The Hindustantimes has been one of the numerous newspapers that has published an article on Vladislav Tkachiev's forfeit after being heavily drunk and falling asleep at a chess board. A truly grandmaster-level PR move! It's too bad that Toiletgate, drunk GMs & their fights over a pretty female chess player seem to be the only way for chess to make the news.
However, our topic today is different: beauty contests among women chess players. In the screenshot above you can see a mention of one of them, here's another story. Opinions on this subject differ: some people believe that such contests are an excellent way of promoting chess and chess players. Others point out that women should prove their strength and earn popularity over the board, not by posing for glamorous photo shoots. Natalia Pogonina doesn't pay too much attention to such events. She finds them fun, somewhat provocative, but not that important.
And what's your opinion? Does it make sense to hold chess beauty contests? Please leave your comments here, vote in a poll (see left panel), or even ask what your friends think (using the button below).
Comments (11)
11. Written by
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on 21:56 19 января 2010 г.
Chessplayer
Hi Natalia and everyone!
I don't think chess beauty contests will help to promote chess nor friendship among the women who would participate at these events. However I wish the ladies and young ladies would organize fashion shows for displaying the new fashion trends for female players.
