Thursday, August 6, 2015

Chess And Capitalism.


And if you want, I’ll tell you a sad story about chess. A boy  lived in a third world country, he was called John, he grew up in a poor family, the child worked hard and one day, when he went to work, he saw two people playing chess. John liked the game, and he wanted to learn it. He lived from hand to mouth for a week and bought a board and pieces, then, John started to visit the local public library, and reread the only book about chess, that was there, for many times he almost learnt it by heart.

 

It was not surprising that John became a very good player and even beat the experienced old men on the street. Well, one day, John wanted to obtain an official international rating in chess. He sat down, thought and then wept. Why did it happen? Because John's salary was $ 100 per month, a single ticket to the city, where the tournament was, was of $ 25 price, the tourney enter fee was $ 55. There was no national federation of chess in John’s country. So why is chess in decay now?