Seventeen-year-old David Boas has been playing chess since the age of 4. By the time he was 6, he was regularly beating his father and older siblings. (Photo by Sherry Boas/Special to the Sentinel / June 10, 2009)
Chess doesn’t get respect it deserves
Sherry Boas – Simply Living
Orlando Sentinel
June 15, 2009
Seventeen-year-old David Boas has been playing chess since the age of 4. By the time he was 6, he was regularly beating his father and older siblings. (Photo by Sherry Boas/Special to the Sentinel / June 10, 2009)
My 17-year-old son recently was away playing in a chess tournament. As a parent of a child who has been playing in chess tournaments since he was 8, I find myself wavering between feelings of amazement and disappointment.
The kids I’ve met over the years at competitions are an amazing lot. They remain calm under pressure, endure long hours of intense concentration yet somehow manage to stay focused and analytical. While other sports depend at least in part on luck, winning chess players succeed by outthinking and outmaneuvering their opponents.
What I find disappointing is how little attention chess players receive for their achievements. Our basketball-football-soccer-golf-crazed society is rarely interested in the accomplishments of its mental athletes.
The last time a chess tournament made headline news was 1997 when IBM‘s chess-playing computer, Deep Blue, defeated then-world champion Garry Kasparov. The only other recent event to catch the attention of the media was the death in Iceland on Jan. 18, 2008 of 64-year-old expatriate and infamous chess maven, Bobby Fischer.
Last July, when Melbourneresident Makaio Krienke tied for first place in the Under 2000 division of The 35th Annual World Open in Philadelphia, the 17-year-old didn’t return home to a rush of reporters knocking at his door. He eased back into his everyday life without fuss or fanfare.
Even 14-year-old Ray Robson of Largo, the youngest chess master inFlorida and the youngest international master in the United States, is relatively unknown outside the chess community.
Yet Robson has been astounding the chess world for years. Since he was 9, this holder of seven National Scholastic titles has represented the U.S. in international scholastic events.
While clicking through TV channels recently, Toby and I chanced upon coverage of the Scripps 2009 National Spelling Bee. A day or so later we also watched the finals of the National Geographic Bee. Like thousands of other viewers, the mental acuity displayed by the young contestants bowled us over. I’m glad the media covered those events but couldn’t help wondering why important chess events don’t receive similar coverage.
Here is the full article.
Chess is a victim of our postmodern culture. News and politics are given to us in bite sized clips and rarely does anyone listen to an unedited debate. Our culture glorifies activities that require relatively little amount of thought.
As society gets busier and people are forced to work longer and harder to get ahead they get ‘burned out’ and do less intellectual activities such as chess and prefer to ‘shut off’ by watching TV.
Does this surprise me? no, it has been shown in history. During the Renaissance, it was only the well to do people who had the time to educate themselves… During the early enlightenment the ‘Fugue’ was the most popular form of music among the aristocracy but later when ‘chamber’ music became more popular among the general middle class masses it was the easier to listen to ‘classical’ form that became popular. People have always been attracted to the activities that require less thought when they live hectic busy lives.
I would say that sports like football, baseball and basketball etc are too commercialized. Not only chess, even yearly international high school Olympiad math/physics/chemistry get low media coverage.
But on the other hand, low media coverage is good for kids and parents because you do what you really enjoy.
The media is afraid to uncover the crazy chess gadfly’s that curse the game because chess is such a forgiving sport. It allows all sorts into its ranks and I do mean all sorts from the angelic to the criminally insane spelled with a capitol KUCKOO!
If we got rid of the gadfly’s and the politicians I think nationally televised chess tournaments would thrive like Tennis or Golf. You don’t see crazies hounding Tiger Woods, he would club them to death with his 5 iron. Most normal chess players on the other hand allow people to defame them and say cruel things because, as chess players go; they are naturally forgiving, intelligent, and introspective.
I think we need to be aware of who we let play chess. Felons need not apply.
Cause chess is just a game not a sport! And it isn’t a spectator sport where thousands or millions around the globe can watch, although these days they can view via the Net, but that isn’t exactly rocking is it?