The Responsibility of Endorsement: an Open Letter to my Betters

Dear leading chess players,

I am sincerely a huge fan of yours. I love the games you play. I watch them with all the excitement of a thrilling movie, and I study their details like a beautiful work of art. Some people finish a hard day with a drink; I just grab one of your games off 2700chess, and my day was good.

And beyond loving your games, I love you. I have spent so much of my life with chess players. You are curious, brilliant, determined, focused, reflective, aware, energetic, passionate scientists, gamers, sportswomen, and artists. But I am dismayed to see several of you making a mistake, and I would like to urge you to reflect on it, as you could still easily reverse course.

It is a mistake that would put you in “good company.” Play Magnus and Chess.com have both made this mistake. Play Magnus chose FTX as a sponsor for their tour, giving them huge exposure this past summer, and no doubt helping to scam a bunch of members of our community out of their money. Chess.com has used Coinbase as a sponsor, and even tried to sell some “Treasure Chess” NFTs. I have searched, and can not find any statement of apology from Play Magnus. It’s not too late for them, either, to help the chess community. They could set an example by taking responsibility for their irresponsible choice of sponsors, and making a clear statement of contrition. This might help other people in the chess community to realize in time that they should not make the same type of mistake.

The mistake you are making right now, which I would love for you to publicly reverse course on, is promoting “the immortal game.” This is going to be another NFT-selling situation. Every time you tweet about them, every time you say anything good about them, when they show your name to claim they are “trusted,” the sad end-result will be that you will have had a hand in defrauding some of your fans! And consider this: if you need money that badly, those fans would probably have given it to you had you simply asked. Do you want to contribute to defrauding such wonderful people?

I know as chess players, it’s amazing to get some money or see some sponsorship. It provides a sense of validation: some company thinks your endorsement has value. But now that you understand that your endorsement has value, you need to understand it has responsibility as well. There is a difference between selling cigarettes or chess sets to your audience. And bear in mind that your audience includes a lot of very young people, who lack good judgment and whose minds are clouded by their hero-worship of you. Those using you to access this market are certainly aware!

So you must do what I know you are capable of: reflect, analyze, and become self-aware. Then please speak up!

With all my love,

David