Kim Kardashian plays chess

Well, not yet she doesn’t, but she would like to.

My younger daughter, Sophie, is always watching ‘Meet the Kardashian’s’, so Kim’s tweet naturally caught my eye.

(There are plenty more images of her on google, including the one below, where she is apparently playing chess; the picture quality is poor, but from where her pieces are, she does indeed need to learn to play; in most of the other pictures on google, she is not playing chess; and many where she is not in typical chess attire).

I was once told that all Armenians have surnames ending in ‘ian’ so it doesn’t surprise me in the least, especially since she knows Levon’s name, that Kim has Armenian roots. Thinking of some of top Armenians from yesterday and today, from the former World Champion Tigran Petrosian,Tigran Petrosian – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia to current world #3, Levon, to his team captain in the 2006 Olympiad, Serjh Sarkisian, they all have such name endings.

In 1978, I drew with Tigran in a simul in London; and in 2006 I had to apologise on behalf of my player Danny Gormally after he pushed Levon to the floor in the Bermuda Party at the Turin Olympiad ChessBase.com – Chess News – Party Time at the Chess Olympiad, and thousands of other sites, the news went ‘viral’. My apology was to Serjh, who was then their country’s defence minister, but is now their Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . In terms of lambs and wolves, when I saw Serjh on the Sunday morning, we had to speak through interpreters; that afternoon, when everyone knew that Levon wasn’t hurt and that Danny had decided to go home, Serjh and I shook hands and spoke in perfect English; and Levon laughed it off. I have seen Levon at each of the London Chess Classics; Danny didn’t get the girl (Arianne Caoili), who remains Levon’s girlfriend. Unlike Kim, Arianne can play a decent game of chess.

So, if Levon decides not to teach Kim, then I shall, but only if Sophie can come with me.

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