Chess World Championship

[fnurt]

I used to be USCF 2100 back in high school although I really wasn't that good. The chess scene has changed so much in the last 20 years, it's like you can't throw a rock without hitting a Russian grandmaster you've never even heard of. Back in the day it was like Boris Gulko representing the entire population of the USSR.

As someone who hasn't followed chess at all in decades, I can't tell you how funny it is to see the same old stunts at the World Championship. It's like Korchnoi and Karpov all over again. Imagine if every single time Cal played Stanford the band ran on the field in the middle of the game.

There are very few things in this world, however, that are quite as idiotic as chess politics. I mean, Congress looks like a MENSA meeting compared to the petty issues and rivalries that divide the chess world. I do remember one year when I was a delegate to the annual USCF convention and we spent like 2 hours debating an utterly meaningless resolution to "declare" Bobby Fischer the world champion. If you told me that they still spend 2 hours debating that same resolution every year, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.