TopNotch wrote on 03/03/22 at 02:50:37:

That's me, except for the influencer bit. I'm so cynical I'm immune to charisma. 

Sarcasm aside, I don't agree with your analysis of why change for the better is slow to achieve. Rather than being due to failures of human nature, it's because of the second law of thermodynamics. Left to themselves, thinks fall apart. It takes real work just to maintain the status quo, and additional work to make progress. A related problem is it's much easier to do harm than to do good. So one person who is actively trying to do harm is able to outweigh the efforts of a whole community trying to do good. And sometimes it seems there really is no bottom, although there are a few malignant actors who are plumbing the depths.

Personally I have a lot of praise Grishuk's post game interview today.
Speaking publicly about something that clearly pains you is hard enough, but the way he refused to stop after a cowardly attempt to interrupt him really deserves respect.

Russia and Belarus banned from holding world chess events, Karjakin to face ethics case

Russia, the biggest superpower in chess, has been effectively banned from the game it considers its own, alongside its neighbour Belarus.

FIDE, the world governing body of chess, took the momentous step to take action against both countries at an emergency meeting of its FIDE Council held today. It follows the international outcry over Russia's invasion of Ukraine which FIDE responded to initially by stripped Moscow of the 190-nation Chess Olympiad, which was due to take place in July.
The new measures FIDE agreed were:

• Russia and Belarus banned from holding official FIDE chess competitions and events

 

• Russian and Belarusian players banned from displaying national flags at FIDE-rated events and nationals anthem will not be played

• FIDE will terminate all sponsorship agreements with Russian or Belarusian sanctioned and/or state-controlled companies

FIDE also said it condemns "any public statement from any member of the chess community which supports unjustified military action". It said two Russian grandmasters, Sergey Karjakin and Sergey Shipov, will have to face its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission following controversial comments online.

If you didn't know, now you know. Also, did Russia/Ukraine end the pandemic, I only ask because suddenly covid has completely dropped out of the news.

In further news - India is now hosting the Olympiad, while abstaining on imposing any sanctions on Putin's Russia - Georg Meir calls Karjakin a Russian prostitute - Karajakin says that Kostya Kavutskiy should be embarrassed to call himself a chess professional at 2400 elo - Kostya snipes back at Karjakin with quote-unquote "how much does a GM norm go for these days!

And that is what's currently trending - Looking forward to hearing Y'all's thoughts, impressions, and perspectives.

Over to you.