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Anonymity in chess blogs

By Steve | November 9, 2006

I confess that the predominant use of pseudonyms in chess blogs puzzles me. What’s there to be secret about in chess? Of the 18 feeds in my chess blogs list, only about 4 offer any clue to the identity of the blogger. Three of these are bloggers making a living from chess (Polgar, Greengard, Davies). The other one is Edwin “Dutch Defense” Meyer, who occasionally drops by this blog to leave me encouraging comments. (Thanks, Edwin!)

I’ve wondered about this question for a while. What prompted me to post about it was this post from the Chess Training blog. The author denied a rumor about his identity, but then totally ducked the question of who he actually is!

Can anyone enlighten me about the origin and/or reason for the use of pseudonyms in chess blogs?

4 Responses to “Anonymity in chess blogs”

  1. Guillaume Says:
    November 12th, 2006 at 6:20 am

    I was doing the same remark to myself ! Visit my blog

    chess-mind.blogspot.com

    in French.. !

  2. Josh Says:
    November 13th, 2006 at 8:35 am

    I think its because people don’t really feel “safe” online (wether that makes sense or not I leave it those people smarter than myself). I don’t reveal my identity but I don’t actively try to disguise the facts so if you really wanted to know who I am then all you’d have to do is look up the results of one of the tournaments I said I played in and there I am, Josh.
    Boylston chess blog, J’adoube, Globular, and Chess Confessions, have all, at one time or another, said who they are.
    There are others who have said they want to keep it all anonymous so the people they play against won’t learn something about their game, which is funny, but who am I to argue?

  3. Steve Says:
    November 13th, 2006 at 8:43 am

    Thanks, Josh and Guillaume.

  4. Mark Goodwin Says:
    March 30th, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Anonymity in Chess blogs is most likely directly related to ego. Some chess players *love* to pontificate online about how great a player they are or their recent conquests and remain anonymous so those claims can go unchecked. I have not hidden nor have I made pubic - directly - who I am, but of course, this post reveals that information, and I am fine with it. Does it matter that I am a Cat. A player? Does that change the value of the advice? Does it make the advice less useful? Of course not. 2 + 2 = 4 no matter how you slice it.

    It is one thing to give advice about self-training methods and make amazing claims and another to actually use those methods and see results. I can say I have seen positive results in my play using the methods I described in my blog at http://chess-training.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, most people will not be so honest with themselves and the public with their results and their self-training methods. I firmly believe I can reach 2200 without enlisting a chess teacher consistently (I occasionally do take a lesson to make sure I am on track with my training. My last lesson was in Jan. 2007) and by implementing the self-training methods I have blogged about.

    I also play on ICC in the T4545 league - I am on Wooden Ballet in the U1800 section. This is my primary test bed for my training, and I get one good game a week to evaluate my current thought processes.

    I also avoid Blitz like the plague - for one, I suck at it, and for two, it is detrimental to my thought processes in chess. If I do play blitz, I only do it on *off* days - days where I am not training and daysd I am not playing classical chess.

    If I manage to get up to the MetroWest Club some evening, I will look you up. I have played there on occasion.

    I found this post via Technorati.com.

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