Renewing the CNC

Remember FIDE's Longest Running Joke (February 2014), aka CNC, aka Chess News Corporation? No? Neither does anyone else.

I don't know what drives me to do it, but once a week (during my weekly news round) I stop by the CNC site to see what's new or what's changed. There's never anything new or changed, but it's some kind of a ritual I go through. Earlier this year I noticed that the CNC web site had disappeared and I recorded the event in the top screen capture. The fine print on the page said,

Chessnc.com expired on 02/16/2017 and is pending renewal or deletion.
Backorder Domain / Renew Now

I didn't know why anyone would want to backorder or renew the domain, but I continued to check the site once a week, just in case. This week, the site appeared again, along with the same photo seen in 'Running Joke', a photo from early 2012.

I recorded the latest incarnation in the bottom screen capture. Here the fine print said,

When Mr. Ilyumzhinov defeated his own record by becoming the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) again in 2009, he started working on ways how to promote chess and attract sponsors. That is when the idea to market chess through a partnership with a small start-up company called Chess Network Company (CEC) was born. In the past, FIDE was mostly focused on events once at a time and the world championship cycle was inconsistent. These constant changes made it difficult for FIDE to attract sponsorships. This was about to change with CNC getting involved, and at the FIDE Congress in October 2009 the partnership was made official.

CNC was tasked to create a legacy on which to build and keep the interest for chess worldwide, even after the events and tournaments ended. They would promote chess by increasing the media interest, making new chess brands and products and distributing chess news in internet.

CNC would not be given all marketing rights immediately but would work in full cooperation with FIDE. CNC will be creating and contracting chess events with the aim to get people more engaged and involved. With the chess in the core, CNC would be organizing promotional activities with the educational component in all of them, hosting celebrities and local leaders to attend and complement chess competitions.

With their extensive experience in marketing, CNC editorial team would be following chess tournaments, matches and games and all other chess-related events. The results will be presented in the media in an interesting and creative way with a goal to attract both chess and no-chess audience. In addition, CNC will be responsible for production and distribution of editorials including interviews with organizers of chess events, players and future talents. They will be bringing stories, photographs and interesting facts about chess, creating BrainGym puzzle and much more.

If the year in that excerpt was 2016 instead of 2009, it would read the same. I marked the official transition from CNC to its successor Agon in a post on my World Championship Blog, 2013 FIDE Executive Board : Whither the World Championship? (December 2013), a transition which started five years ago. So why the renewed interest in the moribund CNC site? I think it's related to the latest event in the Ilyumzhinov saga, He Didn't Resign (April 2017), but I'm sure we'll find out in due time. In the meantime, I'll keep checking the CNC site.