Blitz Brothers
On the less serious side of chess, Vladislav Tkachiev is one half of a duo, known as the "Blitz Brothers", responsible for setting up the World Chess Beauty Contest. With the intention of promoting chess worldwide and attracting the interest of media and sponsors, Vladislav and his brother Evgeny created a website that hosted the competition. Although the site is currently offline, viewers were able to register to see the full size images and vote for their favourites.
Whilst the contest was controversial in some quarters and considered to be degrading by some female chess players, the not-too-revealing photographs were mostly sent in by the participants themselves. A judging panel was made up of a wider selection of chess grandmasters, including Nigel Short, who along with some women players like Jennifer Shahade, supported the idea behind the venture. Amongst the more noted chess players featured in the contest were Natalija Pogonina, Maria Manakova, Almira Skripchenko and Elisabeth Pähtz.
Read more about this topic: Vladislav Tkachiev
Famous quotes containing the words blitz and/or brothers:
“Timothy Winters comes to school
With eyes as wide as a football-pool,
Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters:
A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.”
—Charles Causley (b. 1917)
“Come, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below!
Now my brothers call from the bay,
Now the great winds shoreward blow,
Now the salt tides seaward flow;
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)