Chess is plagued by elitism

 

It's not the firsts time somebody said it.

 

"PART TWO

CHAPTER VIII

As the train carried Scarlett northward that May morning in 1862,
she thought that Atlanta couldn't possibly be so boring as
Charleston and Savannah had been and, in spite of her distaste for
Miss Pittypat and Melanie, she looked forward with some curiosity
toward seeing how the town had fared since her last visit, in the
winter before the war began.

Atlanta had always interested her more than any other town because
when she was a child Gerald had told her that she and Atlanta were
exactly the same age. She discovered when she grew older that
Gerald had stretched the truth somewhat, as was his habit when a
little stretching would improve a story; but Atlanta was only nine
years older than she was, and that still left the place amazingly
young by comparison with any other town she had ever heard of.
Savannah and Charleston had the dignity of their years, one being
well along in its second century and the other entering its third,
and in her young eyes they had always seemed like aged
grandmothers fanning themselves placidly in the sun. But Atlanta
was of her own generation, crude with the crudities of youth and
as headstrong and impetuous as herself."

 

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

i guess you could argue that New Zealand is to isolated from the rest of the world for it to rely on its strength though

but America was founded in Roughly the 1500's and that book is from the 1930's so it leaves out 400 years. any person can say in their country while a city is being created (rare but still happens) 

i have an 80 year old friend in NZ who never left the country. yet half as old as the country itself

My city. She's always there for me.
Every lonely night, she's there for me.
She's not some tarted-up fraud
all dressed up like a piece of jailbait.
No. She's an old city...
...old and proud of her every pock
and crack and wrinkle.
She's my sweetheart, my plaything.
She doesn't hide what she is,
what she's made of:.
Sweat, muscle
and blood of generations.
She sleeps.
After midnight and until dawn,
only shadows move in the silence.
There she is!.
-Get her.
-Damn, I've got no time for this.
My city screams. She needs me.
She is my love. She is my life.

And I am her Spirit.

She's talking about a city. A young city is like a young person. An old city is like an old person.

Yeah. I guess the US is full of people who don’t use their intellect because of chess. I suppose that the US has three times more Nobel Prize winners than the next country is meaningless.

thats not what we were saying. we were saying schools dont do chess as much as football/soccer because soccer is more popular

Well, Joe isn't incorrect.

thank you Obrez. plus i never said that US nobel prize winners are meaningless

The implication is that a focus on sports and a focus academic studies are mutually exclusive: they are not. Second, you’re assuming that many students who participate in sports could somehow become chess masters instead: preposterous.

If chess were culturally important, it would have more support, but it’s not. Schools spend plenty of money on speech and debate teams and I know the school spent thousands on my travels through the course of my participation in the activities. I’m sure that if parents and students showed more interest in chess, it would be a larger part of the academic environment, but they don’t so they aren’t.

Chess is relatively cheap compared to sports and the barrier isn’t money, but rather interest. Using chess as a barometer of general interest in intellectual pursuits is just plain flawed reasoning. Chess is just one activity, and not the sum total.

School

schools would probably do chess if asked. My son wanted to play chess at school so he asked the headteacher (principle) when he saw her in the playground at home time. He's pretty bold. They set up an after school chess club for the kids. Good schools will respond to their students if they know there is interest.

Nice one

@markgrubb I’m sure many would. The problem is that finding a teacher who would be competent at overseeing a chess club. My high school had a chess club because one of the teachers happened to enjoy chess and just decided to set one up. He put up notices and made announcements and soon there were a dozen kids in the club. Obviously in countries where chess is very popular, it’s easier to find someone who can do more than just administrate but rather can actually coach.

Again, the barriers are not economic, but rather cultural.

Captain cool boy. 👦

Chess isn't plagued by elitism. But you're an 1800 anyway so your opinion dosen't matter.

DISCLAIMER: That was sarcastic.

I have a good friend who could potentially be one of the best players in New Zealand history. He took on 9 people yesterday, a mix of 2 different chess clubs, one of the players was myself. he won every game.

The exceptional do not skew the average.