Despite the phallic shape of most chess pieces, Laura Barnes an official with the 2011 Darwin Strategic British Chess Championships didn’t want CJ De Mooi, the current president of the English Chess Federation, handing out prizes during the championship awards ceremony because he was wearing a shirt that said, “Some People Are Gay, Get Over It.”
De Mooi says he had worn the shirt in the championship playing hall the previous day with no problem and added that Ms. Barnes said they’d rather he not present the prizes at all than wear the shirt while doing so. De Mooi didn’t present and later offered his resignation from the English Chess Federation—check and mate.
Ms. Barnes said she was “worried that children who had come for chess may be exploited in photo opportunities for a different issue/charity and that De Mooi’s T-shirt wasn’t “smart-casual” as dictated by the event’s dress code.
Maybe De Mooi should have a “straights versus gays” chess tournament to finally see who is king… er, we mean, queen of the sexual chess world. Until then though… Chess is NOT gay. Get over it.
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Wait a minute… does anyone know whether Deep Blue was gay? Blue was definitely robosexual.
Image via Mike Ocasio
jason
Laura Barnes comes across as a silly goose.
Robert in NYC
And that t-shirt was designed by a 14 year old kid and aimed at bullying prevention in schools.
Lara Barnes
@jason:
http://ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3343&sid=981217459056e848fc9a31dd0b2f4546&start=465
I advise you to read the apology from CJ de Mooi and retraction of accusations against me at the above.
TMikel
It’s not TOTALLY gay, just totally boring!
Greybat
Well, I suppose we’ll let it slide by this time, Ms. Barnes. But the eyes of the “balderdash” players are watching you!