I’m breaking my hiatus to complain about the Newark Star-Ledger pulling the chess column from its 10/18 issue.
Here is the email that I sent (minor edit for grammar) :
I was disappointed to find that the 10/18 issue of the Newark Star-Ledger did not feature the usual chess article by Steve Doyle & Peter Tamburro.
Their column, long a weekly staple for the NJ chess community, has been the NY-area’s best for the past several years. It provides better analysis than those in the Times and Post while highlighting games played by local amateurs!
In the future, I would appreciate that you don’t skip the Doyle/Tamburro pieces. Quite frankly, they are the only reason I buy your paper on Sunday.
…the response I received :
It was nice to know that there were a few fellow chess players out there who take note when the ChessMate column doesn’t run in our Sunday section. (But surely you are getting a lot more in your Sunday Star-Ledger for your $2 than a chess column…)
As noted in the Sunday section, the chess column will return next week. We had to hold it this week because it came in too long for us to publish. Typically, Doyle and Tamburro don’t write about matches that are longer than 30 moves, which is the ideal for the space we have allotted for ChessMate. Yesterday’s column, which I pasted below (without the puzzle), was a match that went for 121 moves. The chess columnists wrote about 61 moves. I just don’t have that much space for chess. And, yes, we did ask them to show restraint moving forward.
A relevant side note, I waited all day Sunday and yesterday to see if there were any other complaints about chess not appearing in the paper, and sadly we only had a handful of readers who called or emailed. On the other hand, when I hold Bridge or when the TV Jumble puzzle moved, I had an avalanche of mail.
I hope you enjoy the column below and that my reply satisfied your query.
Enrique Lavin
Assistant Managing Editor
… and my rebuttal :
Thank you for sending the omitted column. I realize there are space requirements but good games are usually more than 30 moves long. In shorter games, one person typically plays well and the other plays poorly. So, you see, 30 should not be the guide. 50 moves would be more appropriate.
I would be in favor of occasionally dropping the chess puzzle to fit in a longer game.
If you want to protest as well, contact Mr. Lavin at 973-392-1745, elavin@starledger.com or the following address :
The Star-Ledger | Features
1 Star-Ledger Plaza
Newark, NJ 01702-1200
