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(Thanks to Nigel Hanrahan for writing these up!)
London’s World Championship logo looks like the Kama Sutra
The chosen image shows two chequered bodies entwined around a chess board. It is, World Chess say, unashamedly sexual. Perhaps, one could even say, pawnographic.
"No, this is not a joke," said Australian international David Smerdon on Twitter, before adding: "You had one job!"
Others meanwhile likened the logo to something out of the sex manual Kama Sutra
One fan added dryly: "All I can think of is a scene in that Jeremy Irons film Damage."
And Grandmaster Susan Polgar, the pioneer of women's chess, questioned whether the racy image was appropriate for children.
Chess enthusiasts also noticed something else they didn't like about it - the board is only 6x6 squares, not the 8x8 needed for a real game.
"People are openly laughing at it," said chess expert David Kramaley, who runs learning site Chessable. "But, joking aside, I've got to say it has grown on me."
As you probably know, we have released the alternative logo for the World Chess Championship Match. And it went viral. And again. And Again. Overall, there were over 11,000 publications in just one day.
We understand that the logo is unconventional and riskier then the typical chess artwork. And this was intentional, because we hope that chess should occupy more space in culture and culture, just like many other sports. Please ignore this email if you are not pleased with this logo, and don't worry -- the key visual is going to look different and less provocative.
They then go on to offer limited prints of the logo at 20% off. Look it up if you are interested. Chess players with conservative artistic views can look the other way. lol.
edited to add: IM Jovanka Houska has written about the topic as well [in what is often a stuffily conservative Daily Telegraph] ...
But please believe me: chess is sexy. Most of the world’s best chess- players nowadays are under thirty, and many thousands of them are beautiful, bold, gung-ho women attracted to the challenge of proving themselves as good as men, and better, at a game that until quite recently has been seen as a male preserve.
Major international chess tournaments feature heady and hot-blooded après-chess amorous activities where the idea of sleeping alone in your own hotel bedroom often seems a kind of crime against nature.
Besides, how many other sports allow you to spend several hours sitting a few feet from your opponent and if you’re attracted to them, exchanging eye contact while you try to mate them?
As a woman chess-player, I see nothing at all unethical about making myself look as nice as I can before a crucial game against a male player; if I can distract him and stop him finding the best move, well, that’s all part of the competitive battle. If you can’t stand the heat, stay away from the chess-board.
Last edited by Nigel Hanrahan; Sunday, 24th December, 2017, 04:13 PM.
Reason: IM Houska article
Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
London’s World Championship logo looks like the Kama Sutra
October 21, 2018
I have always felt that Agon/World Chess simply don’t know how to market their product. There is nothing that they put up in their Shop that I would buy.
The logo for London with two chequered bodies entwined around a chess board was bizarre.
But now, it appears, there was a reason for it.
Peter Doggers:
World Chess Launches Chess Dating App
“Three weeks before the start of the FIDE world championship, organizer World Chess launched chess dating app Mates. Billed as a way to find an opponent for a game of chess, the app came with a press release that doesn't shy away from a sexual connotation.
Available both for iOS and Android, the app uses dating technology to help find "a chess playing partner near you." Users post a selfie to create a profile that remains online for just one hour. If there's a "match," they can agree on a location to play chess.
"This app is done to add a meaningful component to the World Chess Championship match that begins next month in London," Ilya Merenzon of World Chess wrote in an email. "We know that people want to see the chess gurus, but they want to play even more. And we are solving the biggest problem in over-the-board chess: how to find an opponent."
So far, so good.
The app, however, is owned and produced by GetPure Inc., who is behind the "hookup app" Pure. That app (which we won't link to—not safe for work!) is intended for people who are looking for casual sex partners. Mates is basically a spin-off of Pure, but with some chess images.”
“On October 16, 2018, three weeks before the start of the world championship in London, World Chess announced the launch of Mates, a chess-themed “dating app.”
To start with the painfully obvious, basic browsing of its official site reveals a tasteless, poorly executed design that’s bad beyond description. You’re welcomed by a set of gawkish drawings, including a scantily dressed lady with large Playboy-style bunny ears, devouring a big carrot and a buffed-up lad manspreading and, rather suggestively, holding a chess piece next to his genitalia. The product is developed in partnership with Pure, an app targeting people interested in casual sex and developed by two Russian-born entrepreneurs, from which the concept of one-hour hook-ups was imported.
Conceptual and design matters aside, this association is troubling. It’s mostly a matter of taste, style and marketing acumen, and there’s nothing wrong with trying to market the game in more unorthodox, creative or fun ways. But this particular attempt to associate chess (and its most prestigious event) with overly-sexualized imagery – and, now, casual sex business ventures – is cringeworthily bizarre and, at least in some respects, downright revolting.”
From “64 Shades of Cringe” by Urcan posted on Patreon (October 17, 2018)
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