Chess Ageism

Anand has just become the World Rapid Champion of chess at the age of 48. People have written the ex-World Champion off and there have been suggestions that he should retire. Perhaps this has been partly because of Kasparov's retirement in his early 40's, but whatever the reason, no one should be forced to give up something they enjoy doing and which they are good at.

We seem to have a feeling in chess that it is a province of the young. Young mostly means in a person's 20's, but we have seen a rise in prodigiously young talent as well over the past 20 years, with younger and younger children reaching high levels of play. And I am all for that, but to write off older players is demeaning and bad for the game and ageist.

When I was a young player, if the older, more experienced players weren't around to test myself against, then I might not have have made it to the 2200 level. At the age of 51, I intend to keep playing, and improving if possible, but mostly enjoying the game and playing it to the best of my abilities.

So what is old in chess? 50? 40? In the upcoming 2018 Candidates tournament, only one player, Kramnik is over 40. 4 out of the 8 players are in their 20's. Compared to AVRO 1938, it is similar with 2 players over 40 (Alekhine 46, Capablanca 50) and 4 of the 8 players in their 20's. However, not all tournaments have been like this. The first great modern tournament, Hastings 1895 had a field of 22 players. Only 6 of these were in their 20's while 10 were over 40, and 3 of these were over 50 (Blackburne 53, Steinitz 59, Bird 65). Of the 15 players who competed for the Zurich Candidates tournament in 1953, only 4 were in their 20's while 5 were over 40, Euwe being the oldest at 52.

It seems to me that there can be affects to one's chess as one gets older. Increasing health risk, and rowing family commitments are 2 obvious things can affect a players activity in a field. But we have seen longevity in chess from a number of players, historically Steinitz, Lasker, Smyslov and Korchnoi come to mind and more locally, Darryl Johansen who won the Australian Chess Championship at the age of 53. But to 'keep going' at chess it seems a deep love of the game and a purpose is needed. Also as a community we need to equally encourage participation by players of all demographics, regardless of gender, race, age etc.

I'll leave for another day the fact that Anand's great victory was marred by the boycott of many chess players of Saudi Arabia including defending Women's Champion Ana Muzychuk who said:

"In a few days I am going to lose two World Champion titles – one by one. Just because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia. Not to play by someone's rules, not to wear abaya, not to be accompanied getting outside, and altogether not to feel myself a secondary creature"

And I'll not get into the Twitter story I saw where Swedish Grand Master Pontus Carlsson was abused online:

There are bad loosers, and than there are racist bad loosers like Funnychess9
If someone knows this users real name than please publish it and ban him.@FIDE_chess @chesscom pic.twitter.com/fzWsHlOdvU

— Pontus Carlsson (@GMCarlsson) December 28, 2017

Downhill at 50?

I turned 50 nearly a year ago, and for some reason have been ill more in the last year than the previous 49 put together. Perhaps things do start to go downhill at 50? A frozen shoulder wiped me out at the end of last year and a flu bug has taken hold for the past....well I can't even remember how long! And now, I've strained/pulled/torn something at the top of my leg which has me hobbling around like someone much older than 50. I've struggled to hold concentration at times, and get tired more easily than usual.

But life goes on and as my 89 year old mother says every time I call her, "Complaining doesn't help!". In fact, I'll be seeing my Mum soon as I'm heading back to England in a couple of weeks. It's been a few years since I was there so it will be good to catch up with my family again. More about that as it happens as I like writing about my travels. But first we have to get there, and as we're flying Malaysian Airlines who have had some notable incidents recently, I'll be happy when we do get there! (Actually, flying back on Friday 13th October is even more harrowing!)

To be honest, things could be a lot worse. I feel for the people in extreme weather conditions dealing with hurricanes and earthquakes etc. We've had a colder than usual winter but nothing to complain too much about. I live in the most livable city in the world according to the Economist, and Australia hasn't the uncertainty over its future like other Western Democracies at the moment. I'm not sure what is happening in Europe and the UK with their break up, nor am I certain what is happening in North America with a seemingly ineffective executive branch of government in the USA. At least in Australia things are fairly stable. We have our issues such as human rights abuse against asylum seekers, a vociferous opposition to marriage equality, and a dangerous relationship with North Korea with which we are within striking distance of their missiles. But generally speaking, life is good for your average Australian.

