I was surprised to hear of the sponsorship deal between FIDE and Establishment Labs. If this is the only sponsor FIDE can find, after the success of The Queen’s Gambit and the increase in the number of women playing chess online, they need to seriously improve their commercial game.
While the money will doubtless be welcome to female professional players, a deal with a company whose main focus is breast enlargement sends all the wrong messages and potentially exposes the promotion of women’s chess to ridicule and could inhibit other potential sponsors.
Chris Fegan, ECF Director of Women’s Chess
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I am glad to see Chris Fegan’s post. Earlier today I had written to Mike Truran, the CEO of the ECF, as follows:
Dear Mr Truran,
I am writing to urge the ECF to oppose the move by FIDE to accept sponsorship for women’s chess from Motiva, a breast enlargement firm.
This is an outrageously insensitive and inappropriate initiative.
Chess is a game of the intellect, and to associate it with a firm that trades on women’s insecurities and the male gaze is an insult to the game and to its women players.
Remember that the rules governing chess competitions prohibit women from wearing revealing clothing, and yet Motiva’s whole business depends on focussing attention on the size of women’s breasts.
Better to do without the money than to accept money from such a sponsor.
I am an ordinary chess player and the organiser of the Reform Club Chess Circle.
Yours sincerely,
Teddy Bourne