Why does X make us jump through hoops for resolution of an issue involving a Premium subscription when we are paying clients? Are they nudging us towards a more expensive X Subscription? Ticket Number: T-I26049 Issue ID: PRO-110119 @Subscriptions @Support @CMN_XAI_Support

Speaking of websites, here's a brand spanking new one for my personal brand, where I will begin publishing all new chess stories very soon: misterpvg.xyz/bio (For now, it contains version 1 of my bio and all of my social links on one page.)

Is anyone actually trying to replace FIDE's rating lists? The more rating systems there are, the better for chess visibility, overall. Also, for there to be one true rating to rule them all, it would have to take into consideration online play too. How would that work?

If you rely on @BruvschessMedia for factual reporting of events in the chess world, please note that the 'praising its multilingual support and federation directory' bit is a complete fabrication. Check my X feed to verify what I actually wrote.

In the 15 years since I became aware of the African Chess Confederation (ACC), I haven't seen their website this well-designed and packed full of information! Kudos to whomever has built—and continues to update—it. May accuracy improve with time. Link: africachessconfederation.org…

Interesting documentary by King Takes King on whether @chesscom is/was a monopoly, with some juicy gossip about @TakeTakeTakeApp taking them on and the consequences thereof: youtu.be/B2ppVg5BqEA

If anyone knows when and on which platform 'Grandmasters' will be streamed, please share relevant info in the comments. Thanks. 🙏🏽

Love the cover art! Publishers: More chess books with cool/funky/edgy designs like this, please?

Which city will host Africa's first official #ChessOlympiad? Will it be in the 2030s or will we have to wait longer? @AfricaChess_Off

The African Chess Confederation is now 'Africa Chess Confederation' and has a new X account at @AfricaChess_Off and website at africachessconfederation.org. The previous X accounts of the ACC were: - @AfricaChessConf (President: Mr. Ncube) - @AfricanChessCon (President: Ms. Lopang)

This article on the @ChessTopics website was written two months before the FIDE presidential election and offers the casual reader some insight into why @WadimRosenstein didn't prevail over @TurlovforChess in Samarkand. I learnt three things from it that I hadn't known earlier: a. 'Before 2022, he had virtually no visible public profile within international chess. His emergence coincided with the creation of WR Chess and his first widely noticed appearances alongside Sergey Karjakin...' b. That he is the president of the European Federation of Mixed Martial Arts (how would he manage to run FIDE simultaneously?) and c. That he backed the losing ticket in the @ECUonline election. Once I have enough information about all three candidates, I might attempt to analyse their campaigns and distil my learnings into an X article for your benefit.

A strong move! (If they don't reject applications from people who have publicly criticised them but have a lot to offer, both @FIDE_chess and @TurlovforChess will have my respect. They should also consider approaching potential commission/committee members directly.) Before they even accept any new applications, though, FIDE really needs to first constitute a 'Commission and Committee Review Board' to restructure, streamline, and debloat existing commissions and committees and to establish new ones in a more logical fashion. Examples: a. Absorb FPL into ARB. b. Integrate EDU within TRG. c. QC, RC, and VER should really be a part of TEC. d. EVE, PDC, and GSC should really be one commission along with the Chess in Multi-sport Games Committee. e. CON and HC can also be combined into one. f. ATH and MED too. Mr. Turlov needs his own @JMilei moment (from the famous video clip of him ripping ministry labels off a white board followed by an emphatic, 'Afuera!' after each – you can watch it here: youtu.be/kUYPNsTpO4Y). All in all, I welcome such moves as they will help bring back the trust and transparency that have been missing for decades.

