Thursday, January 4, 2024

Dead Poets Society

Five-time World Chess Champion and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen politely declined FIDE’s invitation for the Candidates Tournament 2024, by quoting in his reply none other than Groucho Marx, who famously resigned by telegram from the Friars Club of Beverly Hills with the following words: “PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”. O tempora! O mores! The king of chess entrusted his words to a social media such as Twitter/X, but the substance does not differ: “Thanks for the invite, I just don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member right now”, Carlsen replied.
It is just the case to emphasize that there is perfect gender equality in FIDE, as both Carlsen and 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) returned their titles to the organisation, in spite of they being men’s and women’s No. 1 world rankings.

Jean Cocteau, Self-Portrait in a letter to Paul Valéry, 1924. Courtesy of WikiArt.

2 comments:

Ulises said...

No one seems to have understood the reference.

Lorenzo said...

Thus, non-understanding unanimously prevails.