Recognize Chess as a Sport in Canada

[Vlad Drkulec]

Hi Vlad:

Thanks for taking the time.........and making the point on skills transferable from chess to life............. very clearly.

Bob A

You are very welcome Bob. The story of Qiyu and the three girls finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th in that tournament is one that I have told many times. I have recently been looking beyond these four and the story just keeps getting better.

[Pargat Perrer]

Yeah, that's your story and you are sticking to it, Paul Bonham. I am sure you will get better at the deception over time if you are not very good at it now. To what end? So that you can write obscenities on a chess discussion boards that might be seen by kids? Real mature.

Every penny that goes to chess will likely see a ten to one or hundred to one saving in other areas like the criminal justice system.

and that is YOUR crock of BS and you are sticking to it, but thankfully any Ontario government funding for chess is not going to happen ... I wouldn't be surprised if by this time next year, all governments worldwide will be in huge distress with collapsing economies, widespread unemployment along with still high inflation, food shortages even in developed nations, and perhaps a few new viral pandemics ... so I am confident that pro athletes of all types will be under duress as their sources of income dry up. By Bob A.'s vaunted date of 2030, there won't be much of us left.

Chess is not a panacea for society's ills. Not even close. For one thing, chess can be addictive just like alcohol or drugs. Someone who has little talent for the game can still be addicted to it even to the point where they end up on welfare because they can't handle any job, all they want to do is play chess.

There are plenty of success stories of people who have had no involvement in competitive chess and achieve great feats and rewarding careers in technical and creative fields. Chess is NOT a necessary ingredient for these accomplishments. You can NEVER prove otherwise. That said, I am still in favor of it being taught in schools, along with poker, under the condition such teaching be at no additional taxpayer expense other than provision of supplies, which can be very cheap.

EDIT: one thing I would do if teaching chess in primary school is have all the children work together to invent chess variants and test them out. So teach them the rules of chess, get them playing, then let them explore options and discover why some things work and some don't. There is no reason for the CFC or any other chess organizations to be against chess variants, other than trying to keep people under their thumb. If there are any primary school teachers reading this, I hope you can try that out, but I imagine you would have to go through layers of red tape to do it

[Neil Frarey]

...

That said, I am still in favor of it being taught in schools, along with poker, under the condition such teaching be at no additional taxpayer expense other than provision of supplies, which can be very cheap.

EDIT: one thing I would do if teaching chess in primary school is have all the children work together to invent chess variants and test them out. So teach them the rules of chess, get them playing, then let them explore options and discover why some things work and some don't. There is no reason for the CFC or any other chess organizations to be against chess variants, other than trying to keep people under their thumb. If there are any primary school teachers reading this, I hope you can try that out, but I imagine you would have to go through layers of red tape to do it

Fully agree.

And I might go a bit further ... allow corporations to step into the mix. They already do in most every public school across Canada like that vending machine and it's content.

[Brad Thomson]

For what it's worth, I see no evidence that Pargat is someone else. I think he has defined himself pretty clearly, in a way that no other poster would ever do. What a pile of conspirator theorists we have on here......

No one suggests that there is a conspiracy, we suspect that Paul created a new identity named Pargat. To use your terms, Paul defined himself pretty clearly, and now Pargat seems to be the same pretty clear definition. But again, no conspiracy (which would require at least two people). In fact, Fred, it is you who intimates a conspiracy, because if Pargat is not Paul, but only knows him very well, as Pargat suggests, then the disappearance of the one and simultaneous appearance of the other certainly does not sound purely coincidental.

[Fred Harvey]

No one suggests that there is a conspiracy, we suspect that Paul created a new identity named Pargat. To use your terms, Paul defined himself pretty clearly, and now Pargat seems to be the same pretty clear definition. But again, no conspiracy (which would require at least two people). In fact, Fred, it is you who intimates a conspiracy, because if Pargat is not Paul, but only knows him very well, as Pargat suggests, then the disappearance of the one and simultaneous appearance of the other certainly does not sound purely coincidental.

It might take two to form a conspiracy, but it only needs one to be a conspiracy theorist...yes? Reluctantly moving right along, I don't think Paul Bonham ever descended into the disgraceful language we are seeing from Pargat....he correctly gave Drkulec a hard time....perhaps my memory is fading. I still think you are tilting at windmills, and feeding a troll.

