Swing of Things

Comments

"A GM punch-up at a dance party is certainly worthy of mention."

Is it?
Posted by: Albrecht von der Lieth at June 9, 2006 03:54

I only heard about this from a non chess playing friend here in the UK, who had read the article in the Sun.

I hope for the sake of Cassia that all publicity is good publicity...
Posted by: Joe Lewis at June 9, 2006 04:03

Undoubtedly nice baby. I bet that many men would have fought for her beautiful eyes. But does it worth?

The whole story is another demonstration of what we all know well; a beautiful woman can succeed a lot of her goals, just by exploiting her image. That is why we see that many women spent so much time in improving their appearance (diet, clothing, gym etc). It is just a profitable investment which return will realize in the future...Ok this situation deeply annoys the spiritual part of my personality, but the other one; the materialistic one, would have dictated to me to become another "slave of love"

A rhetorical question, would this baby danced with Aronian if he werent Aronian?

Damn i must improve my rating....
Posted by: christos koutsabelas at June 9, 2006 05:00

"1800 Elo and a bikini pic is enough to earn the dubious, and completely exhausted, Anna Kournikova of chess title"

Caoili has one IM and two WGM norms. She may be good-looking, but she sure knows how to play chess. You can't damage her by not mentioning her name.

The Closet Grandmaster (http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/) who started http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/2006/06/fight-fight.html and covered this story is not guilty for lack of other interesting subjects. Therefore, the huge traffic that his blog has received is fully deserved.
Posted by: Goran at June 9, 2006 05:20

Caoili's rating's something like 2169 FIDE, right? I'm going by the Olympiad players' list.

So, a 2169 has an IM norm and 2 WGM norms...

Either she's really underrated, or norms are a lot easier to get as of late...
Posted by: cynical at June 9, 2006 05:34

Blame the obsession with anything even remotely female in chess on Chessbase. Their absolutely rabid foaming at the mouth at women who play chess really needs to stop. I like women as much as the next guy, but ENOUGH already. Lots of women can play strong chess now. We GET it. Are these guys like 15 or something?
Posted by: Chris Anderson at June 9, 2006 05:50

"Either she's really underrated, or norms are a lot easier to get as of late..."

... which has exactly what to do with the topic at hand???

That guys fight over girls, girls b*** over guys - what is SOOO interesting about that? If I want to hear about this kind of thing, I just have to go to my local disco. That the Sun picks up this kind of thing is probably understandable, but is there really nothing else to talk about?

And why does every girl, just because she's good looking, get more or less latent hate when it comes to her chess skills?
This girl was rated 2309 on the October '02 rating list! Is that rating high enough to make it conceivable that she earned an IM norm? If so, why do you guys always start assuming the worst instead of checking the facts before?
Posted by: Albrecht von der Lieth at June 9, 2006 05:54

Well mig, now it's up to you to become a star : you've got the 1800 rating, you just need the bikini pic. Uh oh ... talking about jewish, armenian, genes, trolling, I guess all that was ok, but I wonder if the "don't talk about my rating rule" will prevail in this case. Who knows?
Posted by: Ruslan at June 9, 2006 06:05

Here comes Ninja KourMigov !!!
Posted by: Ruslan at June 9, 2006 06:05

I was thinking that if we envisage chess as a popular sport accompanied by widespread attention of media and a numerous base of fans, then this kind of hot-news stories are a wonderful input in the public-image generating machine. Just look how the sport-managers in other -more popular - sport industries exploit ,or even produce, this kind of gossips, stories, etc. (see for example David Beckham...).

Personally, i prefer chess to remain a charming intellectual sport, destined to be occupied by the few and eclectic. Nevertheless markets work in a very different mode and like it or not, these kind of stories add to the limited marketability of chess.

Were Vishy Anand to be caught by paparazzi's film in private moments wityh Paris Hilton...!!!!
Posted by: christos koutsabelas at June 9, 2006 06:32

'Would this baby have danced with Aronian if he weren't Aronian'.

Well of course not. Durr. Women-want-to-shag-alpha-males shock. It's all in Chess Bitch, for anyone who's been on Mars for the past couple of millennia and couldn't work it out.

I'm a bit surprised none of the tabloids or blogs have reported that it's not the first time there's been slightly similar trouble over AC. Probably a good thing.

Mig, Gormally was not sent home, he came home. I know Nigel says different, but facts have never been Nigel's strong point, him being a reporter and all.

