In the last few days, many of you went back and forth about how some of the players dress or conduct themselves. This is a very interesting debate as people do differ quite a bit on this matter.
Let’s take a poll. Let’s say you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation and you are interested in having a chess player as a spokesperson, name the top 3 chess players you would choose to represent your company.
Please state why you choose the 3 players and what criteria do you use to come up with the 3 names? The names can be either gender.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Veselin Topalov
Vishwananthan Anand
Judit Polgar
1) Susan Polgar – for obvious reasons being involved in the advertisement and sponsorship of chess.
2) Gata Kamsky – Current best US player. In the WCC Cycle.
3) Myself
Susan Polgar
Anand
Xie Jun
They’re all classy people.
Anand
Susan Polgar
Carlsen
Good representative for the chess community.
Susan Polgar
Gata Kamsky
Vishy Anand
The choices are obvious. The company would get the best value.
What is the name of the hotel under the red arrow?
I like very much the following 3:
Susan Polgar
Xie Jun
Zhu Chen
Kasparov (Let us not forget him!)
Anand
Karpov and……Spassky!
Kasparov would obviously be the top first, but as he’s retired I would go:
1-Karpov
2-Topalov
3-Judit
Susan Polgar – A recognised ambassador for the sport, a well known name, an interesting background and an example of a woman who can compete with men in an intellectual discipline.
Gary Kasparov – Articulate, intelligent and a household name
Nigel Short – Intelligent and provocative. You wouldn’t have boring board meetings with Nigel about!
Definitely Susan, Topalov and Carlsen!
Viswanathan Anand:
For companies where professionalism is paramount. He’s a sharp dresser and with India becoming a major power he’s an attractive spokesman.
Magnus Carlsen:
Maybe a bit of a stretch. I don’t think he would have any interest but perhaps a gaming company who would like to appeal to a younger crowd. I’m sure he games. A Suit would just turn them off.
Yuri Shulman:
Has strong business skills.
I should note that I chose not to consider the Polgar sisters because it’s Susan’s blog but one them would make the list.
Susan Polgar, Pascal Charbonneau, Larry Christiansen.
I’m assuming a North American, Fortune 500 Company. These are three strong enough chess players who have proven that they can engage the public.
Susan, Anand, Kasparov.
They’re all excellent business reps for chess
1) Susan Polgar
2) Viswanathan Anand
3) Yasser Seirawan*
All three conduct themselves professionally and each is an articulate spokesman for Chess.
*(Hey, if I’m running an F-500 company, I can hire a retired GM is I want! 🙂 )
Polgar, Zsuzsa
Anand, Vishy
Yi, Houfan
I’m not sure. Perhaps 1. Garry Kasparov 2. Susan Polgar 3. Jennifer Shahade would be a good list.
Garry Kasparov
Viswanathan Anand
Susan Polgar
As a Fortune-500 CEO, I’d probably want someone who my target audience would recognize without an explanatory caption. And since I’m not DGT or House of Staunton, I’d assume that the target audience isn’t entirely chess players.
Therefore I’d choose someone known outside of chess as well. I’d probably pick a player such as Alan Alda, Lauren Bacall, Boris Becker, Larry Bird, Bono, David Bowie, Kobe Bryant, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Capriati, Bill Cosby, Mike Farrell, Jennifer Capriati, Ivan Lendl, Lennox Lewis, John McEnroe, Madonna, Steve Martin, Willie Nelson, Paul Newman, Jason Priestley, Dennis Quaid, Keanu Reeves, Chris Rock, David Lee Roth, Tom Selleck, Will Smith or Sting. The implication would be that like our spokesperson, there’s more to us than meets the eye.
Pardon the segue, but wouldn’t it be great to organize a pro-chess PSA with most or all of these people? Start with arrival shots, celebs walking up a red carpet into a large hall and waving to the paparazzi, while reporters talk in voiceover about how everyone’s guessing who will win. Then the camera switches inside, not to the Oscars, but to a Celebrity Chess Tournament.
1. The late PAUL MORPHY. He was of impecable manners, well spoken and a very well dressed person.
2. BORIS SPASSKY due to his good own judgment and also dresses very well.
3. Definitely SUSAN POLGAR because of his diplomacy, resolute character and good taste for proper dressing.
1a. Well, as Mr. Morphy is obviously out of the current picture a proper pick would be VLADIMIR KRAMNIK for his calmly voice and nice dressed figure.
Anand, Judith, Karjakin (man, woman and child!)