[David Ottosen]

Ironically, the best argument for keeping funding away from chess and limiting the exposure of chess to children might be that many chess players end up with the critical thinking and social skills of someone like Mr. P, whoever he is. If that's his tactic, he's doing a masterful job of exposing the dangers of chess :D

[Vlad Drkulec]

Ironically, the best argument for keeping funding away from chess and limiting the exposure of chess to children might be that many chess players end up with the critical thinking and social skills of someone like Mr. P, whoever he is. If that's his tactic, he's doing a masterful job of exposing the dangers of chess :D

There is no evidence that Paul Bonham or Pargat or whatever he calls himself has played an organized game of chess in more than 25 years or so. At what point can we start to consider him no longer to be a chess player but recently merely a troll of chess players?

Chesstalk should not allow people to post under names that are not their real names. It would go a long way to cleaning up the cesspool.

[Vlad Drkulec]

I talked to Christina Tao about the 2014 class and she sent me an email about the outcomes of some of the girls playing chess. Bolded players are those from the 2013 U14 Girls:

Hi Vladimir,

Janet Peng studies at Carnegie Mellon University. I believe she graduated from Carnegie. (found her on her Facebook page)

Minya Bai did her undergrad at McGill in Honours Physics and is currently studying Master in Physics in Queens University. (contact Minya on Messenger)

Rachel (Tao) graduated Nanotechnology Engineering from University of Waterloo. Now she is full time working at Microsoft Headquarters in Microsoft's Silicon Valley location.

Agniya Pobereshnikova graduated with a Major in Physics from the University of Waterloo.

Melissa Giblon studied MA in Human Geography at York University (from her Facebook page)

Wang, Constance Wang born in 2001 (two year younger than Rachel) studied Computer Science at University of Pennsylvania. She will start working full time at Meta in Silicon Valley Bay area in summer of 2023), get the job offer already.

Kylie Tan (born 2004) just started her 4 year Smith Commerce degree at Queen's University in Sept 2022. (3rd place in 2021 CYCC Online version)

All the girls that are close to me are getting into great programs and work places too.


Christina

The takeaway is that girls that play chess are successful in academics getting into good schools and if the early returns are any indication they are successful in life finding good jobs.

[Hans Jung]

Its wonderful to hear that update about the girls.

[Neil Frarey]

I talked to Christina Tao about the 2014 class and she sent me an email about the outcomes of some of the girls playing chess.

The takeaway is that girls that play chess are successful in academics getting into good schools and if the early returns are any indication they are successful in life finding good jobs.

And so too do the girls that DON'T play chess.

[Sid Belzberg]

Its wonderful to hear that update about the girls.

When we sponsored and I captained the Olympiad teams in 2002 and 2006, we had a few teenagers on the team. They all did very well in their careers, and a few others were already of working age but quite young and worked in our company and were highly competent programmers, including one who learned about programming from scratch while working for us.
There is no doubt that the skills learned from chess are transferable and extremely valuable in life. Just like anything, the question is not so much about funding but ensuring the funding results in a well-executed effort. The question of funding poker for educational purposes is probably a good idea. However, its reputation for being associated with irresponsible gambling probably would not get much support from either the general public or the elected governing agencies.
Additional funding for healthcare policies that are corrupted, wasteful and harmful accomplishes precisely the opposite of what citizens are after. The better question is how to better execute with the funding already in place.

[Dilip Panjwani]

When we sponsored and I captained the Olympiad teams in 2002 and 2006, we had a few teenagers on the team. They all did very well in their careers, and a few others were already of working age but quite young and worked in our company and were highly competent programmers, including one who learned about programming from scratch while working for us.
There is no doubt that the skills learned from chess are transferable and extremely valuable in life. Just like anything, the question is not so much about funding but ensuring the funding results in a well-executed effort. The question of funding poker for educational purposes is probably a good idea. However, its reputation for being associated with irresponsible gambling probably would not get much support from either the general public or the elected governing agencies.
Additional funding for healthcare policies that are corrupted, wasteful and harmful accomplishes precisely the opposite of what citizens are after. The better question is how to better execute with the funding already in place.

