tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post3600910447371304031..comments2023-12-28T02:11:22.501+00:00Comments on The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog: The Great Chessboxing Swindle: Nothing Was DeliveredTom Chivershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850710685193416732noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-47830852829927418782012-10-02T12:39:59.367+01:002012-10-02T12:39:59.367+01:00He is bound to be an optimist
He is not, however,...<i>He is bound to be an optimist</i><br /><br />He is not, however, bound to make things up. Which he does, all the time.<br /><br />ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-66169272662728962412012-10-02T11:48:49.160+01:002012-10-02T11:48:49.160+01:00The second point that you consistantly make concer...The second point that you consistantly make concerns the playing strength of participants. <br />I am a pro mixed martial artist and a similar scenario arises hear. To be an mma fighter you need to be able to box and do muay thai if you are standing, wrestle in the clinch and do jiu jitsu on the floor.<br /><br />In the early days of mma some boxers were highly critical of mma fighters boxing technique.<br />Nowadays mma is huge and every pro mma camp has a boxing coach. Men who might otherwise be stacking shelves can earn a living teaching skill that they took a lifetime to learn.<br /><br />So hybrid sports can be good for their component sports, and chessboxing could bring more recruits to chess. Incidently one of my Exeter chessboxing friends pays for one to one tuition with a good local chessplayer. This is just the start. <br /><br />A chessboxers games played out in public, so there is no real scope to 'swindle' anyone here. I would add that they are quickplay and we are getting bashed about the swede between rounds, but people are free to make up their own minds about a chessboxers playing strength.<br /><br />There were a number of grndmasters at saturdays event. They seemed to enjoy it and I was honoured to meet one who was way to kind with his praise!<br /><br />Come to the next event! Join the squeeze in our cramped, underground, painted bar for the next instalment of the Great Chessboxing Swindle.<br />My girlfriend Ruthie 'The Pink Machine' Wright will be competing!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-88218113654283011852012-10-02T11:10:49.469+01:002012-10-02T11:10:49.469+01:00It's a fair point. The two main criticisms tha...It's a fair point. The two main criticisms that you appear to have of chessboxing are:<br />1) That Tim talks up how popular the sport is.<br />2) That chessboxers exaggerate how good they are at chess.<br />These two points represent the crux of the 'swindle'. You make these points well and very humorously, and you should really consider writing a book.<br />Anyway, point 1; Consider Tim's personality. He has made it his lifes work to take a sport that doesnt exist and bring it into the public consciousness.<br /> He is bound to be an optimist. He will rejoice in every new recruit. Chessboxing is growing. Whether you define the growth as fast, slow, exciting, dissapointing, is a matter of perspective. His will innevitably be positive. <br /><br />It is also a promoters job to look on the bright side. When did you ever hear a promoter of anything; rock concert, sporting event, etc announce their dissapointment with the way things are going?<br />cont...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-60598920488383603662012-10-02T09:53:12.787+01:002012-10-02T09:53:12.787+01:00Funny thing though. Half the time, it's all ho...Funny thing though. Half the time, it's all how popular we are, all these television channels and newspapers talking about us. The other half, it's all no wonder there's so few of us, we only just got started.<br /><br />Curious, that.ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-26585788300234288482012-10-02T00:42:32.275+01:002012-10-02T00:42:32.275+01:00I wouldn't sat that 'hardly anyone' is...I wouldn't sat that 'hardly anyone' is doing it either. I certainly know plenty of people in my home city of Exeter who would like to have a try.<br />Enough to put on a local show. <br /> Surely this in itself is remarkable growth for a sport that isnt the easiest to learn and didn't even exist a few years ago. Credit where it is due please.<br />But your original point seemed to be that the sport lacked worth because it didnt have hoardes of converts. I sought to explain this and would argue that it does have worth, bringing pleasure to those who participate and being great fun to watch.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-22224935003818917332012-10-01T21:39:22.437+01:002012-10-01T21:39:22.437+01:00Well, one argument is that this whole of-course-ha...Well, one argument is that this whole of-course-hardly-anybody-is-doing-chessboxing-because-it's-difficult is a rather large change from the previous position of everybody's-doing-chessboxing-so-it's-growing-fast. We could discover this serious point by, perhaps, reading it in the blog piece upon which we have both commented.ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-80205488384195604132012-10-01T17:38:23.846+01:002012-10-01T17:38:23.846+01:00I remember the master game, I still have the book ...I remember the master game, I still have the book of the series...Karpov, miles, short, hartston and his other half. I used to watch it with my Dad. But the point I am making is that there are relatively few people with the discipline to compete in either, let alone both.<br />The blogger argues that there are not legions of chessboxers, I offer this as an explanation.<br />I'm not sure if you are using humour to try and make a serious point. If you are could you explain it to me please?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-34165417293054619062012-10-01T15:45:59.844+01:002012-10-01T15:45:59.844+01:00I always wondered why the BBC never called it The ...I always wondered why the BBC never called it The Competence Game.ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-76412913900143571112012-09-30T23:21:09.213+01:002012-09-30T23:21:09.213+01:00Hi, it's Andy Costello again,
I think you may ...Hi, it's Andy Costello again,<br />I think you may have missed my point. 'Mastery' is of course a subjective term, and world class boxers are routinely labelled as carthorses in the press.<br />Can I substitute it with the word 'competence' and return to my point that few people are willing to study chess and train as boxers to the extent that they achieve competence.<br />I was seeking to explain why there are comparatively few chessboxers.<br />With regard to my boasting; I played for the Devon junior team and was competing in majors, which as I recall were capped at about under 150 bcf, as an 11 year old. I reckon that made me a high level junior but I'm willing to stand corrected.<br /><br />Check out 'Prizefighter' and 'biggers better' Eight man elimanation boxing tournaments that take place over one evenning.<br /><br />Anyway, did you see me whip off gianlucas knight on saturday to set up the fork? Poetry in motion - I'm sure you will agree!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-30001879262692005222012-09-30T00:07:37.841+01:002012-09-30T00:07:37.841+01:00I note from Sabrina Chevannes' blog that tonig...I note from Sabrina Chevannes' blog that tonight's chessboxing had an avian visitor.<br /><br />Sabrina Chevannes @SChevannes<br />I'm at @LDNchessboxing and its entertaining but its weird that there is some penguin on stage. What is he doing there?Richard Jameshttp://www.richardjames.org.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-49283689978519843422012-09-29T09:15:24.958+01:002012-09-29T09:15:24.958+01:00Perhaps in fairness, attention should be drawn to ...<i>Perhaps in fairness, attention should be drawn to the report on the year's marketing activity at<br />http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/C17.7.6.4-Marketing-report.pdf</i><br /><br />Yes, I rather like "My key ambition, as outlined in my election address, was to develop the website". Is <a href="http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ECF-Marketing-Director-Statement-by-Tim-Woolgar.pdf" rel="nofollow">this</a> the election address referred to? Readers are invited to locate that "key amibition" within it. ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-66771413719198156022012-09-28T22:10:51.882+01:002012-09-28T22:10:51.882+01:00Chessboxing makes an appearance in the September 2...Chessboxing makes an appearance in the September 2012 edition of OL News (the termly alumni newsletter for Latymer Upper School), which arrived through my letterbox today. <br /><br />The News of Old Latymerians section reports as follows: <br /><br />Rajko VUJATOVIC (1987), a former Latymer Chess Captain is now a chess master and Chair of the Chess Boxing Organisation.<br /><br />According to http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=403393 he doesn't have a FIDE title.<br /><br />http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=87 tells me he's an ECF Regional Master, which seems to mean that you've had a grade of 185+ for two years at some point and you've slipped the ECF a tenner in a brown envelope.Richard Jameshttp://www.richardjames.org.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-64748568136021794572012-09-28T09:44:07.862+01:002012-09-28T09:44:07.862+01:00Perhaps in fairness, attention should be drawn to ...Perhaps in fairness, attention should be drawn to the report on the year's marketing activity at<br />http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/C17.7.6.4-Marketing-report.pdf<br />where it is claimed that he spent the year trying to prevent a bad year for the public profile of the ECF and its directors becoming worse.<br /><br />RdCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com