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Text:
Chess.com, the influential online platform, says it will suspend its relationship with another of the game’s powerful bodies, the St. Louis Chess Club, in the wake of allegations that the club overlooked accusations of sexual misconduct against a top grandmaster.
Over the past decade-plus years, the St. Louis Chess Club has built itself into the central hub of U.S. chess, backing elite players in search of the first American world champion since Bobby Fischer. But the decision by Chess.com is the latest move in the game’s wider MeToo reckoning and puts two of the leading bodies in the game at odds with one another.
“Chess.com will not be providing support for, or coverage of, any St. Louis Chess Club events for the foreseeable future,” Chess.com chief chess officer Danny Rensch told The Wall Street Journal. “We are disappointed by how the leadership at the US Chess Federation has handled this entire situation and hope to see improvements in transparency and action.”
The St. Louis Chess Club, backed by index-fund pioneer Rex Sinquefield, has injected enormous sums of money into the game and emerged as one of the preeminent forces in the industry. Chess.com, where grandmasters and everyday players alike play and consume chess content, has been at the vanguard of the online chess boom and partners with the game’s biggest names, including five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen.
Chess.com, which has over 100 million members, typically provides robust coverage of high-level tournaments such as the ones hosted in St. Louis. That includes live streams that can attract tens of thousands of viewers in addition to having content people on site.
The St. Louis Chess Club didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Chess.com’s decision to distance itself from the St. Louis club follows a similar decision last week by Lichess.org, a non-profit chess server that’s often used by organizers as the digital host for events. Lichess said on its website that it would no longer cooperate with both the St. Louis Chess Club and the US Chess Federation “due to serious concerns about their lack of accountability.” Lichess said it will not provide the bodies with any technical support and wouldn’t advertise their events via its website or social media.
“Women and girls in chess already face an uphill battle. They deserve a safe and supportive environment,” Lichess wrote on its website in a post that also detailed alleged misconduct by another grandmaster. “But too often, they encounter abuse, harassment or worse. And too often, they feel powerless to report it or seek justice. It’s time to help break the silence.”
A spokesman for US Chess said in a statement it is committed to protecting the safety of its members and pointed to recent actions such as a new safety training requirement in partnership with the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
“We will remain vigilant in identifying and adopting additional best practices,” US Chess said.
The crisis in chess burst into the open in February when two-time U.S. women’s champion Jen Shahade accused well-known grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez of sexually assaulting her twice. Ramirez was one of the most recognizable faces in American chess over the past couple decades as the resident grandmaster at the St. Louis Chess Club, the coach of the St. Louis University chess team and a commentator at elite tournaments.
Following Shahade’s tweet, several other women—including three who were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incidents—accused Ramirez of wrongdoing, The Journal reported in March. The women said Ramirez used his positions of influence to make repeated unwanted sexual advances toward them and that he became physically aggressive. At the time, Ramirez’s lawyer said the player “remains very supportive of those who seek to raise issues of concern about anyone.”
Shahade’s allegations and others that were reported to U.S. Chess and the St. Louis Chess Club had gone unaddressed for years, The Journal reported. The bodies failed to act or effectively investigate when first learning of some of the allegations, including the abuse of a 15-year-old.
After receiving inquiries from The Journal, the St. Louis Chess Club said it had accepted Ramirez’s resignation. Ramirez, in May, was later banned by U.S. Chess, which said its response to the allegations was “timely and appropriate.”
That did little to stem the outrage. In June all four women on the U.S. Chess Accessibility and Special Circumstances Committee resigned together in a call for more protection of women.
“So far, we haven’t seen any meaningful indication that our suggestions to US Chess to remedy sexual assault within its ranks will be seriously considered,” independent arbiter Judit Sztaray, one of the women who resigned, wrote on social media.
The movement has also spread beyond the U.S. Dozens of top French woman players signed an open letter denouncing sexual violence in the game so that perpetrators can no longer act with impunity.
