The Exploitation of Chess

This morning, as I was flicking through the Australian Financial Review (that's our Wall Street Journal for all you international readers), I noticed a job ad for project finance professionals over at Ernst & Young. The ad featured the familiar chess pieces: a knight, a pawn and a king.

Later, just after lunch, I thought maybe I'd grab myself a copy of the Asia Inc. magazine. When I came to page 17, what should I see but another ad with a chess theme. This time, strategy guru - C.K. Prahalad - was inviting all and sundry to hear him talk about "Making Innovation Work For You". Again the ad featured an image of a knight, a king as well as a rook.

I've only cited two examples, but I tell you chess is everywhere! Insurance companies, fund managers, banks, telcos, etc - all these industries have used chess as a theme. I've even seen a funeral company using chess to sell coffins. I swear! Something to do with forward thinking, planning and all that.

But, if you ask me, I put it down to exploitation of our beautiful game. Well it's bloody time they paid up. So for all of you clever chessers out there, here's a recommended reading - the Sponsorship Seeker's Toolkit. The authors walk you through you the pitfalls and how to avoid them. They give hints on writing a good proposal, maintaining relationships, etc. Definitely worth a read.