Monday, July 16, 2007

For Rogers' RP Fans

We've had interest from the Philippines on GM Ian Rogers' retirement. Our RP-based journo friend is surprised at Ian's latest move at such a young age. (So Mr Dee, this post is for you).

And last Friday, while I was out on a work social, my cell phone kept ringing with an SMS message from a mate of mine demanding that I post a tribute to Ian Rogers. I shot back saying that the guy is only retiring for crying out loud! At any rate, I'm not really qualified to write this "tribute".

But the latest ACF e-newsletter has good info on GM Rogers' resignation as well as his career. Rogers himself also talked about the same in his column in yesterday's Sydney Sun-Herald. It's the best we have directly from the still Aussie number one.

Last Sunday, following the final round of the Checkmate Open in Adelaide, I announced my retirement from all forms of tournament chess.

The decision, made six days earlier, was not voluntary but was based on unanimous medical opinion that the stress of tournament chess had caused, and would continue to cause, serious health problems unless I stopped permanently.

By the way, the Wikipedia entry on Rogers has been updated. It does need some beefing up though. The guy's career could fill a whole book.

No comments: