If they ( Rep. Fortenberry, and Obama) play a game, who has a coin to spare, for the flip, for starting color?
Dustin Diamond had a big feature in Chess Life, including a cover if I recall correctly, right before he decided to be an adult movie star. I realized that if I put the correct word there, the software would censor it.
Alex Relyea
Likely for real.
One of my favorite magazine articles is George Koltanowski’ “Chess with Bogey” (Overboard - Fall 1974). In 1951, Kolty’s friend, Dr. Paul Limbos was staying at the Sabena Hotel in Stanleyville, and learned that Bogart, his wife Lauren Bacall, costar Katherine Hepburn, and the crew filming The African Queen were also staying there. In the evenings, many played chess to pass the time. Bogart was the winner on most occasions; and appeared to be a strong Class B player.
When Bogart challenged Limbos to a dollar a game, Limbos accepted and won $17 that night. “Generally, Bogart played the Italian or Scotch Openings as White, and the French Defense as Black – and he knew those openings well.”
One game score was included (Limbos-Bogart, French-Winawer; 1-0). A second printed score was Koltanowski’s one game vs. Bogart (Kolty played blindfold): Koltanowski-Bogart, French-Exchange; 1-0 in 41 moves.
Anand, because he is reasonable and nice.
Ivanchuk, because he is musical, poetic and himself.
So many others, because they have a sense of humor and enjoy life.
It might also be a good idea to ask the kids whom they admire (or not) and why, not necessarily just in the hothouse of chess, for the sake of the alchemy of emulation.
But let us not turn the little trees into lead, nor pour them into molds.
And yet I doubt that much of the public has any sense of who these individuals are, let alone what they’re like as people. This is a media relations failure.
Whether or not you think he’s a good role model, Kasparov, at least, has gotten in front of enough TV cameras for folks to get a sense of who he is.
Look into the relationship between Gary Kasparov and the Zimbabwean businessman John Bredenkamp who is on the US sanctions list.
The following entities owned or controlled by John Bredenkamp also are designated: Alpha International (Private) Ltd., Breco (Asia Pacific) Ltd., Breco (Eastern Europe) Ltd., Breco (South Africa) Ltd., Breco (U.K.) Ltd., Breco Group, Breco International, Breco Nominees Ltd., Breco Services Ltd., Corybantes Ltd., Echo Delta Holdings Ltd., Kababankola Mining Company, Masters International Ltd., Masters International, Inc., Piedmont (UK) Limited, Raceview Enterprises, Scottlee Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., Scottlee Resorts, Timpani Ltd., and Tremalt Ltd.
Whether or not you think he’s a good role model, Kasparov, at least, has gotten in front of enough TV cameras for folks to get a sense of who he is.
If you ask a reasonably well-informed American, “What do you think of Kasparov?” you might get a response such as, “He’s that famous chess player, right? I heard he was involved in Russian politics now.”
If you ask a reasonably well-informed American, “What do you think of Hikaru Nakamura?” the likely response is, “He’s that time-traveling guy on Heroes, right? I liked the first two seasons, but the third was kind of stale.”
For our chess players to be role models, people have to know who they are first.
New objective: Get the American Library Association to put an American chess player on a celebrity “READ” poster.
kaidanov, sergei movsesian, anand, etc.
“You know how to castle, don’t you?! You just put your pieces together and blow.”
The role model has to be someone you can see, meet or at least watch. To me, reading about a person in a book simply doesn’t cut it. The closer that a kid (or even an adult) can interact with the role model, the better. There’s quite a difference between being a fan of Yao Ming or A-Rod and admiring the volunteer coach of the local sandlot team.
Coming back to chess, it may be easy to be a FAN of Anand or Kasparov or Fischer of the 60s and early 70s. But the kids today only have the opportunity to see Anand play, and even then, just on the internet. Instead, the local A player who hosts blitz and pizza every Friday night might be a greater role model. Or maybe it is the top player at your chess club, whose rating represents a target for you to aim for. In short, when I look for role models, I look to the local community and see who radiates enthusiasm for the royal game.
One of my biggest role models was a local expert (plus a few of his friends) with whom I played on Thursday nights when I was a 1500. He gave me the opportunity to play against strong opponents at a time before the internet boom, taught me some chess concepts along the way and made me respect the game (and the opponent) the way that most veteran players do. I still remember the days that I was excited to score 1.5/7. In short, this one expert and his buddies lit the flame that took me on the path to master.
Michael Aigner
One of the best posts I’ve seen. I agree wholeheartedly.
All the best, Joe Lux