Pawnographic: championship logo that’s ‘too sexy’ for chess
THE unveiling of a logo for a big sporting contest is meant to be a grand occasion that builds the excitement.
Yet the organisers of the next World Chess Championship may have gone a bit too far in trying to “sex it up”.
When their “trendy” new logo was revealed for next year’s flagship event in London it was met with a rather passionate response among grandmasters.
The image shows two chequered bodies entwined around a chess board. It is, World Chess say, unashamedly sexual. Perhaps, one could even say, pawnographic.
“No, this is not a joke,” said David Smerdon, an Australian international, on Twitter. Others likened it to something from the sex manual Kama Sutra.
Nigel Short, the British grandmaster, said the organisers were “perhaps suggesting that they are giving the chess world a good f------.”
Chess enthusiasts also noticed something else they didn’t like about it – the board is only 6x6 squares, not the 8x8 needed for a real game.
“People are openly laughing at it,” said David Kramaley, who runs learning site Chessable. “But, joking aside, I’ve got to say it has grown on me.”
Malcolm Pein, of the English Chess Federation and The Daily Telegraph’s chess correspondent, said: “I rather like it. It reminds me of the logo created when I was involved in using chess to market a Viagra competitor – I kid you not – it was called Uprima.”
World Chess, the commercial arm of the game’s governing body Fide, said the logo was “controversial and trendy, just like the host city”. The match is due to take place next November in London between Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian current holder of the chess crown, and a challenger who will be decided at a tournament in March.