European Individual championships

He does seem a cad, but that was his chess column, not an obituary.

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I lean towards Robbie's point of view. I don't know about a suit and tie, but I think business casual is appropriate for a serious tournament. My pref. organizer of chess events in the US enforces a dress code.


Blitz you can wear what you like, but classical chess you should dress like you are attending the symphony, church, or a family event. Whatever that might be for you.

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How many working-class blokes (coal miners?) normally wear a suit and a tie?

well its a rather interesting phenomena dear Duchess, and speaking from
experience (my grandfather was a coal miner) although he didn't play chess but the
euphonium in a brass band, it was and I think still is a generality, at least in Scotland
that working class people dress up to go out, whereas those in the higher echelons
tended to dress down. Perhaps i am reflecting a class bias I cannot say, but being
slovenly presented has certainly no appeal and as every dude knows 'every girl
crazy about a sharp dressed man!'

Take for example Gawain Jones, he turns up in a Stetson cowboy hat rimmed with
what looks like a snake skin that more befits a Delta blues-man than a chess player,
it was only a matter of time before he called on his Louisiana mojo to find some
good moves for him, pretentious or what? Man he needs his bum felt to bring him
back to reality.

Yes i am quite sure that ladies appreciate being treated as adults, never the less, the
rules do state that a player should not distract another player, either directly or
indirectly and if it means that low neck lines can be construed as a distraction then
so be it. One not need to be flamboyantly dressed in a sequenced ball gown dear
Dutchess, its not a question of fashion, but of modesty and our little Cinderella
therefore has no need to worry.

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Decollete Opening Gambit, lol, thats funny! creating some luft for an opening advantage 🙂

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Quite so.

And most men should equally be treated like adults, not like schoolboys who can't concentrate because they're sitting next to, shucks, a girl! Ooh, cooties!

Whatever next - Kirsan will decide that loose female hair leads men to unclean thoughts and decrees that all women players shall modestly cover their heads?

Richard

Originally posted by nimzo5
Blitz you can wear what you like, but classical chess you should dress like you are attending the symphony, church, or a family event. Whatever that might be for you.

Problem: not everybody wears the same thing to any of those three. Or four. I see women wearing dresses at classical concerts that they wouldn't wear in church. What I myself wear to a family event depends on whether it's a marriage or our yearly all-cousins'-get-together. But a tie? I wear that to funerals.

Besides, chess is a competitive event. Demanding that contestants wear attire which isn't (within reason) comfortable to them is just a bad idea. Wimbledon can demand whites, because that's just the colour. It can't demand hotpants, even if some players would be fine with that - because many others would not. Chess should be the same: you can demand the same kind of decency you would expect on the streets (no bikinis), not the kind you can expect at an official function.

Richard

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Is it sooo much to ask than one dress modestly? Perhaps Mr. Cowely was distracted,
perhaps his opponent simply played better chess.

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Who 'usually', know how to dress appropriately being the operative word, the FIDE
ruling is obviously designed to take into consideration any anomalies and makes
perfect sense, the last thing a dude wants or needs when he's trying to create is to be
distracted. To state that it would not be a distraction if excessive cleavage was shown
is to underestimate and diminish the attraction and its not excessively draconian to ask
women to dress with modesty, is it.