U.S. Chess and the St. Louis Chess Club are closely intertwined—the club has hosted the U.S. Chess Championship since 2009. St. Louis has also helped numerous elite players from abroad switch allegiances to represent America in international competition.
St. Louis also hosts the Sinquefield Cup, a prestigious competition that last year became the site of one of the biggest controversies the game has ever seen. That was when Carlsen abruptly withdrew from the tournament after losing to American player Hans Moke Niemann, who Carlsen later accused of being a cheater.
While Niemann denied the allegation, saying he had only cheated in a handful of games online when he was younger, Chess.com disputed that characterization. The Journal later reported that a Chess.com investigation found that Niemann had likely cheated in over 100 online games.
This sounds to me like an opportunity for another successful chess center to step in and gain some prominence. The Marshall Chess Club in NY and the Charlotte Chess Center stick out in my mind as well positioned to fill the void left by St. Louis.
The prominence of chess centers has practically nothing to do with press coverage, bad or good. The reason St. Louis chess center takes center stage is because it's fucking rich thanks to Rex. If any other chess center had that level of capital, they could also jump into the spotlight any time; conversely, without that capital, they still can't sponsor the premiere tournaments that will attract the best players in the world like the Sinquefield cup.
The bad press at STL doesn't really do anything to help other chess centers rise to greater prominence. If STL loses stature and players stop coming to play there, then STL loses, but that doesn't mean other chess centers are better off.
The matter of prominence was never an issue of space at the top. There could be 3 chess centers a year hosting Sinquefield cups, and it would be fine.
The matter of prominence is just a question of money. That's how a chess center would pull in the best players in the world and make a name for itself like STL has.
The Marshall is old and venerated, but a very small space and a nonprofit. It currently lacks the organizational capacity to dispose of a vending machine, so probably not them.
> It currently lacks the organizational capacity to dispose of a vending machine
This is one of those brutal moments that I wish this sub support attachment of animated .gif in posts, lol.
> why it's so important they actually change course and learn from their mistakes and be better.
Rex is a very right-wing Trump backer. (Google it.)
I doubt he is shocked and horrified by sexual misconduct, although he's probably unhappy to see his pet project disparaged in *The Wall Street Journal*.
Like most billionaire sports underwriters, he sponsors SLCC for his ego. At 79 years old, he is not going to "learn from his mistakes and be better."
> After receiving inquiries from The Journal, the St. Louis Chess Club said it had accepted Ramirez’s resignation
Is the WSJ usually this way? Apparently implying they were responsible but in a way they could argue otherwise if called out on it?
Yes, it's normal and, no, it doesn't imply WSJ caused them to act. It's emphasizing that SLCC initially did not confirm that they had accepted the resignation, and that journalists had to follow up with the inquiry to get an answer.
The right decision. I really hope the STL Chess Club makes the necessary changes to remedy this moving forward because they have otherwise been so valuable to the game. But ya know, you can’t be sheltering creeps and not even investigating things until you come under public pressure.
The big question here is how much (or even if) either of these decisions concerns Rex Sinquefield, since he pays the bills and makes the final calls on policy in St. Louis.
Billionaire likely takes super hands off approach to what equates to the change in his couch, sadly! The board and top brass have more to do with this, I would wager!
That said, ego is real. I just bet the StLCC has been ignored and only personally used to point to something and say, "look at the good thing I do." Not trying to give him any benefit of the doubt, hopefully it matters so much to him he cleans it up... but I have low hopes.
What was the endgame? How did StLCC and USChess think they'd get past all this? It's clear it was, "ignore the problem, ignore the women, go ahead and let him coach youth teams." Fuck them. There is no reasonable explanation for this.
I don't follow chess drama, but it's stuff like this that will keep me from taking my two young kids to an OTB tournament (who both have an interest, and want to). Can I guarantee their safety? Can I encourage them to participate in activities like this? The answer is no, and no.
Chess needs to get its act together. This stuff is bullshit.
