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May 9, 2006
Radjabov, Old Salt
Perusing Baku Today, as I am wont to do, turned up this brevity on Teimour Radjabov being named a UNICEF goodwill ambassador for Azerbaijan. His focus will be on universal iodization of salt, still a big issue in many nations. Always good to see a top player getting involved with something outside of the chess world. Karpov has long been affiliated with UNICEF.
I'm always curious about how famous chessplayers are in their home countries, although this is a non-issue in most places. Countries that cover chess results in the sports pages are in a different category. Any time a country not used to the limelight produces a world-class star in any field they usually become a big hero at home, even if there is typically little national interest in what the person does. More rarely this happens in major nations, e.g. Fischer and Anand, who have booms named after them.
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I love the term "major nations." Much of the world is obviously minor, of course, which is clear from the majorest nation of all, Canada.
Posted by: The Gelatinous Cube at May 9, 2006 23:25Meaning countries used to the limelight for various things, including sports.
I just had a conversation the other day in which we concluded Keres was probably the most famous Estonian ever.
Posted by: Mig at May 9, 2006 23:34Unless, of course, it's Ireland and the sport/game is checkers. Patricia Breen is the World Ladies Champion, but nobody here knows her. There have been a couple of short articles in the county newspaper where she grew up. That's it.
Posted by: Jonathan O'Connor at May 10, 2006 04:24The composer Arvo Part perhaps? Not as established as Keres of course, but his fame seems to be rising quickly.
Posted by: Adrian at May 10, 2006 04:30I have to ask you to confirm that your esteemed conversation partners were a) Estonian b) not chess players.
You of course know that Estonians won the most prestigious cross-country races (both Men's and Women's) in Turin Olympics.
Wasn't Mart Poom a keeper for Arsenal at one point?
Anyway, I agree about Keres, but then I am severely biased here. What if I were a painter (like Kramnik)?
Here is the web page with all the famous estonias to choose from for the title of the most famous: http://shaan.typepad.com/shaanou/2004/08/famous_estonian.html
On the matter of actually asking Estonians... I suspect most people around the world would consider Stalin or Lenin to be the most famous Russians, with Ivan the Terrible or Tolstoy (or even Gorbachov ???) also in the running. A Russian would object that wasn't even Stalin (Dzhugashvili) or even russian. Lenin wasn't even Lenin (Ulianov) and Gorbachov is just a provincial peasant who got lucky. Instead, Peter the Great or Pushkin would be worthy cadidates.
Posted by: Michael Langer at May 10, 2006 04:36See here: http://shaan.typepad.com/shaanou/2004/08/famous_estonian.html for other Estonians to choose from. Of course the answer should be clear for all of us here...It's the Estonian girls band Vanilla Ninja! (I kid you not).
Posted by: Michael Langer at May 10, 2006 04:53Wikipedia has a good list, but it's "notable" Estonians and so much longer. Much, much longer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Estonians
An Estonian was present, and not a chessplayer. Also three Russians. He certainly didn't take it as something bad to have Keres as #1. There are certainly dozens of countries that have never produced anyone of similar global renown.
Posted by: Mig at May 10, 2006 06:02Wikipedia list of Latvians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latvians
has three chess players. Outnumbered by hockey players (4), though, but more than soccer players (2) :)
None of them would probably qualify for the Most Famous Latvian Ever.
Congratulations to Radjabov! Being a UNICEF representative at his age requires a lot of responsibility and will probably teach him how to conduct himself with the ease and dignity of a real celebrity, which, sadly, is not a common trait among chessplayers. I wish him all the best in his new occupation!
Posted by: Voyager at May 10, 2006 13:27Yeah, Kasparov could have benefited from a tour of duty on UNICEF or some comparable character-building venture. Just look up on Chessbase or elsewhere how Kasparov behaved in public 3 years ago after Radjabov's defeat of him got awarded a prize for the best game in Linares. Russell Crowe, Dennis Rodman or Michael Jackson would have been hard-pressed to outdo Garry. "The ease and dignity of a real celebrity??" Yeah, right.
Posted by: flyonthewall at May 10, 2006 14:41Isn't Keres the only chessplayer whose face appears on his country's currency? That won't likely be matched for a while.
Posted by: Clubfoot at May 11, 2006 05:06Yah, the 5 krooni note. Shirov gave me one years ago; I still have it. A pic of one here:
http://www.chessbase.de/spotlight/Nachrichten/bilder2003/2003keres/keres04-money.jpg
Posted by: Mig at May 11, 2006 13:32
