990s.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I think she pronounced it "hoos-ka" when I was BCF International Director in the late 1990s."

I hope it's not that so many people got it wrong, she just gave up?

[Paul Cooksey]

Naturally Jovi can say her name however she likes, but she does seem to be using the Czech pronunciation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2t5COzu9k

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Naturally Jovi can say her name however she likes"

Well, yes...

[Simon Rogers]

Sorry for posting this late as I have just found this article.
Sunday 25th October.
Sunday Times Style Magazine page 27, Editor's Picks.
There was a picture of a chessboard and a check shirt.
"My latest Netflix obsession is the Queen's Gambit ---released last week--- starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, a talented but compulsive Chess player, consider it your new winter lockdown activity, and look the part in this perfect check shirt, £155, Ganni; net-a-porter.com. Chess and Draughts game, £15; johnlewis.com."

[Stewart Reuben]

KEVIN Thurlow >Chess being in the Olympics will have very few benefits for club level players, but it does add a whole new layer of politics and risk - and FIDE already has enough of that."<
Chess has been recognised as a sport by the IOC for some years, as has bridge. It was an exhibition sport in Sydney during the games. I was very sad that Russia seemed to make no effort to have chess in their games when it was held in Sochi.
It helps several chess federations get state support, e.g. Barbados. I was invited to and attended their Olympic formal dinner last winter. One girl chessplayer received an award.
But indeed WADA is very irritating,

[Ian Rogers]

To correct Stewart, chess was not an exhibition, or demonstration, sport at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
There was only one exhibition sport at Sydney 2000, wheelchair racing.
There was also a chess exhibition organised by FIDE at Athletes Village, but it had no connection to the Sydney Olympics. The chess exhibition was attended by two of the four IOC members who advocated for chess and bridge at the time. (One of the others, Bob Hasan, the sponsor of Karpov-Timman II in 1993, was not allowed to travel to Sydney due to pending corruption charges.)

[Chris Rice]

Interview by the Times of Malta on Charlie Storey who is living in Malta at the moment and intends to run a Masters Tournament in Sliema starting this Saturday. His new idea has been to set up the Queen's Gambit Academy to attract more women players to the game.

I did speak to one of the few rated players in Malta a few months ago about how likely Charlie was to succeed on the island and he told me in no uncertain terms that he faces an uphill task. He said that he would have to attract players from outside Malta on a holiday kind of basis because if his business model was relying on the indigenous he would be wasting his time as chess is simply not accepted there as anything other than a board game for children. To back this up another article from the Times of Malta seems to show clearly that there is little interest in chess from the locals even after the success of the Queen's Gambit series.

[NickFaulks]

I did speak to one of the few rated players in Malta a few months ago about how likely Charlie was to succeed on the island and he told me in no uncertain terms that he faces an uphill task.

It may not be wise to ignore local advice, but Malta has about 200 FIDE rated players in a population of half a million, which doesn't sound bad.

"On Saturday 12 there will be an official launch party and Master Chess Tournament at One Thai Kitchen in Sliema between 2pm and 7pm. Players and spectators are to wear masks and abide by social distancing regulations."

I find myself wondering how masks work when you have a glass of wine in one hand and a shrimp spring roll in the other. Anyway, I hope it goes well.

[John McKenna]

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