It's a sad thing, actually. DG's had his problems, of which this kind of thing is a symptom, and is well liked in English chess partly for his efforts to overcome them. I hope this doesn't affect him too badly, but I fear for him once the great unwashed and the pompous and idiotic ECF between them have their hands on this sort of story.
Posted by: rdh at June 9, 2006 07:36

Aronian and Gormally fighting over girls? Good! This sort of news is the best way to popularize chess as it makes people know that chess players are just normal people like us, rather than them all being fischer-like.
Posted by: Elixir of Life at June 9, 2006 07:52

It would have been more gratifying if it was alpha-male Kirsan who danced with the girl
Posted by: zero@ego.com at June 9, 2006 07:58

from today's globe and mail, canada's national newspaper:

Mondo chess

Recent stories of everyday chess folk:

Last week, Danny Gormally, a leading British chess player, slugged the world No. 3, Levon Aronian of Armenia, at a nightclub during an international tournament, for dancing with a beautiful Australian player - grandmaster Arianne Caoili, who is known as the Anna Kournikova of the chess world. The next day, Mr. Gormally was attacked by a group of young Armenian players. "I am not surprised at anything chess players do," said Denis Jessop, president of the Australian Chess Federation. "It is not the first time that there's been an argument at a chess tournament and people have hit each other."

"Stories of boozing are legion in chess history," writes Guardian chess columnist Nigel Short, "perhaps due to the preponderance of Soviet players in the upper echelons. Some of the tales are amusing -- such as the Estonian grandmaster who made consecutive moves during a game, to the great consternation of his American opponent."

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is the president of FIDE, the governing body of world chess. The Buddhist millionaire and former boxing champion is also ruler of Kalmykia, one of the least well-known republics of Russia, writes Michael Specter in The New Yorker. In 2001, Mr. Ilyumzhinov told journalists that he had recently been aboard a UFO: "The extraterrestrials put a yellow spacesuit on me. They gave me a tour of the spaceship and showed me the command centre. I felt very comfortable with them."
Posted by: paul at June 9, 2006 08:30

Well the story certainly brightened up an otherwise cloudy rainy day around here.
Posted by: tommy at June 9, 2006 10:03

Hey, bo, they have fights in NASCAR right on the track sometimes, and look how popular that 'sport' is. Might be the best thing that's happened to chess in a while.

The articles included the information that Gormally, 30, lives with his parents. Harsh.
Posted by: Huckleberry at June 9, 2006 10:26

" A rhetorical question, would this baby danced with Aronian if he werent Aronian?

Damn i must improve my rating...."

Would Diane Keaton have dated Woody Allen if he weren't a brilliant filmmaker? No - and Aronian looks like Woody Allen.
Posted by: Huckleberry at June 9, 2006 10:28

The girl is a young part-time chess player who happens to be beautiful. Can we leave her alone?

Aronian is not a bad-looking rising talent in a world of chess who danced with a beautiful woman at a party. Can we leave him alone?

Gormally acted like an idiot while probably intoxicated, got manhandled and apologized. He has been at fault and suffered enough for it. Can we stop talking about this, please?
Posted by: Yuriy Kleyner at June 9, 2006 10:37

In reply to zero, had it been "alpha male Kirsan" Gormally most likely would have been found in a ditch somewhere; at least he's still alive.
Posted by: chesstraveler at June 9, 2006 10:49

One of the pieces quotes Caoili as saying she enjoys saying things she doesn't mean, just to provoke an argument. (Aside: She must be a regular poster here! Shall we start a betting pool aimed at figuring out what handle she posts under?)

I don't recall just where I saw this -- probably on her Web site, or quoted from it -- but I found it especially interesting in the context of the Aronian-Gormally incident. In fact it made me think she must have quite enjoyed it, and may be enjoying the publicity as well.

The blog-pages of one UK newspaper linked from here or another chess site, were full of self-righeous feminist bull**** of the "leave her alone" variety, and worse.

Of course she had a right to dance or not dance (and speak or not speak) with anyone she chose. But let's stop pretending we're too stupid to know that she knew exactly what she was doing, may even have accurately seen a few plies ahead (I can personally vouch that a 2169 Elo is capable of reliably analyzing a few plies ahead -- and from the looks of her Web site, Caoili's flirtation rating is well above her chess rating), and is probably loving every minute of it.
Posted by: flyonthewall at June 9, 2006 11:08

I liked this alpha-male comment. It stimulated my curiosity and i carried out a small investigation on the internet about alpha-male theories, biology of sexual-mating and some other interesting stuff on human sexual behaviour and its biological underpinnings. I certainly recommend it, even if that means that you are in a danger to demystify the notion of love. Nevertheless knowledge is always better than illusion.
Were Woody Allen an unemployed poor, he would not have a chance...
The mechanics of love is not a nice thing to decode!
Posted by: christos koutsabelas at June 9, 2006 11:24

