Chess in Commercials
Our friends at ChessBase recently assembled a great set of links to television commercials which feature chess: http://en.chessbase.com/post/chess-in-tv-commercials.
Seeing these commercials – many of which are advertisements for major companies and products – is a reminder of the universal respect that the general public holds for chess in modern societies. Not everyone plays chess, but chess themes would not be used in these commercials if everyone didn’t understand the positive associations being made when a company aligns itself with one or another of the virtues that people associate with playing chess well. I think that these are a good sign for the health of our game.