Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

[Frank Dixon]

A few days after the University team event finished, I was entering games from the event onto chess5.com. It was only then that I realized there had been a bizarre situation in the last round, which had completely slipped the notice of both Chief Arbiter Hal Bond and I as Deputy Arbiter.

Here's what happened: the final round pairing on the top match had Western, the top seed, with 4 match points, as White (on boards one and three) playing Dalhousie, the second seed, with 2.5 match points, with White on boards two and four. Dalhousie was the highest-placed team which Western had not already played, having already defeated (in order) Carleton, Waterloo A, Guelph, and Toronto A. The game between FM Raja Panjwani (Western's top board) and NM Gary Ng (Dalhousie's top board) ended in a quick draw. In fact, it turned out what had happened was Ng took the White pieces (he should have played Black), played his standard move 1.b4, then offered a draw, which was accepted, or it may have been Panjwani who offered the draw. No matter (and the fact of the short draw also bothers me quite a bit, but that is not my main point here). I didn't learn of this until some time later. As the match progressed, I noticed that FM Jonathan Tayar was playing Black on board two for Western against 2157-rated Jonathan Gottlieb of Dalhousie; this game continued for several hours, with Tayar eventually winning a solid victory. (That game is on chess5.com.) So, Western had Black on their top two boards. This is a major error, but one which we did not notice until too late. The match wound up drawn, which allowed Dalhousie to pull into a second-place tie with Guelph, Toronto A, Waterloo A, and Queen's, once play was completed.

I would like NM Gary Ng to either post his explanation of what happened in this final-round match on this site, or to contact me with his explanation at this address: frankd_chess@hotmail.com.

[Alvah Mayo]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

This situation would hardly qualify as bizarre; I recall the same thing happened to our Canadian Olympiad team once upon a time. I do find myself wondering why an explanation would either be desired or required here. It is almost certain that the game would have been drawn regardless of the colours assigned on board 1.
From the description of events, this was a screw up by both players, both teams and both arbiters. I will give the benefit of the doubt that had the game gone on longer, the arbiters would have eventually noticed the colour switch.
The only thing I find bizarre about this is the overly abundant concern over a "tempest in a teapot" while by all accounts the players in this event were subjected to horridly cold playing conditions. What, if anything, was done to address this?

P.S. If you really wanted an explanation, why not ask your student?

[Dan Mackie]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

One wonders why one would spend so much of ones time, obsessively,too, w/ young men exclusively.To place oneself in a position of authority as well, and then raise petty concerns past postmortem only illuminates one's objectives, or lack, thereof. Tireless TD's are not usually altruistic, they like to see their name in print (or self-Googably:))Similar to a Hans Jung and his recent blindfold chess threads (get over urself there hans, ur 2100!) , but with the notable differenceof a inferiority complex ( as opposed to Jung).
For a list of references, accomplishments, chess organizing is an easy mark.Because noone else wants to do it. Or there is simply not enough popular interest in a particular area.So keep up ur 'work' Frank; but do'nt expect Bryon Nickoloff to be proud of you.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

Alvah's post is an unsound combination of outright error and mistaken assumption.

Alvah refers to a similar situation from Canada's Olympiad experience. That wasn't at all the same thing; what happened there was Tom O'Donnell and Ron Livshits mistakenly played in the wrong board order, at Moscow 1994. In that match, Canada still had two Whites and two Blacks; in this situation, Dalhousie had three Whites and one Black. Big difference.

Alvah blames the arbiters at least in part. It was the final round, and teams and players certainly had to have had the hang of the format by then. The game in question was over so quickly that I never saw the players from it actually at the board. Remember there were 74 players in the event; a priori, there was no particular reason to watch that game as the round began. Since neither player said anything to the arbiters, there was no reason at the time to suspect anything was wrong. And at the start of a round, there are always people around looking to borrow pens from the arbiters, looking to get paired for games when they are sitting out a round, bookkeeping to do, etc. There was also a problem with a malfunctioning clock (one of only two in the event) which I took care of as round five began.

Alvah claims the game would have been drawn regardless of colour. If the game had been set up as it was supposed to be, with Raja Panjwani playing White, then you have a player who is FM-titled and rated 2392 CFC and 2365 FIDE, with two IM norms, holding the 55 per cent White-scoring average, who had scored 3.5 out of 4 so far in the event against the strongest opposition, facing his opponent Gary Ng who is rated 2240 CFC, with no international title and no IM norms, holding the 45 per cent Black-scoring disadvantage, who had scored 2 out of 4 so far in the event. That leads me to believe the result would likely have been different.

