Moscow GP: AGON killing public interest
Chess has to be sexed-up! But how…?
Don’t think too hard about it!
The irony of it all is that AGON’s Ilya Merenzon says that he is serious about making chess a spectator sport! But all evidence indicates that AGON is only succeeding in killing chess interest.
The latest Grand Prix (GP) tournament in Moscow (May 5 to May 21) is simply dumping hours of amateurish, embarrassing, unedited, low-quality, almost garbage-grade YouTube video daily as part of its ‘chess-promotion’ policy.
This kind of production does a dis-service to the players themselves, as well as the game. What can spectators who watch this come away with that can be positive? What does the sponsor think about this? Elementary school students can do a more professional job!
Much of this crap has ‘views’ less than 100! Something has to be done about it before AGON completely implodes and brings down professional chess along with it.
Some of it is so bad that you can not avoid laughing!
For example, take a look at the following ‘interview’ with GM Grischuk after his first round game. Grischuk is always one of the most interesting players on the circuit and a perennial favourite in such qualifying FIDE events. However, he also has no skills in dealing with the press, and even though Anastasia knows this, she does nothing to help him along. The result is a complete disaster!
To be continued! But first a short break…
