Major investment to transform future of English chess announced

[MJMcCready]

I'm not going to use them, what if I got struck by lightning when I had a winning endgame against someone?

[MSoszynski]

I'm not going to use them, what if I got struck by lightning when I had a winning endgame against someone?

Look at it another way. What if the someone was struck by lightning when you had a losing endgame?

[MJMcCready]

I would consult the FIDE rulebook on that one. Must be something about force majeure in it, earthquakes, tsunamis and so on.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Brings to mind the old (and *possibly* true) story of a league match where one of the players had a massive heart attack mid game. Another player who just happened to be a doctor rushed to his aid, but after attempting to revive him said sadly "I'm afraid its no use, he is dead".

Before thoughtfully following up with "if it is any comfort, he had a lost position anyway".

[Paul Cooksey]

An interesting piece in the Financial Times today about Soham Lohia and his mother Aarti. https://www.ft.com/content/da3438de-c3b ... c29c0fea27

I am not as up-to-date with the names of major art philanthropists as I probably should be, so had to google Aarti. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarti_Lohia. I imagine having several billionaires in one's immediate family is helpful if one wishes to become a noted art collector.

A quote explaining her role in chess and illustrative of the tone of the article is

Today, however, she is not speaking of the future of Indian artists, or her philanthropic efforts, which are ambitious and wide-ranging, but of the role that now occupies most of her time. Aarti Lohia is a full-time “chess mum” and, as such, a mighty advocate for raising awareness, understanding and funding for what she considers a cruelly misrepresented sport.

But I think the part directly relevant is:

“I’ll tell you a little bit about my conversation with Rishi Sunak,” she says of an opportunity she seized while having dinner with the politician. “He’s like, ‘I love hiking.’ I said, ‘That’s fine, but it’s not a sport.’” Sunak’s subsequent pledge to invest £500,000 to improve the game’s visibility last year, was “truth be told”, says Aarti, “because of me”. 

I think we already knew chess funding was personally driven by Rishi Sunak but interesting to hear what influenced him.

[John Upham]

I imagine having several billionaires in one's immediate family is helpful if one wishes to become a noted art collector.

An alternative would be to arrange a tour of Europe with your buddies starting in 1939 and ask them to acquire the art pieces on your behalf.

[Neill Cooper]

An interesting piece in the Financial Times today about Soham Lohia and his mother Aarti. https://www.ft.com/content/da3438de-c3b ... c29c0fea27

It is a pity that Soham is playing with the board the wrong way round.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

It is a pity that Soham is playing with the board the wrong way round.

Sometimes the photographer flips the picture if they think it looks better that way, but in that particular one Soham is moving the piece with what appears to be his right hand, suggesting that the picture hasn't been flipped.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The article is very interesting, particularly for the claim relating to Rishi Sunak and the chess grant. And looking at the background on the Lohia family. I wonder if comparisons can be made between Aarti (Sohia's mother) and other chess philanthropists?

A graciously appointed Victorian mansion, the house sits in a sweeping crescent in west London and is filled with phenomenal sculptures and art, some of the 200 pieces Aarti has amassed to become one of the most significant collectors of contemporary works in the UK. 

That area of London is very well-to-do - lots of well-known celebrities live there.

You wonder how much the chess sets cost.

Getting back to the chess (rather than the art items!), the article says Sohia is coached by "Luke McShane and Ramachandran Ramesh". I wonder how that works in practice. Do they coach different aspect of the game?