Shropshire Star

The World Chess Championship logo is hilariously NSFW and it’s proving controversial

The organisers said they wanted the logo to represent London, the 2018 host city.

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The World Chess Championship logo (World Chess/PA)

The new logo for the World Chess Championship is confusing a lot of people – but the big reveal has all gone to plan, according to the organisers.

Next year’s championships take place in London, a city described as “controversial and trendy” by World Chess – so they wanted something suitable to match.

And their depiction of what appears to be two folks scissoring, definitely got people talking.

The design, created by Russian studio Shuka, has definitely got people interested in the championships – if only because they get to make puns.

And people think it can only be good for the game.

According to World Chess, the last championships, held in New York in 2016, reached an audience of 1.5 billion people over its duration – both in person and through live streams.

But while for many the logo is a bit of fun, and a good way to bring new people to chess, many think it’s inappropriate for a game played by so many children.

Grandmaster Susan Polgar, a pioneer of women’s chess, made her feelings known on Twitter.

While another Grandmaster, David Smerdon, also appeared unhappy with the logo.

World Chess is the commercial wing of the World Chess Federation, and its chief executive told the Press Association that the logo is meant to be representative of its 2018 host city.

Ilya Merenzon said: “London has managed to reinvent itself from old and classical and old-school to become the new capital for design.

“We are bringing chess to London for the same reason – the sport (the oldest in the world) is completely changing – it’s now on smartphones and is played by hundreds of millions. But visually it didn’t change at all.”

A World Chess Championship logo
Its other logo also features intertwined limbs, but is proving less controversial (World Chess/PA)

Limited edition prints are also on sale.

Current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen will be defending his title against a challenger to be decided at the FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament in March.

The championship consists of a 12-game match, which, given the profile of Carlsen – he’s the highest-rated chess player in history and the subject of the Netflix documentary Magnus – is likely to be at least as popular as the last.

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