Potpourri, Trump, Chess & other nonsense
It takes balls to play this game!

Twenty-eight year old internet sensation Kayla Lauren knows the rules, how far you can bend them and what works and doesn’t work better than anyone in the business.
Starting off as just another pretty face (!?) with a 2012 selfie that soon went viral, Kayla has since become a multimillionaire in the Kim Kardashian tradition, partnering with various clothing enterprises and skin publications such as Shagmag (this is a REAL publication, I kid you not!).
Kayla has been banned for all sorts of things, temporarily fortunately, but her style, talent and knock it dead spirit keeps her on everyone’s radar.
How far can a pretty face take you?

Lest anyone get the sudden urge to criticize the rise of scantily-dressed female internet superstardom and superficial celebrity-status, remember that being good at football should not be the only pretext for appearing on thousands of magazine covers. What is good for the goose is good for the gander! Isn’t that right, Pele?

FIDE let’s its pants mask down…

FIDE director general Emil Sutovsky — the Donald Trump of FIDE given his many embarrassing Covid-19 predictions — let his mask down earlier this week and posted the above selfie on his FaceBook account.
Readers might recall that Sutovsky predicted on February 3/4 that ”There will be no pandemic” and that things would quickly return to normal within a week or two…sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile, back in the real world…

Much of Europe is struggling to emerge from the 3-month lockdown and this includes the cautious return to OTB (over the board) chess tournaments.
Above you can see my friend Sebastian Siebrecht at the Biel Chess Festival before play begins in the 1st round (against Miriam Morwald). Notice that the use of mask is optional and social distancing is minimal. (Credits for the pic to Pesche Steffen)
Ignoring, for the moment, the huge problems in North and South American – where the politicians have completely FUCKED UP the response to the virus – Europe deserves praise for its efforts this summer.
Do I think that it will be successful? Not at first, but slowly: I believe that there will be a series of retreats and advances as the authorities re-evaluate the number of infections.
I have no doubt that the virus will be defeated – providing one moves cautiously and takes responsible steps to protect both yourself and others. The new ‘normal’ might take some getting used to…

The Gentle Art of Offending
To be continued…be patient!