1. Veselin Topalov
2. Garry Kasparov
3. Magnus Carlsen
4. Susan Polgar
5. Almira Skripchenko
Each one for a different reason but all of them could do the job! 🙂
Alexander Morozevich
Alexander Grischuk
Vlad Tkachiev
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2073
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3309
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=29565
:-)))))))))))
Zhu Chen
Antoaneta Stefanova
Almira Skripchenko-Lautier
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Mariam Mansur
Jana Krivec
Ingrid Aliaga
Nishanti Balentin
Rocio Vasquez
Adina Maria Bogza
Lilja Gretarsdottir
Hui Zhu
Bianca Muhren
Arianne Caoili
Sandra Venancio
Eva Repkova
Mira Dedijer
Natalia Zhukova
Maia Lomineishvili
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2191
http://www.momentoo.nl/
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=10837
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=22051
http://www.armchess.am/Skrip.jpg
http://www.kosteniuk.com/albums/lighthouse/lighthouse.html
http://www.chesspics.com/index.php?e=50
http://www.womenchess.com/images/gallery/r1_2/zhukova.jpg
http://www.fide.com/ratings/card.phtml?event=13600656
http://www.1wcbc.com/
http://mamuli.net/geosports/sppro/bpg/publication_view.asp?InfoID=270&iabspos=7&vjob=vcat,143
Topalov! LOL. No Fortune 500 company is going to invest a cent in Topalov. He might lose his head again and embarrass the company with wild charges. He’s permanently damaged goods now.
>>
1. The late PAUL MORPHY. He was of impecable manners, well spoken and a very well dressed person.
2. BORIS SPASSKY due to his good own judgment and also dresses very well.
>>
Terrible choices, both. Morphy, for the simple reason that he wouldn’t do it. What soured him on chess in the first place was people trying to portray him as a professional rather than an amateur. In his world, gentlemen didn’t make their living playing chess.
Spassky would have been a good choice until last year when he signed the petition to outlaw Jewish organizations in Russia. He realized what a mistake it was once he saw the reaction and tried to take it back, but taking something like that back is like trying to unflush a toilet. Spassky’s the Mel Gibson of chess now. No corporation would touch him with a 10 foot pole.
Rather funny praising Spassky for his judgment (of all things!) after making a mistake like that.
The question is impossible to answer as is. Who the company would pick has a lot to do with where the company is located. An Indian company would be insane not to have Anand as their top pick. An American company would get far less bang for their buck from him.
They’re not going to pick based purely on playing strength, they’re going to pick based on who’s going to make their company look better. Just like no beer company would do commercials with Stone Cold Steve Austin after his arrests for alcohol-related domestic abuse, no company would want Spassky after his involvement with the anti-Jewish petition, or Topalov after his denouncement as a disgrace by the ACP. Companies want spokesman who are photogenic and non-controversial, and Topalov fails both those tests.
It would also have to do with what product the company sold and what market they were trying to reach. A company that marketed products to teenagers would want a top junior player even if it wasn’t the strongest player available.
The former Spassky not the actual Spassky I meant. And yes, is sorryful the ways he’s chosen, I do not blind myself about reason.
GM Jonathan Rowson (Scotland) – intelligent and eloquent. He is Scottish but I don’t hold that against him 😉
John Sharp
The Chess Oracle
http://www.thechessoracle.com
I agree with what Tony said, who I would pick would completely depend on what company I am the head of (what country the company is in, what products the company sells, what the business plan is, etc).
1. I would choose some international star who plays chess, incidentally not someone who plays chess full-time. For instance I might choose the American rapper Jay-Z. In a recent HP computer commercial this year, it shows him playing chess on his HP laptop. He is definately someone I would consider. Another celebrity I would consider is the famous English former boxing heavy-weight world champion Lennox Lewis. He has said in numerous interviews that he plays chess several hours a day, and uses chess as an aide while training for boxing matches. He would certainly be an interesting prospect.
2. I would choose one of the most recognizable and eloquent chess players. Nigel Short would be my top choice here.
3. For balance I would choose a classy attractive upper escheleon player such as Alexandra Kostenuik, Susan Polgar, or Maria Manakova. The fact of the matter, whether chess players want to recognize it or not, is sex sells in Western marketing campaigns. So finding an attractive, yet classy woman chess player to front the ad campaign would be a priority for most fortune 500 companies in my opinion.
Again, it completely depends on the products, company, and market demographics. But those would be my general choices if I had to make a choice without the details.
Kasparov – well known, forceful, determined
Karpov – reinvented, historically unpopular but with ability that remains
Polgar S – understatedly good at her game, a woman and well turned out
Susan Polgar – Charming, passionate, a true diplomat, ability to inspire others, a true champions track record.
Joel Lautier – Professional and imaginative.
Hikaru Nakamura – A winner, with just the right amount of rebel intensity to attract interest from the younger segment of the world’s population.
Why not Kasparov? Admire him as the most dynamic world champion ever, but personality is too un-diplomatic for the purpose that you defined.