Doping controls in chess...?

[Skybird]

Since long the international chess federation FIDE is trying (in vain) to give chess the image of a physical sports like any other, establishing it as a sports for the Olympic competition (although there already are chess Olympics being held). In order to do so, they have established a scheme for doping controls amongst chess players - which I find simply absurd. The controvery runs since years, and respect amongst top players is said to run very low.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...595819,00.html

Using beta-blockers to keep blood pressure low, as said in the essay, most often cause detrimental effects than the desired ones, not only in chess: you may remain calmer, but your mental focus also calms down, inevitably, as that Helmut Pfleger in the article is referred to: his playing strength dropped significantly (Pfleger is a wel known german master and probably the most popular and well-known player over here, author of many books on chess, and a psychologist who also wrote about chess psychology).

When now an international heavy-weight in chess, Ivanchuk, gets accused of doping, for he refused to comply with this idiotic procedure, then this reminads me of an open letter by german Grandmaster Robert Hübner, who has retreated from the Olympic team in protest and fired a very angry open letter at FIDE, bot that he is the first one doing so, the list of prominent names going to war with the international federation becomes longer and longer.

http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=8454

He argues, like many before him, that there are no stimulants that would allow you to play better, and bypass the long, difficult process of learning and studying and gaining experience and routine, and that it is a dangerous thing how uncritical such cointrol mechanisms nowadays get accepted and people being stripped of personal independance, responsibilities and rights in general, all in the name of law and order, war on terror, or political correctness.

what angers me most, is FIDE, which since long has the reputation to be deeply corrupt and desinterested in what is best for chess, but is intersted in making it as profitable for officials and bureaucrats and raising them additional funds to let them travel around in the world and live in 5 star hotels, have gala dinners, and live a high life while keeping their ranks closed to public transparency and countercontrol and not giving a damn for being objective, or acting for the interest of the game and the players. This legacy dates back into the soviet era, where the FIDE repatedly took a heavy bias pro or against players in high profile championships, namely the world championship(s) between Karpov and Kasparov - which ultimately led to a victorious but frustrated Kasparov trying to found an alternative players' association, and leaving FIDE behind, an attempt which he admitted failed after some years. But FIDE has learned nothing from it, and puts the interests of officials and leaders far above the interest of the game and the players, not acting on their behalf and in their interest, but trying to dump them into submission so to allow officials live an even more glamorous life. The level of corruption, which even leads to chnaging tournament rules and conditions while the tournament is still running, makes me wanting to vomit in their faces. Similiar things are beign said about FIFA and the IOC, but my impression nowhere things are as worse as inside FIDE. Bloodsucking parasites. makes you wishing for a fly swat. and now you see why they want chess getting established as a physical sports under the umbrelly of the regular olymoics: it would embedd FIDE inside the structures of the IOC institutions, giving FIDE officials access to the even greater revenues and glamour candies coming along with that. Chess and sports has nothing to do with it. The doping controls thus are complete nonsens, but are being run since the IOC demands them for anything it should recognise as an Olympic sport. It's just that - chess is no sports like any other. And what's next being scanned for, and that helps to play better"? Breathing air? Too much oxygen in the tournament room? more then a cup of coffee in the morning? Or should player getting banned from the running match if their heart rate or blood prssure goes too high (which also helps the body to increase mental awarenes)? Or should we limit the ammount of pages of chess literature each player is allowed to consume per year?

Ha, it's ridiculous.

It's a crying shame, and a disgrace for the finest game on earth.