Our chess community is not doing enough to recognize / promote special people in our sport / game.
Therefore, I would like to start a new weekly / bi-weekly feature: “Profile of Special Chess People!”
It can be a chess player of any age and at any playing level. It could be scholastic, tournament or professional players. It could also be chess parents, siblings, coaches or even chess sponsors.
Tell us about this special person and what you want the chess world to know about him or her. The idea is to give proper recognition to chess players, supporters or sponsors.
If you know of this worthy person, please send all the necessary info to me at PolgarChessInc@aol.com.
Thanks!
Susan Polgar
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
special people??
I would find it nice to see how some of the bright stars of chess a long time ago are doing today. I refer to people who left chess and now have regular jobs. It would be nice to see how they used their chess ability to get advancement in society.
I would like to see a nice personal write up on Nakamura. I guess he is in college now. But it would be nice to get some personal things. Nice positive things.
Present insite from Gata Kamsky would be good. He has a good story to tell after leaving chess and then returning to chess. It would be nice to hear some adventures there.
I have always been facinated by the stories of young players. I can still remember reading about Bobby Fischer when he was young and of course all 3 of the Polgar sisters. I also remember early stories of Anand. I am still a fan of all of them. I have of course added on Nakamura and Magnus for the same reasons. I used to cheer for Gata. I still do. But his story is a bit different since his very early years I never heard until he came to USA. but then he was a teenager.
The 12 year old chinese player would make a good story.
Gata probably has the classic hero story. The hero story is told by Joseph Campbell in the Power of Myth and the Hero’s Journey. The hero leaves and goes into the forbidden land and faces obsticals but lives through it to return and tell the story. We could fit that to Gata leaving chess and returning to tell about what it is like out there in the forbidden land without chess.
I do not know anyone’s story but I can guess at a few that should have a good story. John Curdo, Gil Gosselin, George Merijanian all 3 in Massachusetts. They have been in chess for a very long time.
Good idea Susan, I am sure you will not run out of people to write about. This is a great way to show there are great wonderful people working hard and donating so much of their time to chess. Let us get some of this good positive news out there.
Please start with Judit Polgar.
That would be a nice honor. “The first person to be presented”. I know this is a blog, but this could turn into something cool.
I think people are missing the point. I think Susan is looking for unsung heroes. Writing something up on well known chess stars is redundant.
The words can mean both heroes and villians. One particular person in the latter category needs our attention. That is the mystery person who has been posting on the internet as Sam Sloan.
SS has done so much wrong that ethical people cannot want him reelected. But ethical people cannot want him mugged, robbed, or murdered, either. Identity theft ranks right up there as a serious wrong we should not want anybody to be victimized by. Even SS.
These kinds of crimes ultimately hurt everybody, not just the immediate victim.
That is why I hope that this particular “Special Chess Person” be exposed and prosecuted. I would urge anybody out there who has any information that can lead to the truth about the fake Sam Sloan to come forward with it to the proper authorities.
The chess world has been hit with a double whammy. First the real Sam Sloan who is plenty bad enough. But then we’re hit with the fake Sam Sloan, who hurts not only the real SS but all of us, too.
Many of us are sure that the fake Sloan is actually the real Sloan. He’s known to pull tricks like this to get sympathy and to draw more attention to himself. The obvious is when he posted about this from California to try to convince everyone that it’s not him. We’re not buying it.
NM Alex Dunne for his decades long commitment to chess, correspondence chess, and his continuing leadership in this area. Thank you!
I would be more than happy to write about NM Alex Dunne. However, I do need his information. Therefore, if you can write something about him, I would post it immediately.
Thanks!
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
[Quote]
“Or would you like to start your own blog and create your own Profiles of Special People that Jack wants to talk about?”
[End Quote]
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Gee, touchy, touchy.
How about Special People that Jack does NOT want to talk about?
If the truth about the fake SS is that he is the real SS, then I hope that that fact is brought to light, too. Whatever his identity is, I hope he is unmasked.
Come on Jack, the fake SS is the real SS. You’re obviously new to this game.
Who cares about the real Sam Sloan or the fake Sam Sloan? Maybe two people in the entire world of chess — Sam Sloan and Jack LeMoine. There are so many hardworking, ethical, dedicated people in the chess world that I wouldn’t waste my energy on this.
I had intended to comment just once but the above posts are such that one more time is needed.
This is supposed to be a nice blog. Susan has values and we ought to try to emulate those values. Those values don’t include things like identity theft.
Identity theft is a problem akin to cheating. It ultimately victimizes us all. It is not an issue that only affects the immediate parties. It is wrong, no matter who is the victim, whether it is Sam Sloan or Susan Polgar. Identity theft is wrong.
Any of us could be the victim of identity theft. That’s why we all ought to be interested in it.
As for the topic of this post, I mentioned the fake Sam Sloan because of both the awfulness of what he has posted and the inability of the chess community to track him down. He has become special case in chess infamy.
And like the problem on the USCF Forums that Susan and Paul have complained about so much, the solution there must rest on the WILL of the leaders to fix things. The above commentators illustrate the same problem. We cannot rid chess of identity theft if we lack the will to do so.
There’s no identity theft. SS faked his own name to get attention. It’s widely known. Leave it there. You’ll never be able to prove it. He’ll lie to his own Mother.