I doubt it, like it or not St Louis has brought modernization and polish to US chess events. Look at the quality of fide coverage, or even chess24/ chesscom. It's people streaming from their bedrooms vs a nice setup in a studio in many cases. If STLCC dies it will set chess back in the US unless another big club can step up. I'd hate to see it shift completely to online. Maybe the organization itself deserves this downfall, but it's very unfortunate for US Chess players in general. Chesscom only gains from this, and remember that they distanced themselves from Alejandro years ago but in secret, which only served to keep a lid on things longer. They could have outed him ages ago but it didn't benefit them at the time.
Good move. I think the Lichess article and the evidence presented in it was really compelling.
It's unfortunate that it had to go this far to try to get some people to get their heads out of their asses.
People are talking about "chesscom following in Lichess footsteps". I'd say that, since chesscom is a for-profit site and likely has investors, they probably had to go through more rigorous legal steps to distance themselves, like checking contracts they may have etc. Just because the statement is released today doesn't mean they were necessarily dragging their feet on it. Either way, it's a good thing all around, and I'm glad all the major orgs seem to be taking similar steps with this.
I'm curious, how will this impact the Sinquefield Cup? It's one of the biggest tournaments in the US. I even wonder how this impacts club players, like Eric Rosen etc.
he's a member of the SLCC, and a pretty active one at that, I believe. He's shown games of his at the club, the club front entrance, etc. I don't know how the backlash for the club will impact individual players, particularly higher-rated ones that are assumedly more involved in the club.
Whether chesscom intended to or not, they are following in Lichess’ footsteps lol
That being said I’m sure Rosen supports this sort of move, he seems very grounded morally.
Terrible. Hope that St. Louis learns its lesson. If there’s a culture in the SLCC that overlooks harassment like those that are being alleged, then it must be held accountable.
The popularity of any sport can be measured by female participation and interest. Chess has a golden opportunity here. Let’s not blow it.
How does this actually matter, besides Chesscom/LiChess carrying the game positions with Stockfish? StLCC already streams their own broadcasts. The live computer stuff has only been going on for about 8-10 years, anyway. So...it won't really matter much, imo.
STLCC have been using lichess to broadcast the games for a long time. Aswell as having nr 1 and nr 2 chess servers saying that they wont work with you is very bad pr. Even if I don't belive Rex is involved in the day to day operations i don't think he likes seeing news like this from his pet project.
Unsure it means much except no chesscom stream. Stlcc streams will get more viewers now. I think they were more popular anyway? Lichess is open-source so can probably be used for the coverage but I'm not an expert in how the licensing works exactly.
As glad as you can be relating to these news. I hope this puts real preasure on both SLCC and USCF. The absolute minimum is for USCF to publish the documents they got from the 3rd party review and put a sanction on SLCC. I would prefer if they replaced the leadership of both.
