Grandmasters react to World Chess Championship's logo

What’s the story?

The new logo for the World Chess Championship is something that has amazed one and all. While it looks like a brilliant piece of art, many have questioned whether it is something that should be used be used for the promotion of a sport that is played by a number of children.

In case you didn’t know…

The logo of the World Chess Championship is an abstract art, that shows two human-like figures playing the game in a rather peculiar manner. While there is a chess board between them, the two chequered figures seem to be sitting in a rather explicit posture.

Heart of the matter

This logo sparked off great controversy in the chess community, with many greats of the game questioning the efficacy of such a design. Leading these protests was Hungry-born American Grandmaster Susan Polgar.

The 48-year-old brought up the issue of whether this logo safe to use in front of children. Incidentally, Polgar is one of the chess players, who has lobbied for the game to be used in education as well.

2018 World Championship Logo - Appropriate to promote to kids? @FIDE_chess @WOMChess @EuropeEchecs @chessdom @MarkTWIC @USChess pic.twitter.com/rKw6KbHgFU

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) December 19, 2017

She further argued that more than half of the chess players around the world are kids, and that it does not look good for such a picture to be displayed in front of them.

More than 50% of the world chess playing population are kids. They are also the biggest purchasing block by a HUGE margin, many times more than adults. Do you think that logo can be marketable in schools?

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) December 19, 2017

Right! They are smart enough to be grandmasters at 12-13, kick the behinds of 99% of the population in chess, but they are too stupid to understand the logo. Exactly! ?

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) December 20, 2017

A number of other greats from the world of chess, like Australian and British grandmasters David Smerdon and Nigel Short, also slammed the logo.

Official logos released for the 2018 World Chess Championships. No, this is not a joke. #ChessIsSexy #YouHadOneJob https://t.co/OuOaCdMqhF pic.twitter.com/vTXH5Oc2Jd

— David Smerdon (@dsmerdon) December 19, 2017

Agon perhaps suggesting that they are giving the #chess world a good fucking. #Logo pic.twitter.com/q3qSUOU50j

— Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) December 19, 2017

Thanks, I guess, to everyone sending this to me. I'll answer with a line from the great Tim Rice musical, Chess: "I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!" https://t.co/xmv9nqM4L2

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) December 20, 2017

Meanwhile, India's chess grandmaster had a rather tongue-in-cheek reaction to the logo. "Finally, a position where DeepMind will have to do more than just calculations. If you're in this position you can definitely count yourself off Santa's good list," he was quoted as saying by ESPN.

What’s next?

While the logo has been widely criticised, it has certainly had one particular desired effect – turning the attention of the world towards chess. Hence, it will be interesting to see whether it will be changed in the future.

Author’s take

While the logo does look like a great piece of art, it does not always do good for the game to have something like this displayed in front of kids. As Polgar herself said, some of the children who play chess are quite smart, and will easily figure it out.