*cue palm-muted wah-wah guitar and reverb*

December 21, 2017 10:49 AM

"Tantric" and "sexy" are not generally the first words that spring to mind when thinking about chess, but the logo for the 2018 World Chess Championship has provoked an unusual reaction.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (33 comments total)

I won't lie. That's kinda hot. Smart people are sexy.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 10:56 AM on December 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 10:59 AM on December 21, 2017 [81 favorites]

Well played, sir. Well played indeed.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 11:03 AM on December 21, 2017

check mate, indeed
posted by chavenet at 11:09 AM on December 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

They stole a page from my Print Shop version of the Kama Sutra.
posted by bondcliff at 11:09 AM on December 21, 2017 [8 favorites]

I'm pretty sure most people are upset because that's not a valid board position.
posted by straight at 11:12 AM on December 21, 2017 [11 favorites]

Oh this made my day, thanks. :-) It makes you wonder about the logo ideas that didn’t make the cut!
posted by machinecraig at 11:19 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think I have to agree with Susan Polgar, the first woman to earn the grandmaster title:

"More than 50% of the world chess playing population are kids. They are also the biggest purchasing block by a HUGE margin, many times more than adults. Do you think that logo can be marketable in schools?"

I don't look at this as some THINK OF THE CHILDREN thing and I don't read her tweet as either. Kids can and will see things that are much more prurient. But the marketing aspect is a problem, if schools don't like it, and my guess is they won't.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:20 AM on December 21, 2017 [9 favorites]

Which one is supposed to be Steve McQueen, and which one Faye Dunaway?
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:21 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Have you heard? Chess fucks. And chess wants you all to know that it fucks, so it has graciously made it very clear in the logo for the upcoming 2018 World Chess Championship.

also in this article: ranking which chess pieces would probably have the most sex
posted by burgerrr at 11:24 AM on December 21, 2017 [9 favorites]

It would have been perfectly fine without the legs! And then it would make a great 1970s book cover.
posted by timdiggerm at 11:42 AM on December 21, 2017 [16 favorites]

Yep, thanks for putting "One Night in Bangkok" in my head for the rest of the day.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:54 AM on December 21, 2017 [12 favorites]

It has to be the queen- she can make moves in any direction and then go as far as she wants
posted by InfidelZombie at 12:02 PM on December 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

*cue palm-muted wah-wah guitar and reverb*

Now I know the proper way to write out that sound!
posted by Chrysostom at 12:07 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

It makes you wonder about the logo ideas that didn’t make the cut!

Oh, I think this is on purpose. It's the latest try, from the true believers in the dream of bringing chess to mass popularity.
posted by thelonius at 12:08 PM on December 21, 2017

Now I know the proper way to write out that sound!

We would also accept 'wakka-wakka-wakka-wa-wakka-wa-wakka'
posted by thelonius at 12:09 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

The "Brand New" branding blog made a long post on this, including other parts of the WCC branding overhaul. Better overview but still a hoot.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:37 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

From oneswellfoop's link: "But, hey, adding a little bit of a rock-star-snorting-cocaine-off-a-naked-body attitude to the world of chess is not the worst or weirdest thing that has happened in 2017, so why the hell not?"
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

> I'm pretty sure most people are upset because that's not a valid board position.

I can't believe that the World Chess Championship went with a 6x6 board for their logo. Seriously?

(And one of them is wearing a single sock because - I don't know - it's actually for the World Strip-Chess Championships?)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:36 PM on December 21, 2017 [3 favorites]

maybe the other 28 squares are hidden and it’s the start of an ARG
posted by vogon_poet at 1:44 PM on December 21, 2017

The Superstar and the Sex Symbol (TIME article from Nov. 6, 2013, in advance of the Carlsen-Anand championship, in which Carlsen would end up taking the crown):

When Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen lean over the chessboard at Chennai’s Hyatt Regency on Nov. 9 for Game 1 of the World Chess Championship, it will mark the coming together of the sport’s first superstar with its first sex symbol....The Norwegian with the smoldering good looks and six-pack abs has been featured in advertising campaigns as a clotheshorse alongside the likes of Liv Tyler, and turned down a small role in the most recent Star Trek movie.

Surely this is just the natural progression following from Carlsen's reign as champion.

For those actually interested in the chess: Carlsen's challenger will be determined in the Candidates Tournament, a double round robin among eight players, held March 10-28 in Berlin, and the championship is a 12-game match (with possible additional games in case of a 6-6 tie) November 9-28 in London.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:55 PM on December 21, 2017

At first I thought, "It can't be any worse than Lisa Simpson giving a blowjob." But I was wrong.

And prurience aside, how the hell are you supposed to print those patterns at any size smaller than, like, 12" across? Or reproduce the logo as a JPEG? Or do, like, anything with it at all without your eyes crossing?
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:01 PM on December 21, 2017 [9 favorites]

Suggestiveness aside, it bothers me because I keep expecting some secret image to emerge that I will then be unable to un-see, like the duck/rabbit image. It's like all the headache-inducingness of an optical illusion but without the payoff of an actual optical illusion.
posted by subocoyne at 3:33 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

"pawnographic"
posted by sammyo at 3:49 PM on December 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

I emailed the CEO to inform them that their logo was hot. They replied, letting me know that I was one of the very few to let them know that they liked the logo, and that they agreed that it was hot.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:27 PM on December 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

Kern that year for goodness sake.
posted by unliteral at 6:26 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

There is no way this could have been a mistake. People don't put their legs like that in any other situation.
posted by bleep at 7:24 PM on December 21, 2017

Was it drawn by a neural network, and are they pandering to chess playing machines? Worse yet are the neural networks already making fun of human tendancies? It is way out of whack.
posted by Oyéah at 8:01 PM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Wow, deadspin has some really awesome chess coverage.
posted by Coventry at 8:10 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Anne Quito, Quartz: THE INTERNET SPORT OF FINDING SEXUAL ANATOMY IN EVERY LOGO IS RUINING GRAPHIC DESIGN
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:34 AM on December 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Brilliant. They need to get their crotches a little closer together.
posted by Coventry at 9:51 AM on December 22, 2017

Faint of Butt: how the hell are you supposed to print those patterns at any size smaller than, like, 12" across? Or reproduce the logo as a JPEG? Or do, like, anything with it at all without your eyes crossing?

There's a different version that's more suitable for those things here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:06 AM on December 23, 2017

Wow, deadspin has some really awesome chess coverage.

LOL, "maybe" a lunatic.

this was fun
posted by thelonius at 4:24 AM on December 23, 2017