Well, it's all pretty common sense. Women are more attracted to winners than losers. But, some don't have a choice. That's why the poor and ugly are able to mate and multiply.
Posted by: Chris Anderson at June 9, 2006 11:44

Happy Birthday, Mig. I have a grandchild who is due to be born in an hour. I wonder what her/his parents will choose for a name?..........
Posted by: inky at June 9, 2006 11:58

I can`t believe how many of you think this aussie chick is attractive - well,OK, compared to most of the female chessplayers she`s not bad - but come on fellas - she`s a dog! My guess is it was either a very darkly-lit nightclub or Gormally was actually trying to punch the girl for dancing with Aronian - and missed!
Posted by: Superchess at June 9, 2006 12:19

"The mechanics of love is not a nice thing to decode!" - christos k

Or, to paraphrase Bismark's widely quoted observation about politics*, how about this: "Those who love love and sausages should never watch either being made."

(* "Those who love law and sausages should never watch either being made")
Posted by: flyonthewall at June 9, 2006 13:46

Chris Anderson summarized women behaviour in two sentences...My respect..
Posted by: christos Koutsabelas at June 9, 2006 14:13

Is it Cassia or Caissa?
Posted by: qa at June 9, 2006 15:04

Ms. Caoili seems to be a nice young lady who just needs more understanding when dealing with men.
Posted by: Ryan at June 9, 2006 16:01

Move on. Nothing to see here.
Posted by: zarghev at June 9, 2006 17:30

Ryan: "Ms. Caoili seems to be a nice young lady who just needs more understanding when dealing with men"

I guess she could contact me, I can help her to get this understanding...
Posted by: Pascual at June 9, 2006 17:51

To be serious, it is a shame that gossip and light news are still a topic of conversation for something that happened one week ago. And the role of bloggers (sorry Mig for criticizing you) could be don't give the importance that these events doesn't deserve. For example, nothing has been talked about the upcoming Aerosvit event in Ukraine.

The most important Ukraine airline has sponsored a new event which starts on June 17 with the best Ukrainian players! and adding other very strong players to the field, it is good to see new strong tournaments, because the are a lot of excellent players, but the number of elite tournaments is very small, so we cannot see all these players in action.

Think in this: We have only four supertournaments (cat 19 of higher) in the world: Corus, Linares, Sofia and Dortmund. Twenty years ago, the number of Grandmasters was much lower (the world population has increased and the number of people who has access to pursue a chess career is bigger, by obvious reasons of globalization and mass media, internet, etc), so it is expected that the number of very strong Grandmasters has increased as well. However, the number of supertournaments is almost the same!! This naive statistic is dramatic (and is even worse with average professional players)

- There are player with Elo 2650+ who are able to do excellent performances in a supertournament. And besides perhaps the top 5 players in the world, there is a small difference in level among top players.

- More than 50% of players with Elo 2650+ are unable to receive and participate in a supertournament of category 18+ each year, because of lack of invitations and space!!

Short News:

In "Magistral de Leon" in Spain (a small knockout tournament with four players -no longer "advanced chess"-), Anand and Bruzon tied in the four game rapid match and in the tie-breaks (games with shorter time control), Bruzon started defeating Anand, he bounced back and finally in the eight game, Bruzon had the advantage, but in time trouble blundered and Anand won.
Posted by: Pascual at June 9, 2006 18:23

To be serious, it is a shame that gossip and light news are still a topic of conversation for something that happened one week ago. And the role of bloggers (sorry Mig for criticizing you) could be don't give the importance that these events doesn't deserve. For example, nothing has been talked about the upcoming Aerosvit event in Ukraine.

The most important Ukraine airline has sponsored a new event which starts on June 17 with the best Ukrainian players! and adding other very strong players to the field, it is good to see new strong tournaments, because the are a lot of excellent players, but the number of elite tournaments is very small, so we cannot see all these players in action.

Think in this: We have only four supertournaments (cat 19 of higher) in the world: Corus, Linares, Sofia and Dortmund. Twenty years ago, the number of Grandmasters was much lower (the world population has increased and the number of people who has access to pursue a chess career is bigger, by obvious reasons of globalization and mass media, internet, etc), so it is expected that the number of very strong Grandmasters has increased as well. However, the number of supertournaments is almost the same!! This naive statistic is dramatic (and is even worse with average professional players)

- There are player with Elo 2650+ who are able to do excellent performances in a supertournament. And besides perhaps the top 5 players in the world, there is a small difference in level among top players.

