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European Chess Union Clamps Down on Cleavage

“European Chess Competitions To Be Less Sexy With Strict New Cleavage Rules” reported Gawker on March 8. “Strict new rules govern the accepted wardrobe for woman's matches,” the report continued, referencing a more detailed report in Chessbase News.

“The European Women's Championship is the first where the new ECU Dress Code regulations apply,” according to the March 7 Chessbase report. “They are quite specific: regarding décolletés (in the US ‘cleavage’): ‘the second from the top button may be opened.’ And skirts may be no shorter than 5-10 cm above the knees.” Explained ECU General Secretary Sava Stoisavljevic, “We came up with that idea because we noticed that during the games many of the players were not wearing proper clothes… It's nice to see chess players with short skirts – they are very pretty girls. But I believe there should still be some limit.” Other dress code rules specify that “clothing should be crisp, show no excessive wear, no holes and shall be free of body odor” and that while sunglasses, glasses or neck ties can be worn during the games, no caps or hats or permitted, “except for religious reasons.” American Go Association President Alan Abramson said unequivocally that "We have absolutely no intention of even considering" such a dress code in AGA-sanctioned tournaments. And at the European Go Federation, President Martin Stiassny told the EJ that "EGF has other problems than thinking about such nonsense. For sure no plans in this direction as long as  I am president of the EGF." 
- thanks to Steve Colburn for passing this along.