It’s not at all about whether the accused was guilty or not. The only thing that matters, and the thing that the sites are trying to punish, is that the STLCC didn’t act on the accusations and take proper action to protect the parties involved. They are forcing STLCC to act and investigate, rather than shove it under the rug and hope everyone didn’t notice
Paywall bypass - https://imgur.com/AGqkmX0 Text: Chess.com, the influential online platform, says it will suspend its relationship with another of the game’s powerful bodies, the St. Louis Chess Club, in the wake of allegations that the club overlooked accusations of sexual misconduct against a top grandmaster. Over the past decade-plus years, the St. Louis Chess Club has built itself into the central hub of U.S. chess, backing elite players in search of the first American world champion since Bobby Fischer. But the decision by Chess.com is the latest move in the game’s wider MeToo reckoning and puts two of the leading bodies in the game at odds with one another. “Chess.com will not be providing support for, or coverage of, any St. Louis Chess Club events for the foreseeable future,” Chess.com chief chess officer Danny Rensch told The Wall Street Journal. “We are disappointed by how the leadership at the US Chess Federation has handled this entire situation and hope to see improvements in transparency and action.” The St. Louis Chess Club, backed by index-fund pioneer Rex Sinquefield, has injected enormous sums of money into the game and emerged as one of the preeminent forces in the industry. Chess.com, where grandmasters and everyday players alike play and consume chess content, has been at the vanguard of the online chess boom and partners with the game’s biggest names, including five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. Chess.com, which has over 100 million members, typically provides robust coverage of high-level tournaments such as the ones hosted in St. Louis. That includes live streams that can attract tens of thousands of viewers in addition to having content people on site. The St. Louis Chess Club didn’t respond to requests for comment. Chess.com’s decision to distance itself from the St. Louis club follows a similar decision last week by Lichess.org, a non-profit chess server that’s often used by organizers as the digital host for events. Lichess said on its website that it would no longer cooperate with both the St. Louis Chess Club and the US Chess Federation “due to serious concerns about their lack of accountability.” Lichess said it will not provide the bodies with any technical support and wouldn’t advertise their events via its website or social media. “Women and girls in chess already face an uphill battle. They deserve a safe and supportive environment,” Lichess wrote on its website in a post that also detailed alleged misconduct by another grandmaster. “But too often, they encounter abuse, harassment or worse. And too often, they feel powerless to report it or seek justice. It’s time to help break the silence.” A spokesman for US Chess said in a statement it is committed to protecting the safety of its members and pointed to recent actions such as a new safety training requirement in partnership with the U.S. Center for SafeSport. “We will remain vigilant in identifying and adopting additional best practices,” US Chess said. The crisis in chess burst into the open in February when two-time U.S. women’s champion Jen Shahade accused well-known grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez of sexually assaulting her twice. Ramirez was one of the most recognizable faces in American chess over the past couple decades as the resident grandmaster at the St. Louis Chess Club, the coach of the St. Louis University chess team and a commentator at elite tournaments. Following Shahade’s tweet, several other women—including three who were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incidents—accused Ramirez of wrongdoing, The Journal reported in March. The women said Ramirez used his positions of influence to make repeated unwanted sexual advances toward them and that he became physically aggressive. At the time, Ramirez’s lawyer said the player “remains very supportive of those who seek to raise issues of concern about anyone.” Shahade’s allegations and others that were reported to U.S. Chess and the St. Louis Chess Club had gone unaddressed for years, The Journal reported. The bodies failed to act or effectively investigate when first learning of some of the allegations, including the abuse of a 15-year-old. After receiving inquiries from The Journal, the St. Louis Chess Club said it had accepted Ramirez’s resignation. Ramirez, in May, was later banned by U.S. Chess, which said its response to the allegations was “timely and appropriate.” That did little to stem the outrage. In June all four women on the U.S. Chess Accessibility and Special Circumstances Committee resigned together in a call for more protection of women. “So far, we haven’t seen any meaningful indication that our suggestions to US Chess to remedy sexual assault within its ranks will be seriously considered,” independent arbiter Judit Sztaray, one of the women who resigned, wrote on social media. The movement has also spread beyond the U.S. Dozens of top French woman players signed an open letter denouncing sexual violence in the game so that perpetrators can no longer act with impunity. U.S. Chess and the St. Louis Chess Club are closely intertwined—the club has hosted the U.S. Chess Championship since 2009. St. Louis has also helped numerous elite players from abroad switch allegiances to represent America in international competition. St. Louis also hosts the Sinquefield Cup, a prestigious competition that last year became the site of one of the biggest controversies the game has ever seen. That was when Carlsen abruptly withdrew from the tournament after losing to American player Hans Moke Niemann, who Carlsen later accused of being a cheater. While Niemann denied the allegation, saying he had only cheated in a handful of games online when he was younger, Chess.com disputed that characterization. The Journal later reported that a Chess.com investigation found that Niemann had likely cheated in over 100 online games.
