Arianna is back in the limelight
Ben Dillaway
June 28th, 2009
ARIANNA Caoili is back in the limelight and it is for all the right reasons.
The 22-year-old glamour queen of international chess yesterday won the Oceania Chess Championship at Twin Towns, qualifying for the World Cup to be held in Russia in November.
The victory comes after a chequered few years that have seen the Gold Coaster embroiled in controversy.
In 2006, during her appearance on Channel 7’s Dancing With The Stars, she had a major run-in with judge Todd McKenney after he accused her of cheating.
That same year she was also labelled a temptress after reports she was at the centre of a love triangle during the World Chess Olympiad that ended in a punch-up on an Italian dance floor.
Caoili said she no longer thought about that and felt like she had nothing to get over.
“I’m playing chess and I enjoy it,” she said.
“I’m not here to prove anything and I’m very relaxed. I’m very good at blocking out bad things and things that are not worth my time, so you move on.
“I won, so I’m very happy.”
While there is no doubt she is glamorous, Caoili said she hated being known as chess’s glamour girl.
“I like to ignore that because there are so many beautiful girls playing chess,” she said.
“I don’t consider myself at all the best looking. I will always consider myself a nerd. I love chess and I love academia.
“To be put in that position (as the glamour girl) is weird, but whatever, it’s interesting.”
Caoili admits she can see the advantage of her beloved sport having a glamorous pin-up girl.
“I guess in a sense it’s good because it gives chess a cool image because chess is a lot of fun and people don’t realise that because of the stereotype it has,” she said.
“If I lift the profile that’s good but I’m not actively trying to.”
Caoili said she would enjoy the next two weeks on the Coast seeing family and friends and hopefully soaking up the sun before returning to Germany.
Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au
I like the way she talked. She sounds great. She looks great. And ‘most importantly’ she loves chess and understands issues. I think I already like her quite alot.
This is a really dumb story, an example of a writer trying to shoehorn a subject into his preconceived notions. The quotes flatly contradict his view, but he nonetheless tries to forcibly impinge it upon the reader. The guy probably spent 10 minutes researching on the Internet, asks some vacuous questions, and adds nothing of substance to anyone’s knowledge about Arianne (not “Arianna” — #1 rule in journalism — spell the names right!) or chess.
She’s on her back.
Heh.