I posted this yesterday (April 1, 2008). It caused quite a commotion. I received more than 1,000 emails, messages, and phone calls from friends and supporters about this article on chessville. Some believed that it was real and some believed that it was an April 1 joke. Here is my post today.
Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this prank. Also special thanks to all who support my effort to promote chess and all its benefits.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
wow, she’s hot…
You got that right! *SSSSSSSsssssssssizzilin*
_,o8o,_,o8o,
,888888,888888,
888888888888888
888888888888888
`8888888888888′
__`888888888′
___`888888′
______`8′
I like here Alaska shirt!
A very very nice shirt!
Yes.
It was a funny prank. Thanks for the laugh.
I wanna head to the south of Alaska on that map 😉
A sweetie
Paul Truong is one lucky dude!
I don’t think I get the joke. All it did was to make the groupies air out their non-specific grudges against the USCF board. But since we can see them do that every day, what’s the point?
A better joke would be something like having a top US GM (anyone willing to cooperate), announcing he’s having a sex-change to try to compete for the US Women’s Championship.
Oops. Shouldn’t have said that out loud. Maybe you can use it next year. Delete this post before anybody sees it!
Love the Shirt
Artic Knight
(Former Alaska Chess Champ)
“Alaska” never looked so good!!!!
Posted at Chessville’s forum by senior editor Kelly Atkins:
I hope everyone enjoyed the April Fool’s Day prank! Phil & Paul deserve the credit for coming up with the idea and making it happen, and a special thanks to Susan for playing along. Even one of Texas Tech’s administrators got in on the fun discussing how the university would rename SPICE. The NYT got drawn into the joke, and Susan received more than 1000 messages & phone calls from supporters trying to change her mind. We were all amazed at how big the story became and how many people fell for it! A good time was had by all. :-))
wow.
Susan you’re simply gorgeous.You really need to be in Hollywood.
“I don’t really get the joke.”
April Fool’s Day is a tradition where you try to convince people of something startling but plausible. It’s just a chance for some fun and everybody gets to have a good laugh, whether they were the perpetrator of the joke or its victim. No harm, no foul, everybody has fun. Too many people have a seriously underdeveloped sense of humor and look for something to be offended by instead of looking for a reason to find some humor in a situation.
this was not a nice joke by susan to play on her thousands of fans. susan is very important in us chess and saying she was leaving the us was no joking matter was very poor taste by susan she should have thought it through better and we all thought susan was smart and all. Looks can be deceiving !. A cruel joke indeed. I much prefer the other chess april fools jokes.
Alaska! Yeah!
OMG!! You guys are such chess geeks!! Those comments are sooooo sad,haha,,,no wonder chess guys have such a rep. haha..
For those who are still upset about this classic April Fool’s joke:
If these well-intentioned but unimaginative people would unclench their buttocks for a moment, they might find that chess offers something else to its devotees other than the quasi-religious fervor that they grasp so desperately – these “extra benefits” are relaxation, fun, and a chance to laugh at one’s own stupidity. – Jeremy Silman
that sounds about right Mr Silman…haha…
Mike Magnan
Mr. Silman, you are generalizing far too much about the posts regarding the April Fool’s joke. I do not, for a moment, believe that these well meaning people are “unimaginative.” You could use better adjectives.
And where do you get the “quasi-religious fervor?” I see no logic in this very subjective statement. I am a physician and not prone to “religious fervor.” I do not think it irrational for people to have believed this prank.
As a psychiatrist, I am well informed of human behavior. I have fun, relax, travel, and enjoy life.
Thus, the buttocks analogy is quite inappropriate for someone as well known in the chess community to say.
I respect you but I object to your comments and use of adjectives. And, when it comes to being “unimaginative,” Mr. Silman, if I revealed who I was, then you would see I have published far more than you, conducted far more imanginative research than you ever did, and to have you generalize and say (though, in an indirect manner) that I am “unimaginative” is saying that you know for a fact that all those who believed the prank were, in essence, gullible.
This is not true nor can it ever be based upon logic or any empirical evidience.
You, Mr. Silman, should use less emotion and better adjectives when describing large groups of people whom you have never met.
A misunderstanding, I see. I should have put Silman’s words in quotation marks. The post WAS NOT by Silman. It was a quotation from him that he made years ago about people in the chess community not having a sense of humor and being unable to unclench their buttocks long enough to have a good laugh.
I posted his comment in an effort to get everybody to see that they’re taking the whole April Fool’s prank too seriously and missing the point and the opportunity to just relax and have a good laugh.
My God!!!
Yes, Anon 12:05.
The desert cries out to the cool waters of the river that runs through it.
Nice shirt.
Forget the shirt! Look at the goddess wearing it! :D~~~~~