So besides work, and being ill what have I been up to? Not a lot really. I have been playing a lot of chess which has been going quite well. And reading a lot of fiction. Since the Man Booker Prize announced it's Longlist I've read 4 of the novels and I must say, they were all great. (I'm currently reading number 5 which also started brilliantly). I read a lot of fiction of all genres, including fantasy, crime, YA, historical and even some romantic types. But I make an exception for the Booker Prize nominees because over the years they have become some of my favourite novels. I have been blown away by winners such as The Remains of the Day and Narrow Road to the Deep North and even those that didn't win such as Do Not Say We Have Nothing and Ruth Ozeki's A Tale For The Time Being which I felt should have been the winner in 2013.

This year of the 4 novels I read so far, there is already one stand out. Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad is unbelievably good, and taking into account that the other 3 novels have been excellent, this is really saying something. The Booker Shortlist is announced on Wednesday and the biggest shock for me is if Whitehead's novel isn't on it. Of course, there are still 7 novels I haven't even started yet, which may be better, but they will have to be astonishingly good to better The Underground Railroad.

I try to devote a little bit of time every day to leaving the world of what I'm doing and just sit at a cafe drinking a coffee and reading, usually about 20 minutes before the day really begins. The Underground Railroad has been the best book I've read this year so far though it was very uncomfortable reading at times. Crying in public is not considered the done thing for men in Australia!

So there you have it. Can life really be that bad if I get to spend a little bit of time each day drinking coffee, reading good books in the most livable city in the World with the woman I love? There might be some little issues, but like my Mum says, "Complaining doesn't help". :)

Senior Moments

It's funny really. One is progressing nicely through life, having a great time, and then all of a sudden you become 50!!!

People start congratulating you, and the cliches abound:

....great work on the half century...
....only another 50 years to go....
....retirement is just around the corner....

To be honest I don't really know what "being 50" means. In my mind, I'm not an age, I just am. What should being 50 denote? Who cares? My mentality was older when I was in my late teens and I was striving to be mature. Now I've reached a mature age, I couldn't give a...

Anyway, the first thing I did on becoming 50 was leave my laptop lead behind at a school I was working in, prompting thoughts of senior moments. It meant that I have been without a laptop for a while, as I only went back to the school a week later, and didn't have a spare lead. So was this a senior moment, an instance of forgetfulness instances that will only become more prevalent as I increase my innings? Or was it fate telling me that I spend too much time on my laptop and to get a life? Maybe I should create a bucket list before I kick that bucket?

Fate is something which I don't subscribe to, and to the annoyance of Caroline, I won't admit to luck having a role in life either. Much like my attitude to age, I believe that what happens, just happens. I try to take responsibility for my actions and results. I'm not a control freak, but to take charge of one's life is in many ways liberating. I try not to judge, and don't worry about the judgement of others. I'm happy to let others subscribe to whatever belief system they wish to follow, and just wish that more people would do the same.

I take full responsibility for the lack of writing on this blog recently. Will that change? Hopefully! I intend to write more, but I have a pretty full life at the moment and sometimes lack the energy or will to write. Am I getting old? Well, we all are every minute of every day, but that's not an excuse for not writing.I guess what I have been lacking is inspiration, but I intend to start playing chess again soon which will fire me up to examine the game, study and (hopefully) write about it.

I recently went to Singapore, and the highlight of the trip was probably a visit to the botanic gardens which were just magnificent. Believe me, I like Melbourne Botanical Gardens, but they are a shadow of the Singapore Botanical Gardens! The highlight of the gardens was the Orchid Garden, which houses one of the biggest collection of orchids in the world! It truly was a breathtaking display of colour and beauty which my camera (phone) doesn't do justice to.

Carnivorous Orchids

Delicate Orchids

Bright and Bold Orchids

Amazing Orchids

Beautiful Settings of the Orchid Garden in Singapore Botanic Gardens