Or maybe Alvah is just defending his fellow Nova Scotian Gary Ng, regardless of what I write.

I think Gary Ng has an obligation to respond. To not respond would indicate he has something to hide.

[Ben Daswani]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

Dixon, on July 30, 2007, you posted a chess trivia contest on ChessTalk. The questions were as follows:

1) Who is the highest-rated player to be paired UP in the first round of any Canadian Open during the past 12 years (including 1996-2007)?
2) What was that player's rating at that time?
3) Who did that paired-up player face?
4) Which Canadian Open did this occur at?
5) How did the paired-up player do in the game?

You stated that the first person to send you the correct answers by email would receive a prize: a book of his choice from the CFC store.

I sent you the correct answers. You informed me of this, and asked me what book I would like. You said that another person had sent in his solution just after me, and you would award him a prize as well, but would wait to post it until after we both told you what books we selected. I selected Chess Bitch by Jennifer Shahade. It had a nice pink cover.

A week went by and you did not make another post about the matter on ChessTalk. I posted an inquiry in response to your initial post. Other people queried, as well, as they evidently were curious about the results, but you responded to no one. I sent you an email; you did not respond.

Several months ago, I posted in one of your threads on ChessTalk, asking you why you had never sent me the book. Other posters stated that it was irresonspible and dishonest on your part to not send me the book after having said that you would. You then responded saying that you had merely forgot, and that you would send me the book right away. I thanked you and assumed you would.

I did not receive the book. A few months later, on the OCC website, I asked you about the book again. You did not respond to my post.

So, Dixon, did you ever intend on sending me the book, or did you simply wish to give the illusion that you were running and offering a prize for a contest? Was your attempt to trick the public into thinking that you were contributing more to the Canadian chess scene than you actually were?

Certainly, you have an obligation to send me my God damn book.

[Alvah Mayo]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

"...That wasn't at all the same thing; what happened there was Tom O'Donnell and Ron Livshits mistakenly played in the wrong board order, at Moscow 1994."

In both cases (team events), the players played with the wrong colours. To therefore state that "it wasn't AT ALL (emphasis mine) the same thing" is disingenuous and grossly inaccurate.

"In that match, Canada still had two Whites and two Blacks; in this situation, Dalhousie had three Whites and one Black. Big difference."

One of the "extra whites" was drawn in less than one move and demonstrates that neither player had any desire to fight. The colours involved were therefore irrelevant and made no effective difference.

"It was the final round, and teams and players certainly had to have had the hang of the format by then. The game in question was over so quickly that I never saw the players from it actually at the board. Remember there were 74 players in the event; a priori, there was no particular reason to watch that game as the round began"

By your own description of the event, this match was the critical match involving the first place team. As such, I would expect an arbiter to at least have a semblance of awareness as to what is going on there. As mentioned before, I will give the benefit of the doubt to the arbiters and presume they would have eventually noticed the problem and corrected it had the game continued for any length of time.

Having said that, it is the responsibility of the arbiters to ensure that the rules of the competition and the Laws of Chess are enforced and followed. By Frank's own admission, that didn't happen in this case.

"Since neither player said anything to the arbiters, there was no reason at the time to suspect anything was wrong."

Three members of the same team in a four board match have white on the top match and there is no reason to suspect anything is wrong? Well, perhaps so if the arbiters haven't bothered to look...

"And at the start of a round, there are always people around looking to borrow pens from the arbiters, looking to get paired for games when they are sitting out a round, bookkeeping to do, etc."

None of these are the prime responsibility of the arbiter. Organizers can supply pens if they wish but presumably these are all adults and can supply their own writing implements. Pairing games that are not part of the official event should not take precedence over games in the actual event. Bookkeeping is also either an organizer responsibility or certainly something that can wait; watching over the games in progress is definitely the priority.

If the arbiters were occupied with these trivialities instead of focusing on the games, then perhaps I was too charitable in giving them the benefit of the doubt.

"If the game had been set up as it was supposed to be, with Raja Panjwani playing White, then you have a player who is FM-titled and rated 2392 CFC and 2365 FIDE, with two IM norms, holding the 55 per cent White-scoring average, who had scored 3.5 out of 4 so far in the event against the strongest opposition, facing his opponent Gary Ng who is rated 2240 CFC, with no international title and no IM norms, holding the 45 per cent Black-scoring disadvantage, who had scored 2 out of 4 so far in the event. That leads me to believe the result would likely have been different."

