IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 3:59 pm
That's quite a lot when you consider only 16 people have actually held the title, and it's not one that has any intrinsic association with criminality.
Well, it depends on how you define criminality. Many would say that FIDE itself deliberately lacks transparency and intends on keeping it that way come hell or high water, as Larissa Yudanova's parents can testify! We hope that in the west the association is slight but behind the Iron Curtain I suspect there was a greater number of chess players put behind bars than we will ever know, simply for not following orders amongst other reasons.
You could also play up the stereotypes and point out that chess players aren't exactly renowned for being the most well-adjusted people in society, and sometimes go off the rails like so many of us do. It's not a question of what their interests are but what their character is. I'd be curious to know how many former British champions have been put behind bars. I can think of two off the top of my head in recent times, one of whom is currently at large!