Well said, Sid!

[Neil Frarey]

When we sponsored and I captained the Olympiad teams in 2002 and 2006, we had a few teenagers on the team. They all did very well in their careers, and a few others were already of working age but quite young and worked in our company and were highly competent programmers, including one who learned about programming from scratch while working for us.
There is no doubt that the skills learned from chess are transferable and extremely valuable in life. Just like anything, the question is not so much about funding but ensuring the funding results in a well-executed effort. The question of funding poker for educational purposes is probably a good idea. However, its reputation for being associated with irresponsible gambling probably would not get much support from either the general public or the elected governing agencies.
Additional funding for healthcare policies that are corrupted, wasteful and harmful accomplishes precisely the opposite of what citizens are after. The better question is how to better execute with the funding already in place.

Sid, your sponsorship was a complete inspiration to me!

So, is the reverse true ... those girls who do poorly with chess have a lesser fulfilling life? I think not.

Chess isn't all about titles or the elite. Sorry, but it is not. The above mentioned accomplishments are all well and good but ... you don't need to be accomplished in chess to enjoy the benefits of chess.

It would be somewhat faith restoring to see our Canadian Gov. better execute with the funding already in place.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Thank you to Duncan Smith who pointed out this podcast where his daughter Steph discusses the impact of chess on her.

Having a former chess player talk about the experience is much more relevant than anything I or anyone else here can say about chess:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EpW80QO6i0

Duncan wrote the following


Hi Vlad.



On your posts on Chesstalk, I thought I'd mention that my younger daughter Stephanie ( ex-national team member ) is highly successful in her career with a fairly strong social media presence. ... Stephanie's also done exceedingly well in fairly high profile roles ( just more business oriented ). Stephanie doesn't play anymore except casually but maintains some interest even took a pile of chess stuff to California.


This video is quite good : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EpW80QO6i0.


Stephanie resides in San Diego and is a pod cast host for a huge hedge fund ( P.Eng from Queens then shifted into social media marketing ). Great role model for young women who play chess. Hazel her sister unfortunately has had some huge health issues so we prefer not to bring her into any conversation about chess. This matter is why we are low key but I just thought the video was a great insight into our experiences.


Duncan Smith


Watching a highly intelligent young woman with a P. Eng talk about what chess meant to her is far more relevant to this conversation. Her opinions are echoed by many of the girls who played chess. They all seem smart and articulate and accomplished almost without exception. They become grandmasters at life if not in chess.

[Pargat Perrer]

No one suggests that there is a conspiracy, we suspect that Paul created a new identity named Pargat. To use your terms, Paul defined himself pretty clearly, and now Pargat seems to be the same pretty clear definition. But again, no conspiracy (which would require at least two people). In fact, Fred, it is you who intimates a conspiracy, because if Pargat is not Paul, but only knows him very well, as Pargat suggests, then the disappearance of the one and simultaneous appearance of the other certainly does not sound purely coincidental.

Well, I got curious so I looked up both myself and Paul Bonham here. I joined in June of 2019. Paul Bonham's last visit here was April 2020, which surprises me because the last I've heard from him was February of 2019 when his wife was in an ICU. I later found out the wife passed some weeks later. The site doesn't say when Mr. Bonham's last post was. But even by April of 2020 I was thinking he had gone totally off-grid or even worse. But if he visited here April 2020, then he may still be out there.

I was thinking that Mr. Bonham is like a ghost haunting Vlad Drkulec, but it occurred to me that Vlad likes to use that as a ruse, to keep from having to really deal with anything that I bring up. Sorry to see Brad that you are as they say drinking the Koolaid. Yeah, I've already stated numerous times that Mr. Bonham and i think very much alike. The one thing i remember about him is that he was very much against elites, and he often said competitive chess is full of elitist people. So I'm assuming he posted here a lot against elites? I haven't really done that because although maybe i'm against elites, it is not to the same degree as Mr. Bonham. I think my influence on him was to get him thinking a lot more about karma and cycles. He already agreed with everything I said on that, but I think I brought it more to the forefront for him.

Anyway, this is all quite hilarious, people declaring that I don't exist and all. I'm just going to let it ride.