Former Chess Official Scoffs at Media Notion That Game Is Racist
When asked to appear on a radio show to discuss the proposition that racism is prevalent in the game of chess because the white side traditionally moves first, former Australian chess representative John Adams became furious.
Adams, now an economist, tweeted that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had invited him to discuss the proposition that having the white side move first might trigger feelings of racism and could spur a change in the game’s rules.
The idea triggered some tweets instead. Adams declined the interview offer, according to Yahoo. In a tweet, he made it clear he wasn’t interested in discussing the “irrelevant” topic with ABC.
“I just received a phone call from an ABC Sydney based producer seeking a comment about the game of chess! The ABC have taken the view that chess is RACIST given that white always go first! They are seeking comment from a chess official as to whether the rules of chess need to be altered!” he tweeted.
“Trust the taxpayer funded national broadcaster to apply ideological Marxist frameworks to anything & everything in Australia! With all the drama resulting from COVID-19, I am amazed that the ABC is broadcasting on irrelevant topics!”
the rules of chess need to be altered!
Trust the taxpayer funded national broadcaster to apply ideological Marxist frameworks to anything & everything in Australia!
With all the drama resulting from COVID-19, I am amazed that the ABC is broadcasting on irrelevant topics!
— John Adams (@adamseconomics) June 23, 2020
Adams tweeted that he was happy to see former star player Garry Kasparov “take aim” at ABC over “their nonsense.”
WOW! ?
Good to see former world chess champion @Kasparov63 take aim at the @ABCaustralia over their NONSENSE coverage of the game of chess!
Common sense can prevail across the world! https://t.co/hJKVvuNd3m
— John Adams (@adamseconomics) June 23, 2020
DEVASTATED! ?
Tonight @DFA_Analyst informed me that he has received several e-mails & DMs suggesting that he needs to cease all communication & activity with me IMMEDIATELY!
Why?
Because I am apparently a RACIST given that I didn’t support the ABC’s narrative on chess & race!
— John Adams (@adamseconomics) June 24, 2020
ABC Radio Sydney host James Valentine later said the idea was to have a discussion, not brand chess as racist, according to Yahoo.
Kevin Bonham, a member of the Australian Chess Federation committee who appeared in Adams’ place, explained that the concept of having white move first was developed in the mid-19th century as a way of standardizing the international sport.
“In 19th century the player who had the right to go first could choose which colour they went first with, but analysts for some time had been publishing games as if white moved first whether this was actually true or not,” Bonham wrote on an internet chess forum, according to Yahoo.
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“There are benefits to standardizing it, in terms of things like publishing diagrams of the chessboard, because when you … play with black moving first, it effectively mirror-images which way round you have your pieces,” he added on the show.
Bonham said white and black do not represent races.
“The pieces themselves don’t represent racial teams, they just represent the sort of combatants in a battle wearing different coloured uniforms if you want,” he said.
Many on Twitter thought raising the issue was absurd.
Black people didn’t invent chess. It has nothing to do with racism. It’s just the rules like wtf is wrong with people???
— Rachel (@rachelsirotic) June 25, 2020
I am no chess expert but ultimately it doesn’t matter, because it is ludicrous now their racism shines brightly with that bs and they have no right to deny it. Racism towards white people is all I see from this. White people can’t get anything, or it’s problematic, I’m so done!?
— RecaWronghouse (@TheWrongCrafter) June 26, 2020
For the casual chess player, Bonham said, either color can go first.
“The funny thing is that at social to even lower club level, having white or black makes zero difference to average results,” he said, according to the Australian outlet OverSixty.
“The advantage starts kicking in around middling club level and becomes stronger at the highest levels.”
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