Those Silly Girls!

Wait, so the orginizer had the players wear outfits!?

Seems that way.

That article seems to imply quite a few things, without saying them outright for some reason..

Are there other news sources available for that event ?

Well, it was June 28, 1979 at Le Méridien Versailles in Montreal... so you can look it up. 

sounds a bit sordid

I thought it was a bit funny, though I felt a little sorry for GM Browne.

Greasy.

Yea, that part is one where I'd wish we had more facts available. If Lise Fournier felt exploited, why would she wear those clothes then ?

The article did not give me the impression that the girls were being highly payed for the event, or even being payed at all. So why on earth would she wear something she didn't feel comfortable in ? Saying "no" isn't so difficult now, is it ?

But then the article seems exceptionally bad at explaining anything really.

First we learn Browne played 20 simultanous games of chess. Then we learn he was supposed to be challenegd by 20 but there were less than ten challengers 15 minutes after the event should have started.

But he had left anyway and returned an hour later and said he had felt sick.

Then it's about a supposed blindfold game against two female chess players that wasn't quite as blindfolded as intended.

And apparently some other girls managed to embarrass themselves enough for a chess columnist to notice they did not even kow the rules on how to move the pieces.

So:

- was this a blindfolded simul against 20 or was it a normal simul against 20 and after that he played two challengers in a blindfold match ?

- how many girls were in that simul ? Less than 10 of which 5 did not know the rules ? Or did they find more girls later because it says he played 20 games of chess ?

- were the draws "real" draws or was it just that Browne was so annoyed with the event that he was happy to accept any draw offer thrown his way just so it could end faster ?

- outfits so revealing at least one player felt exploited and underage girls were wearing them ? It sounds more like an event for a questionable promotor than for chess, why doesn't the article shed more light on that ?

I tried to find an article or a column by Larry Bevant about the "event", but 1979 isn't an ideal year for an internet research or my search-fu is simply too weak.

Rarely have I read such a confused and jumbled article, I hope Ellen McKeough wasn't a professional journalist.

Is 16 underage in Quebec? A quick google looks like the age of consent is 16.

I have no idea tbh, I'm at an age where any girl below 30 feels too young for me so I'm not too interested in age of consent laws.

I just assumed those laws to have been more conservative back in 1979 than today. And it was Montreal I think, not Quebec.

"Montréal is the largest city in Québec"

Anyway, not to be too preverse here, but sex is sex. It's not like they had to have meaningful conversation 

Oops, brainfart there from me lol. Sorry about that, I'm a bit tired.

the reference to the "fashions" being sported by the players also really popped off the page at me ... can't say i've ever seen any article or coverage of a chess event where clothing was mentioned as in this one lol ... but again, batgirl, our intrepid interesting-and-odd-chess-stories archivist  very cool

... na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Batgirl ... (sorry can't seem to find a way to post a wav f the old Batman TV show theme song ... hope i got all the na-na-na's correct

"friends" of Lordo.....

Huh.  That's wierd.  She doesn't know how he beat her?