Friday Coffee

After the first coffee of the morning I always feel lucid. I perceive the more subtle details of what I have to do later that day and somehow a certain clarity, a certain natural order establishes itself. I always feel more confident. Thank you coffee!

Chess in MSM today

With two World Championships going on as well as a number of elite tournaments, you would think that there would be a good chance of getting some pretty decent chess coverage in MSM.

Think again. MSM is generally wary of chess and more often than not reports on it only if someone was murdered, kidnapped by aliens or when the MSM can put a useable spin on it.

Not surprisingly, therefore, Woody Harrelson’s ‘blunder’ of playing the wrong ceremonial first move as well as an exaggerated ‘leak’ of a YouTube video showing a glimpse of Caruana’s ‘secret’ match preparation comprises about 99% of MSM’s coverage of the match so far.

But that is OK. The public can relate to ‘juicy’ little items like this, especially as neither Carlsen nor Caruana have won a game so far, all 5 games being drawn, most with a yawn.

But much more noticeable in MSM is the virtual absolute absence of any reporting on the Women’s World Championship taking place in Russia, even though it is generally accepted that the women are playing a much more interesting and uncompromising game than the men.

Kirsan picks his favourite to win match!

”Kirsan Who?” you ask!? Naughty boy! Well you must have a very short memory. The ex-FIDE president is still very much alive and well and is just as active today on the social media as he was when in office. 

Yesterday on KIRSAN TODAY the ex-president is quoted as indicating that he considers Magnus Carlsen to be the favourite based exclusively on Carlsen’s ” experience of playing in tournaments of this level”.

Dvorkovich & Social Media

To be fair, Arkady Dvorkovich is just settling into his new role as FIDE president, but if his performance in the past 2 months is any indication of what is to come, then Dvorkovich will not have as much of a presence on social media as his predecessor.

Apparently a FIDE Instagram site was set up, but already it seems to be suffering from neglect. Or lack of interest on part of the members. Perhaps it might be a good idea to hire Kirsan!? Otherwise, it might soon become an embarrassment. These kinds of undertakings might seem like a good idea at the time and are easy to create, but become headaches if the committment behind it is on a voluntary basis…

Furthermore, last week (8-10 November) the meeting of the Presidential Board was held in London, but not even the FIDE website has since published the minutes or details of important decisions taken. Instead, a couple of photos of the meeting and a short uninformative blurb were all that was released.

We do know that important decisions were taken, but mostly from bits and pieces appearing on other websites. So far nothing official has been made public. Why not? Public interest and transparency should be very important issues in the post-Kirsan/Makro period.

PS

Just a short while ago (an hour ago) a list of important decisions taken at the Presidential Meeting was published on the FIDE website. Merely a list, but better than nothing. A bit late, but better late than later.

One of the items that caught my attention was this:

Q4PB-2018/53 To introduce and execute a non-disclosure agreement for PB members, Executive Directors and other FIDE staff. 

I can understand the need for paid employees to exercise discretion and to maintain private the internal business of FIDE, but some members of the Presidential Board (PB) naturally have parallel responsibilities outside of the PB, for example, Continental Presidents are answerable to their constituents.

Will the projected non-disclosure agreement interfere with these responsibilities? Or have some prominent figures in the Dvorkovich administration forgotten of the difference between a ‘federation’ and an ‘enterprise’?  Above all, FIDE is a federation…

From My Readers

Dear Kevin,

Maybe it’s too much coffee…but why do you continue to lament the fact that the MSM ignores Chess? Answer this question, please: Why should the MSM, or any media for that matter, cover Chess?

As I have been writing for years now, the general public tuned out and turned off Chess a long time ago. Specifically, when Kasparov threw the match with Deep Blue. In the eyes, and brains, of the so-called ‘man in the street’ Chess ceased to matter. Period.

If there were any chance of Chess staying viable the proliferation of cheating nipped that in the bud, Bud…

You, and others involved with Chess, cannot be objective about Chess because you are far to objective. Chess matters to you. Unfortunately, it no longer matters in the minds of the vast majority of the people living on earth. Simply put, it has been discarded into the dustbin of history.

The only reason Chess is still being played and taught is because of the large number of “Fischer boomers,” who are rapidly ageing and dying off. One USCF political type mentioned to me a few years ago about being at some meeting at the US Open and looking around the room. He asked himself, “Where are the people who are going to replace me?” The vast majority of people running Chess were old. There were, he said, a few young people, but the generation in between had left Chess.

Then there is what FIDE has done to ruin Chess…Don’t get me started…All the negative publicity did not help the “cause.”

WAKE UP MAN! And SMELL THE COFFEE!

M.