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What’s the story?
The new logo for the World Chess Championship is something that has amazed one and all. While it looks like a brilliant piece of art, many have questioned whether it is something that should be used be used for the promotion of a sport that is played by a number of children.
In case you didn’t know…
The logo of the World Chess Championship is an abstract art, that shows two human-like figures playing the game in a rather peculiar manner. While there is a chess board between them, the two chequered figures seem to be sitting in a rather explicit posture.
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Heart of the matter
This logo sparked off great controversy in the chess community, with many greats of the game questioning the efficacy of such a design. Leading these protests was Hungry-born American Grandmaster Susan Polgar.
The 48-year-old brought up the issue of whether this logo safe to use in front of children. Incidentally, Polgar is one of the chess players, who has lobbied for the game to be used in education as well.
She further argued that more than half of the chess players around the world are kids, and that it does not look good for such a picture to be displayed in front of them.
A number of other greats from the world of chess, like Australian and British grandmasters David Smerdon and Nigel Short, also slammed the logo.
Meanwhile, India's chess grandmaster had a rather tongue-in-cheek reaction to the logo. "Finally, a position where DeepMind will have to do more than just calculations. If you're in this position you can definitely count yourself off Santa's good list," he was quoted as saying by ESPN.
What’s next?
While the logo has been widely criticised, it has certainly had one particular desired effect – turning the attention of the world towards chess. Hence, it will be interesting to see whether it will be changed in the future.
Author’s take
While the logo does look like a great piece of art, it does not always do good for the game to have something like this displayed in front of kids. As Polgar herself said, some of the children who play chess are quite smart, and will easily figure it out.