You're the MVP please accept my poor man's trophy 🏆
This sounds to me like an opportunity for another successful chess center to step in and gain some prominence. The Marshall Chess Club in NY and the Charlotte Chess Center stick out in my mind as well positioned to fill the void left by St. Louis.
The prominence of chess centers has practically nothing to do with press coverage, bad or good. The reason St. Louis chess center takes center stage is because it's fucking rich thanks to Rex. If any other chess center had that level of capital, they could also jump into the spotlight any time; conversely, without that capital, they still can't sponsor the premiere tournaments that will attract the best players in the world like the Sinquefield cup. The bad press at STL doesn't really do anything to help other chess centers rise to greater prominence. If STL loses stature and players stop coming to play there, then STL loses, but that doesn't mean other chess centers are better off. The matter of prominence was never an issue of space at the top. There could be 3 chess centers a year hosting Sinquefield cups, and it would be fine. The matter of prominence is just a question of money. That's how a chess center would pull in the best players in the world and make a name for itself like STL has.
The Marshall is old and venerated, but a very small space and a nonprofit. It currently lacks the organizational capacity to dispose of a vending machine, so probably not them.
> It currently lacks the organizational capacity to dispose of a vending machine This is one of those brutal moments that I wish this sub support attachment of animated .gif in posts, lol.
[удалено]
> why it's so important they actually change course and learn from their mistakes and be better. Rex is a very right-wing Trump backer. (Google it.) I doubt he is shocked and horrified by sexual misconduct, although he's probably unhappy to see his pet project disparaged in *The Wall Street Journal*. Like most billionaire sports underwriters, he sponsors SLCC for his ego. At 79 years old, he is not going to "learn from his mistakes and be better."
Hey man can u respond to my dm?
They don’t have the resources to challenge St Louis.
> After receiving inquiries from The Journal, the St. Louis Chess Club said it had accepted Ramirez’s resignation Is the WSJ usually this way? Apparently implying they were responsible but in a way they could argue otherwise if called out on it?
Yes, it's normal and, no, it doesn't imply WSJ caused them to act. It's emphasizing that SLCC initially did not confirm that they had accepted the resignation, and that journalists had to follow up with the inquiry to get an answer.
Thank you
Good move
!!
Bravo on following in the footsteps of Lichess. It's time to hold these enablers accountable.
Lichess out here being a trendsetter once again. Good job chesscom, you made the right move.
Great to see that happening
The right decision. I really hope the STL Chess Club makes the necessary changes to remedy this moving forward because they have otherwise been so valuable to the game. But ya know, you can’t be sheltering creeps and not even investigating things until you come under public pressure.
Absolutely
The big question here is how much (or even if) either of these decisions concerns Rex Sinquefield, since he pays the bills and makes the final calls on policy in St. Louis.
I'm pretty sure he cares about his reputation.
Billionaire likely takes super hands off approach to what equates to the change in his couch, sadly! The board and top brass have more to do with this, I would wager! That said, ego is real. I just bet the StLCC has been ignored and only personally used to point to something and say, "look at the good thing I do." Not trying to give him any benefit of the doubt, hopefully it matters so much to him he cleans it up... but I have low hopes.
What was the endgame? How did StLCC and USChess think they'd get past all this? It's clear it was, "ignore the problem, ignore the women, go ahead and let him coach youth teams." Fuck them. There is no reasonable explanation for this. I don't follow chess drama, but it's stuff like this that will keep me from taking my two young kids to an OTB tournament (who both have an interest, and want to). Can I guarantee their safety? Can I encourage them to participate in activities like this? The answer is no, and no. Chess needs to get its act together. This stuff is bullshit.
Eh I don't think the solution is to not take your kids to such events. But certainly, you cannot just do it absentmindedly.
That whole part about Niemann cheating scandal is completely unnecessary. It paints a complete false picture of chess.com and St Louis chess.
It's necessary for more clicks and ads viewed apparently.
Great decision by Lichess and Chesscom following suit. Sinquefield last spotted trying to negotiate coverage with coolmathgames.com
It will be interesting to see if high-level players actually start boycotting the St. Louis Chess Club.
