FT article: (Chess fan) George Russell talks tactics and sharing a garage with the teenage F1 leader

 

Along with other recent pop culture references about chess, it's interesting to track the image of chess (and chessplayers) projected in the media. For example, the print version of the Financial Times on June 5 had a leader (see above screenshot) "Chess fan George Russell plots his next move after early setbacks" for the article George Russell talks tactics and sharing a garage with the teenage F1 leader. 

The online version linked above does not mention chess in the leader, and there's relatively little about it in the article itself - only a mention of how driver George Russell likes to be competitive off the Formula 1 circuit as well, playing a lot of online chess. Chess is nonetheless associated with strategic thinking, competitiveness, and glamorous international sport. For we chessplayers (amateur or professional), this type of positive halo effect is always nice to see.

In the spirit of this blog's periodic training quotes of the day, here's one from the article that is worth considering:

“The way I looked at it is that every season before this, when I wasn’t fighting for a championship, my objective was always to get the most out of every single day on track,” he says. “Whether that meant fighting for victory or only fighting for fifth position, the goal was always the same: drive as fast as possible and maximise the things I can control.

“That approach led me to this point in my career, where I’m now fighting for a championship, so why should I change anything?”