I am very disappointed with the state of chess in England. We don’t have enough tournaments, so how can we produce players? You can’t make money out of chess, says Nigel Short in this chat with P. K. Ajith Kumar.
Are you worried that not too many talented youngsters are coming out of England? The country hasn’t produced a player quite in the class of Michael Adams and yourself.
I am very disappointed with the state of chess in England. We don’t have enough tournaments, so how can we produce players? Even Adams is getting long in the tooth. He was the last of the greats. Matthew Saddler has retired. Luke McShane will not become a professional player; you can’t make money out of chess. And he is a bright kid. Maybe he will play for a year or two.
The full story is here. 
Same thing with the United States. Especially down South.
I don’t like Short much. He has a big mouth and most of the things he says is rubbish.
bollocks
It’s hard to take seriously the man who agreed to coach the Iranian team in the Asia Games, given that their government’s bombs are killing his countrymen in Iraq.
maybe his countrymen should go home?!
Short is only about himself!
Verone,
Don’t be so lazy. Just pick up a dictionary if you don’t understand what he’s saying.
I’m glad with the state of chess in England because I prefer to see teenagers that are studying medicine or engineering than study chess. Chess is an hobby not a profession.
Then stop all the sports if you think it’s better to study engineering and medicine. Let’s just do the works and make money. That’s life….or is it?
First, I don’t see any contradiction between teenagers studying chess or teenagers studying medicine. If you see the numbers, there are thousands of physicians in the U.K., thousands of engineers, etc… while there are only a few hundreds chess professionals. I don’t think studying chess can do any harm.
Second, I don’t exactly agree with Nigel Short. I live in Spain. And I can swear you that no country in the world (except perhaps Russia) has so many tournaments, and International tournaments or even Grand Masters playing in this country.
It is not that started with Linares nor it is something that started a few years ago. It is a tradition. Chess is played and people like to play chess and watch chess.
I recently got to see the first “World Match of Blind Chess” between Vesselin Topalov (who happens to live in Salamanca) and Judit Polgar, and this match took place here in Spain.
Could you call it a coincidence? Nah, it is not.
I myself used to attend yearly to two or three International Tournaments (as anyone who played chess during the summer in Spain) where many ims and gms were showing themselves: Marin, Suba, Spragget, Kolev, Conquest, Korneev, Pogorelov…
And what is the final result of all this? Is spanish chess much better than it used to be? Is it the first or the second as it is in number of tournaments?
I think that the number of tournaments, or even its quality does not make a big impact in number of excellent “home” chess players. I think it is not even a pre-requisite. Take Armenia, take Hungary, take Israel. These are countries far stronger than Spain and they have far less tournaments than Spain has.
I think that Spain and U.K. are in a pretty similar position, and none will improve its chess players by increasing the number of tournaments.
I would rather try to blame something different.
“It’s hard to take seriously the
man (Nigel Short) who agreed to
coach the Iranian team in the
Asia (sic) Games, given that
their government’s bombs are
killing his countrymen in Iraq.”
–‘Irishspy’
‘Irishspy’ evidently objects
to Nigel Short, a UK citizen,
helping chess players in Iran.
The UK is not at war against Iran.
Most people in the UK don’t
support the US-led military
occupation of Iraq.
US-made bombs have killed many
civilians in many countries.
Would ‘Irishspy’ support any
boycott of American chess?
‘Irishspy’ seems to believe
that politics and chess should
be linked in the case of Iran.
Would ‘Irishspy’ believe that
politics and chess should be
linked in the case of Israel?