Whether as a player, commentator, or spectator, if you've ever been bored by draws, this 12-minute video might get you to appreciate one of the world's nuttiest and most influential GMs: Bobby Fischer Warned Us About Modern Chess, But Nobody Listened youtu.be/owYsul7PvPE?si=Fd2T…

#ChessPolitics If you were a federation delegate, zonal president, or a continental president, how would you leverage your vote or influence for the benefit of your federation/zone/continent from a presidential candidate? A win-win election gift I would choose would be verified/premium social media subscriptions for four years for all officials and/or federations under my influence so that any reposts of the candidate's message from these accounts would carry a lot more weight than from a regular account. Just imagine the reach of a single post if it was reposted by 49 blue check-marked official accounts of all current member federations from Africa! Plus, we would get to broadcast the goings-on in our own federation/zone/continent to a wider audience. This could easily lead to more press coverage in chess-specific and general news publications. At present, many federations don't even have social media accounts, let alone official verified ones. Heck, even the African Chess Confederation's existing X accounts (@AfricanChessCon / @AfricaChessConf) have gone silent. I want to commend @256chessfed and @ECUonline as a small federation and a major continental body respectively that have embraced the power of premium X accounts for consistent public relations. In the same vein, @JapanChessFed has a website that is really useful for existing and potential chess players. Maybe @TurlovforChess's recently announced media fund will go a long way in getting more federations online and keeping their social media accounts active, irrespective of who is in power. Sadly, childish pettiness still exists between outgoing and incoming regimes at federation and continental levels, often preventing smooth handovers of that organisation's physical and digital assets. [Once my new website and blog are set up, I will be doing deep-dives into branding, marketing, and PR in the chess world.]

Question for those of you who have travelled a lot as chess players/arbiters/journalists/FIDE VIPs: Which city/federation will be best-placed to host Africa's first official olympiad within the next decade (2032/2034/2036)? My three options are: i. Cape Town/Johannesburg, South Africa ii. Cairo, Egypt iii. Marrakech/Casablanca, Morocco

A very basic geographical and political history of the #ChessOlympiad: Unofficial: a. 1924 / Paris, France b. 1926 / Budapest, Hungary c. 1936 / Munich, Nazi Germany d. 1976 / Tripoli, Libya (Against Chess Olympiad) e. 2020 / (Online) f. 2021 / China (Online) Official: 1. 1927 / London, United Kingdom 2. 1928 / The Hague, Netherlands 3. 1930 / Hamburg, Weimar Republic 4. 1931 / Prague, Czechoslovakia 5. 1933 / Folkestone, United Kingdom 6. 1935 / Warsaw, Poland 7. 1937 / Stockholm, Sweden 8. 1939 / Buenos Aires, Argentina 9. 1950 / Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia 10. 1952 / Helsinki, Finland 11. 1954 / Amsterdam, Netherlands 12. 1956 / Moscow, Soviet Union 13. 1958 / Munich, West Germany 14. 1960 / Leipzig, East Germany 15. 1962 / Varna, Bulgaria 16. 1964 / Tel Aviv, Israel 17. 1966 / Havana, Cuba 18. 1968 / Lugano, Switzerland 19. 1970 / Siegen, West Germany 20. 1972 / Skopje, Yugoslavia 21. 1974 / Nice, France 22. 1976 / Haifa, Israel 23. 1978 / Buenos Aires, Argentina 24. 1980 / Valletta, Malta 25. 1982 / Lucerne, Switzerland 26. 1984 / Thessaloniki, Greece 27. 1986 / Dubai, UAE 28. 1988 / Thessaloniki, Greece 29. 1990 / Novi Sad, Yugoslavia 30. 1992 / Manila, Philippines 31. 1994 / Moscow, Russia 32. 1996 / Yerevan, Armenia 33. 1998 / Elista, Russia 34. 2000 / Istanbul, Turkey 35. 2002 / Bled, Slovenia 36. 2004 / Calvia, Spain 37. 2006 / Turin, Italy 38. 2008 / Dresden, Germany 39. 2010 / Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 40. 2012 / Istanbul, Turkey 41. 2014 / Tromso, Norway 42. 2016 / Baku, Azerbaijan 43. 2018 / Batumi, Georgia 44. 2022 / Chennai, India 45. 2024 / Budapest, Hungary 46. 2026 / Samarkand, Uzbekistan 47. 2028 / Abu Dhabi, UAE 48. 2030 / TBD (Qatar or Georgia)