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Wednesday 18 March 2015

of kings and queens and other mind games...

Before going on to my subject of discourse today...i wanted to say 2 things...

1st is to deeply apologize to my follower(s) about my prolonged absence...unavoidable i assure you...and to be properly accounted for in future posts

2nd...about my "constant replay" video for this post...lil kesh's SHOKI...while i am well aware of (and also totally enjoy) the more recent and star-studded remix...this is so much more fun in its "unsophisticatedness"...

Moving on to the business at hand today though...

So...(just in case you didn't know this before now)...

I play chess
Not as well as i used to when i started about 15years ago now
Not as well as i should, considering my 15years
but i AM considered a chessplayer by many...
definitely an enthusiast and assuredly a propagandist

Neway...
so, because of my affinity for the sport (chess is NOT  a game!)
i've decided to take a further step in its propagation.
One of my outlets in achieving this is by helping out my budding chess coach-cum-manager-cum-journalist friend out with his chess-related projects (and let me tell u, there are many of them) 

From editing his proposals, to watching his 10mins of telly fame as part of a sports show (in order to give constructive criticism), to just being a listening ear...etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...the list is endless




NEWAY (sorry, i tend to get distracted easily)...
while on the most recent of these duties (being picking out a name for a chess club he wants to set up)...i decided that the club not only needed a name, but some sort of icon.

Immediately, my brain began mentally scanning through the myriad of chess affiliated images that it had catalouged since my earliest memories playing the game (sorry SPORT)
The easy and common-place of course came up first...pieces, the chess board itself, the fide logo (which incidentally is comprised of a knight placed at the center of a segmented ellipse), the NCF (Nigerian Chess Federation...yes, Nigeria has a chess federation akin to the football association :P), which also sports a knight-encrusted logo.

This prompted me to check out logos of other chess federations, in trying to get an idea for our own chess club icon. (just an idea...i'm not a plagiarist...but there's nothing new under the sun after all :D)

For the USCF (American Federation), i got a king emblemed on a shield
On the Chinese Fed logo, it was a knight sitting in a semi-parabolic checkered layout
For Ukraine, it was the king's crown
For India, another crown
For France, it was a king's game annotation icon.

I could go on, but will stop so not to bore you...(and  of course so i can finally publish this tirade!)...The point is this...i went through over 10 websites affiliated to chess development in different countries and not one of them...NOT ONE used the QUEEN, (the single most outstanding piece on the chessboard) as their icon!

Now, I am not usually given in to the outcry for gender equality or pro-feminism. The truth is, i dont really consider myself to be typically female (u're probably thinking...way to make this about you...and ure right...but if u dont like it...by all means, please go set up your own blog) ...neway...therefore, sexist comments about the female gender normally just go right above my head...I dont imagine that ne1 who knew me would attribute ANY of my qualities (good and bad), dispositions and general life outlook to my GENDER rather than logical reasoning which i strive for always...

Neway...Back to chess...(told you i get easily distracted)...

Everyone knows the QUEEN is the most  powerful piece on the board. Yes, the game ends with the impending capture of an opponent's King...but 90% of chess players would consider a game lost without a queen (with the exception of her tactical or positional sac of course!). 

So, why wouldn't 10 out of 10 randomly chosen chess affiliates not accord respect to  her royal majesty and show her off as their "trademark"?! Because chess is a "game of kings" and she's the queen?!...hrmmp!

Maybe i'm being overly sensitive...which i'm told is an entirely "female" pursuit (although i will be quick to point out that my most emotionally sensitive and expressive friend is a dude!), maybe i haven't done good enough research, (but 10 out of 10 seemed good enough to me)...

Whatever be the case,...it just seems "fishy" (pun intended) of the federations in question...and i CERTAINLY will be remedying that with our soon to be founded chess club (whatever its name is when we do...still not telling :P)

Despite the tirade though...it is still appropriate to end today's note by saying
GENS UNA SUMUS
hv a good week pple!

 i leave u with wots on replay...



 

4 comments:

  1. Miss Rondo, Nice write up. I hope we would see more of this. Cheers!!!

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  2. Very interesting post!!? I don't know if I should burst the bubble or just keep the whole thing until we decide!? Well............. I guess it will have to wait until we are ready!

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  3. neway! i would love to learn how to play if u guyz offer chess classes when u start your chess club

    ReplyDelete