And yet with all those advantages, the stronger player (with the IM norms and the 150 rating point advantage) apparently could not even trouble himself to make even one move. It is highly improbable that such a player would dramatically change his mindset to fight simply with a change in colour (and all those other advantages in place) and I would say it is laughable to suggest otherwise.

Or maybe Frank is just defending his student regardless of what anyone writes.

"I think Gary Ng has an obligation to respond. To not respond would indicate he has something to hide."

To my knowledge, Gary Ng has never posted to this or any other chess bulletin board and Frank would of course be aware of this. To post a demand to "respond" (given that circumstance) smacks of cowardice.

If Frank believes there is an obligation to respond (although I don't see from where that obligation would stem) then he should demand the explanation from his student Raja.

Unless of course he has something to hide.

P.S Is having the playing site freezing cold the entire weekend a common occurrence in Kingston? I want to be ready for the Kingston Open.

[Tyler Longo]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

Alvah,

We spent several months talking to the student government about playing hall conditions, and we were guaranteed several months in advance that there would be heaters in place in the room. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and we are in the process of talking to the people in the JDUC about this.

Now, we informed all teams in advance of the cold playing conditions. As far as I could tell, everyone had a great time, and nobody complained on site even once about the conditions. Did you attend the event? Please consider this before you start complaining on behalf of other players.

Both Hal and Frank did a fantastic job running the event. You have to realize the casual nature of this sort of event. It is a gathering of students who simply enjoy playing chess. I find it very disheartening for you to criticize the directors for not noticing this error in what was the shortest game in the event. This is not an Olympiad where there are arbiters at each board. The directors were busy organizing the beginning of the last round, which was being rushed so teams could get back home at a reasonable hour for class on Monday. The players should have noticed this mistake regardless.

The Kingston Open is being held in another room in the same building, which should not have any heating problems.

Tyler

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

post deleted by author.

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

Got Meds????????

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

The game between FM Raja Panjwani (Western's top board) and NM Gary Ng (Dalhousie's top board) ended in a quick draw. In fact, it turned out what had happened was Ng took the White pieces (he should have played Black), played his standard move 1.b4, then offered a draw, which was accepted, or it may have been Panjwani who offered the draw.

By Canadian standards, such a game is a brilliancy. A player who can score a half point from a one ply game is worthy to be sentenced to inclusion on the Canadian National Team.

Tournament directors who don't have a clue who played white and who played black are to be cherished by FIDE - after they are issued a white walking stick.

[Gary Ruben]

P.S.

The FIDE rule for reversed colours.

7.2 If a game has begun with colours reversed, then it shall continue, unless the arbiter rules otherwise.

I suppose that's there because some arbiters notice while the game is still in progress.

[John Brown]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

Why didn't Frank just go to stevenson's Rental all or similiar rental place and get some heaters????

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

The sheet prepared in advance by the arbiters, to indicate the colours in the Western vs Dalhousie match, was sitting on the match table, one foot away from the board one game. It showed Western (White) vs Dalhousie (Black). The sheet also served as the list of players fielded (and filled in ) by each team in that particular match, would have the results from the match marked upon it, and be signed upon conclusion by the match captains or their designates. And the players in the championship had navigated four rounds with the same conditions without any problems.

There were 66 players who had games in that final round, and two arbiters. Hal Bond and I could not be everywhere at once. The fact that there were no disputes or rulings in the event (until this situation came up after the fact) testifies that it was very well run, an opinion voiced by many at the site and in feedback afterwards.

[Tyler Longo]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

Why didn't Frank just go to stevenson's Rental all or similiar rental place and get some heaters????

John, the issue was not with a lack of heaters, but the fact the tournament hall could not support any sort of additional heating or lighting on its circuits... The room was old, and its part of why the whole building is being torn down for a brand new student building at Queen's.

-Tyler

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Bizarre situation from rd. 5 at University event

There were 66 players who had games in that final round, and two arbiters. Hal Bond and I could not be everywhere at once. The fact that there were no disputes or rulings in the event (until this situation came up after the fact) testifies that it was very well run, an opinion voiced by many at the site and in feedback afterwards.

66 players is 33 games. 16 1/2 games per arbiter.

What's so hard about keeping track of 16 1/2 games. How do you end up with such a number from teams of 4? Neither 66 nor 33 is divisible by 4.

Frankly, Frank, it appears that there being no disputes or rulings during the event, and disputes about missed rulings after the event, appears to show an inattention to detail during the event by the arbiters. That may not be what happened but the appearances are there. I posted the FIDE rule on wrong colours for you. I can't see why you make an issue of it here. The games continued with the wrong colours because the arbiters didn't rule otherwise. The game was played according to the rule.