NOTES & NOTICES
EDITOR ’ S NOTE
I ’ M PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE A NEW COL - umn beginning with this issue of �e Chess Journalist . Hank Anzis will take on a practicum for chess bloggers and would-be bloggers . �e blog ( abbreviated from weblog ) is the newest of journalistic genres and its growth and popularity since the advent of the internet has been phenomenal . �e challengers are , first , getting started , which requires the motivation all non-professional writers need but also a certain amount of technical savvy ; second , there is the challenge of getting your blog to stand out and get noticed from the many . Hank offers practical advice on these and other topics . Hank ’ s own blog , Broken Pawn , won the 2011 CJA Best Blog award . I am also looking for someone willing to take on a parallel column devoted to a practicum for state chess association and private chess websites . If you know of someone who might be a good person to author such a column , please let me know . Columns run about 1000 words four times a year — not too onerous , and it gives one another platform to promote one ’ s good work . Similarly , I am placing my articles under the column-heading Redactions . My practicum is directed to the print editors of state chess associations . I would delighted if a state association print editor would like to author such a column , then my own articles can run as an at-large column . �us , ideally , I ’ d like to see �e Chess Journalist publish three practicum colums each issue ( print , web , blog ), in addition to features of chess journalism , history , and scholarship . ( Next issue will publish a feature by the redoubtable Dan Heisman .) I had a terrific response to my last call for volunteers . Yet , there is still room here for you . Write me .
— MNT
“ I always wished my reporting to be objective but to read like a fairytale . The more the time passes , the more nostalgic I grow and more convinced that literature and journalism are conjoined .” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez
AL LAWRENCE CJA INTERIM PRESIDENT
The CJA search committee , led by Daniel Lucas , has secured the services of Al Lawrence as the association ’ s interim president . Al will serve in this capacity until the next formal meeting , this August 2012 at the Vancouver , Washington , U . S . Open . An author , a former USCF executive director , and Chess Life managing editor , Al brings considerable experience at a crucial time . Read his President ’ s Message where he lays out his vision for the future of the CJA .
Above : Al Lawrence Below : Hank Anzis
WORLD CHESS FEDERATION OBJECTS TO WORLD CHESS FEDERATION
An excerpt of a letter received from Yan Alan , WCF Secretary :
We at World Chess Federation must take issue with your comments on page 3 of the Spring / Summer 2011 The Chess Journalist . Specifically the erroneous comment that the English designation World Chess Federation for FIDE is long established .
No , it is not . World Chess Federation prevailed over FIDE in a 17 year fight whereupon the courts after extensive review settled the issue once and for all time . As a party to the Madrid Agreement on worldwide trade names and trademarks , the issue is settled .
There follow directions on how to read the included seven pages of legal documents , articles , and notices . Interlaced are cryptic references to Alekhine ’ s assassination and other surprisingly underreported thunderbolts of chess history . So . The fact that a Las Vegas organization was granted the rights to the name World Chess Federation ( WCF ) a few years ago does not nullify the fact that FIDE has been commonly translated as World Chess Federation for several decades . ( E . g ., Horton ’ s 1959 Dictionary of Chess , p . 66 ; Brace ’ s 1989 Illustrated Dictionary of Chess , p . 308 ; Golombeck ’ s 1976 Chess : A History , p . 196 — just to grab a few books off my shelf . I could produce the earliest use of this translation , but I am presently too busy channeling Morphy – Fischer games .) It is also true that other writers translate FIDE more closely as International Chess Federation or leave it untranslated in French , either option which I personally find preferable to WCF . And lest anyone think your editor is just another FIDE lackey , I remind readers that I was the first to publish — at great risk to my personal reputation — a photograph of a FIDE president ’ s secret meeting with an extraterrestrial alien ( see our last issue , p . 8 ). l
Fall 2011 The Chess Journalist 3