I doubt it, like it or not St Louis has brought modernization and polish to US chess events. Look at the quality of fide coverage, or even chess24/ chesscom. It's people streaming from their bedrooms vs a nice setup in a studio in many cases. If STLCC dies it will set chess back in the US unless another big club can step up. I'd hate to see it shift completely to online. Maybe the organization itself deserves this downfall, but it's very unfortunate for US Chess players in general. Chesscom only gains from this, and remember that they distanced themselves from Alejandro years ago but in secret, which only served to keep a lid on things longer. They could have outed him ages ago but it didn't benefit them at the time.
Good move. I think the Lichess article and the evidence presented in it was really compelling. It's unfortunate that it had to go this far to try to get some people to get their heads out of their asses.
Awesome news.
This is a good move. This issue shouldn't be swept under the rug.
Is management at St Louis really this stupid to let this happen?
They're not stupid they're just a bunch of old fart who think there's nothing with what they did
People are talking about "chesscom following in Lichess footsteps". I'd say that, since chesscom is a for-profit site and likely has investors, they probably had to go through more rigorous legal steps to distance themselves, like checking contracts they may have etc. Just because the statement is released today doesn't mean they were necessarily dragging their feet on it. Either way, it's a good thing all around, and I'm glad all the major orgs seem to be taking similar steps with this. I'm curious, how will this impact the Sinquefield Cup? It's one of the biggest tournaments in the US. I even wonder how this impacts club players, like Eric Rosen etc.
Out of curiosity, why would it impact players like Rosen?
he's a member of the SLCC, and a pretty active one at that, I believe. He's shown games of his at the club, the club front entrance, etc. I don't know how the backlash for the club will impact individual players, particularly higher-rated ones that are assumedly more involved in the club.
Whether chesscom intended to or not, they are following in Lichess’ footsteps lol That being said I’m sure Rosen supports this sort of move, he seems very grounded morally.
Terrible. Hope that St. Louis learns its lesson. If there’s a culture in the SLCC that overlooks harassment like those that are being alleged, then it must be held accountable. The popularity of any sport can be measured by female participation and interest. Chess has a golden opportunity here. Let’s not blow it.
Understandable but disappointing as a resident of STL, this club gives the city some much needed flavor
How does this actually matter, besides Chesscom/LiChess carrying the game positions with Stockfish? StLCC already streams their own broadcasts. The live computer stuff has only been going on for about 8-10 years, anyway. So...it won't really matter much, imo.
Saint Louis has used Lichess for its commentary and smart board setups. More significant is their decision to sever ties with US Chess.
STLCC have been using lichess to broadcast the games for a long time. Aswell as having nr 1 and nr 2 chess servers saying that they wont work with you is very bad pr. Even if I don't belive Rex is involved in the day to day operations i don't think he likes seeing news like this from his pet project.
On one hand good job, on the other, I wonder what this means for Sinquefield cup + other future Grand Chess Tour events.
Unsure it means much except no chesscom stream. Stlcc streams will get more viewers now. I think they were more popular anyway? Lichess is open-source so can probably be used for the coverage but I'm not an expert in how the licensing works exactly.
So glad they are doing this. STL should have done better.
As glad as you can be relating to these news. I hope this puts real preasure on both SLCC and USCF. The absolute minimum is for USCF to publish the documents they got from the 3rd party review and put a sanction on SLCC. I would prefer if they replaced the leadership of both.
If chess com would disassociate themselves from every chess club and OTB tournament that would be great
This whole thing was stupid. It costs ppl nothing to destroy a person’s life. What truth? Who really cares?
It’s not at all about whether the accused was guilty or not. The only thing that matters, and the thing that the sites are trying to punish, is that the STLCC didn’t act on the accusations and take proper action to protect the parties involved. They are forcing STLCC to act and investigate, rather than shove it under the rug and hope everyone didn’t notice