- More than 50% of players with Elo 2650+ are unable to receive and participate in a supertournament of category 18+ each year, because of lack of invitations and space!!

Short News:

In "Magistral de Leon" in Spain (a small knockout tournament with four players -no longer "advanced chess"-), Anand and Bruzon tied in the four game rapid match and in the tie-breaks (games with shorter time control), Bruzon started defeating Anand, he bounced back and finally in the eight game, Bruzon had the advantage, but in time trouble blundered and Anand won.
Posted by: Pascual at June 9, 2006 18:25

Would Gormally been japanese, he'd already done a good and clean hara-kiri. Would Caoili been japanese, she'd never had danced with an inferior stranger.

Japanese are the country with the higher IQ in the world. Japanese people are geneticaly superior to any other nation in the world, they have strong artistic abilities, are poetic, and have the sense of honour. They are far above those inferior armenian who don't wash themselves, come from the poorest country in the world, can't even fight alone, and need to come with a 5-1 ratio to fight against an englishman; and of course japanese are far superior to those typical english drunk bags of whiskey.
Posted by: Ruslan at June 9, 2006 22:42

Ruslan,

I was thinking of an above post by Chris Anderson and would like to know how many children you have?
Posted by: chesstraveler at June 10, 2006 00:23

Actually, Ruslan makes a good point. The so-called drunken English football hooligans invariably come out second-best when it all kicks off but haven`t got the sense to realise they are just crap at fighting! (How did we EVER win the war - well probably thanks to the yanks).

Regarding Gormally I always thought he was a shirt-lifter and I was amazed to hear he had punched anyone - perhaps he hit him with his handbag.
Posted by: Superchess at June 10, 2006 03:30

Pascual, the statistic is in no way dramatic, there are more soccerplayers to, bigger better and stronger, but world championships still come (only) every 4th year...

No matter how big and popular chess becomes, there will only be room for ten players in the top ten, (I know, not the most intelligent statement), and we are simpleminded as fans, we always want the top ten, but they can only play so much.

Q
Posted by: quely at June 10, 2006 04:20

Gormally speaks: thinks of quitting chess.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/rueful-chess-champ-considers-endgame/2006/06/10/1149815359208.html
Posted by: superfreaky at June 10, 2006 17:47

He shows remorse for the incident and realizes that he has a problem. The sad part is what little self esteem he has appears to be wrapped-up in chess. Giving that up and still living at home with your parents at 30 sounds pretty sheltered to me and could prove difficult for him to deal with. Then again, better late than never. I don't know that much about him but I wish him luck.
Posted by: chesstraveler at June 10, 2006 18:22

I second chesstraveler. Meanwhile -- no matter how one feels about the tabloid aspect of all this coverage -- if viewed from the purely technical perspective of my former profession, the Sydney paper story's lede paragraph is finely tuned:

"He raised the temperature of international chess last week when he punched out the world No. 3 for daring to salsa with his dream girl - Australian chess starlet Arianne Caoili."

(Few if any of my own ledes were that good.)
Posted by: Jon Jacobs at June 11, 2006 11:03

You have to laugh though - how on earth does Gormally think that any young femail (20), is going to look twice at a 30 year-old balding,bespectacled overweight twat who lives at home with his parents (that`s SAD,chesstraveller, not SHELTERED) and hasn`t got a pot to piss in.
Still sponging off his parents at his age is just pathetic.
Posted by: Superchess at June 11, 2006 13:16

Well being a GM rated 2550 is apparently difficult. I can understand he lives with its parents at 30, if he has no steady revenue stream (and no woman in his life). But he needs to find a solution.

As for him being ridiculous hoping for a romance with Caoli, well, if she wasn't interested, she shouldn't have been flirting by email. Chess bitch.
Posted by: zarghev at June 11, 2006 18:41

Never heard of her before, but Arianne Caoili is extremely attractive. No offense to Alexandra Kosteniuk, but she has nothing on Arianne. In my opinion, it's not even close.
Posted by: Derek at June 13, 2006 23:28

Never heard of her before, but Arianne Caoili is extremely attractive. No offense to Alexandra Kosteniuk, but she has nothing on Arianne. In my opinion, it's not even close.
Posted by: Derek at June 13, 2006 23:31

Forget Miss Kosteniuk (attractive) and Miss Caoili (very attractive). Where can I meet Valquiria Rocha?
Posted by: Yuriy Kleyner at June 14, 2006 13:47

Superchess:

Gornally's parents might be sponging off him and he might be a devoted son.
Posted by: peach at June 14, 2006 18:48

Yuriy:

Try to induce a dream.
Posted by: Daaim Shabazz at June 20, 2006 14:46