Clarification for Quitting the Online Olympiad

[Victor Itkine]

Originally posted by Grandmaster Kaiqi Yang
I sincerely apologize to CFC, and to you, as the president of CFC, and to the whole team, for my decision of quitting in the middle of the tournament.

We definitely have significant progress here.

Hey, all trolls!

There will be no friendly chess boxing match. Swallow your drool.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Kaiqi has stated his regret more than once to me in email. This is what he said to me in email moments before I posted my comment to Mr. Victor Itkine which email I had not read as it came in as I was typing my reply.

I sincerely apologize to CFC, and to you, as the president of CFC, and to the whole team, for my decision of quitting in the middle of the tournament. I hope my situation will not happen again for future players.
Thank you again, Vlad. I sincerely appreciate your all-time kindness to me.

Best,
Kaiqi

I think we should move on from this.

[David Ottosen]

Sorry but quitting on your team over a perceived slight is an absolute no go to me. You play for the logo on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.

Maybe the captain's reasoning was sound. Maybe not. Not worth quitting over, especially less than halfway through the event.

[Francis Rodriguez]

................
As Kerry Liles pointed out, “Chess players have egos - many are quite large and expanding”.

Lost mine.....many years back....a long time ego!

[Vlad Drkulec]

This situation, indeed, cannot be played back, but it can be greatly smoothed out. If Yang Kaiqi found the courage to admit that he made a rash decision under the influence of emotion; that he regrets it (and even apologies to the team); that it would be more correct to finish the tournament first, and only then express his concerns; such a move would undoubtedly only increase the respect for GM Kaiqi in the Canadian chess community, and preserve his reputation.

At the same time, such recognition would in no way mean that GM Kaiqi agreed with the Captain's decisions and, if desired, he could continue to defend his point of view.

All people make mistakes sometimes, even good men. But not everyone has the courage to admit these mistakes.

Do we have a chance for a happy ending in this story? I don't know. As Kerry Liles pointed out, “Chess players have egos - many are quite large and expanding”.

I believe this is wise counsel.

The last thing that anyone wants is for us to lose another grandmaster like what has happened too many times in the past.

[Victor Itkine]

There is nothing that can be done to resolve what happened. What can we do going forward?

This situation, indeed, cannot be played back, but it can be greatly smoothed out. If Yang Kaiqi found the courage to admit that he made a rash decision under the influence of emotion; that he regrets it (and even apologies to the team); that it would be more correct to finish the tournament first, and only then express his concerns; such a move would undoubtedly only increase the respect for GM Kaiqi in the Canadian chess community, and preserve his reputation.

At the same time, such recognition would in no way mean that GM Kaiqi agreed with the Captain's decisions and, if desired, he could continue to defend his point of view.

All people make mistakes sometimes, even good men. But not everyone has the courage to admit these mistakes.

Do we have a chance for a happy ending in this story? I don't know. As Kerry Liles pointed out, “Chess players have egos - many are quite large and expanding”.

[Francis Rodriguez]

Maybe even a friendly chess boxing match? I’ll happily chip in towards a winner takes all prize fund!

Maybe get Jonathan Yu to chip in too?

[Kevin Me]

I would like to see a grudge match between the players involved here streamed LIVE on national Twitch.tv. I think that this would bring in some good viewership and boost interest in chess in Canada.

Maybe even a friendly chess boxing match? I’ll happily chip in towards a winner takes all prize fund!

[Brad Thomson]

The more things change the more they remain the same.

[Vlad Drkulec]

I am not a lawyer but I did have a class in business law and for there to be a contract, there has to be consideration (some form of payment). That is why sometimes you are asked to make a down payment of as little as $1. This is only an aside.

[Kerry Liles]

If we are going to have a very public airing of grievances, I would prefer that it occurs on the CFC forum where we can be assured that it won't descend into the type of troll fest that often occurs on chesstalk.
...

Although this thread is somewhat distressing to read through, I don't see a lot of trolling here other than by the 3(?) major persona in the dispute (Victor, Kaiqi & Nickolai)
Of course, there are the inevitable posts from outsiders voicing their 'opinions' and so on.
The CFC forums are not regularly monitored by most of the chess players in Canada (at least that is the impression I have) and moving this to that platform pretty much
will end the discussion. Perhaps that is the idea?
Motions can be proposed, possibly debated and refined, in any context - getting them to pass in the CFC universe is a separate matter entirely.
Chess players have egos - many are quite large and expanding. I think that is just a fact of life and makes a lot of rule-making very difficult.

[Victor Itkine]

Victor Plotkin has done a lot for Canadian chess. He is a good man.

Kaiqi Yang is also a good man.

And Vlad Drkulec is also a good man and good CFC President trying to reconcile two other good men.

But the point here is not who is a good man, but whose actions in this situation were legitimate, and whose actions were not.
Paragraph 2.6 of the Regulations for the FIDE Online Olympiad clearly states: “Each team captain decides on his/her team composition for each match.”
https://www.fide.com/docs/regulation...iad%202020.pdf

Therefore, Victor Plotkin had a legitimate right to pick the players for each match on his sole discretion. One may argue whether Victor's decisions were successful or not. As per my opinion, they were successful, because of Victor's clarifications on his reasons, and because they brought the result. But someone may have a different opinion.

From the other side, GM Kaiqi have quieted the Olympiad in the middle, and this his action was not legitimate, because he entered into Contract with CFC to play at Olympiad under Victor Plotkin's captaincy, and have violated this Contract. Nikolay Noritsyn mentioned in this thread that in case of this online Olympiad there were no written Contracts signed. However, GM Kaiqi has accepted the invitation to play, which is tantamount to signing the Contract. According to Canadian law, an oral contract has the same effect as a written one, even if the case is being tried in court.

Conclusion: Victor Plotkin's action in this situation was legitimate, while GM Kaiqi's action was not.

The only question here is: will there be any punishment for this not legitimate action, or due to imperfection of CFC regulations, GM Kaiqi will be lucky enough to get out of this situation with impunity.

[Aman Hambleton]

Actually, both of my decisions that Kaiqi did not like, placing Mark instead of him in Round 1 and Raja instead of him in Round 4, were both successful and significantly improved our tournament situation. Thanks to Mark's win in round 1 we won against Argentina and thanks to Raja's win in round 4, we won our match against very strong Cuban team.

To be continued...

It begs the question: was the participation goal from Kaiqi to play as many games as possible, or win as many matches as possible? Why even have an argument about captain decisions when they are working? Personally, I would happily sit out every game if the team is winning, even if i deem myself equally or more capable than my 'replacement'

Extremely entertaining thread thus far

[Victor Plotkin]

If we are going to have a very public airing of grievances, I would prefer that it occurs on the CFC forum where we can be assured that it won't descend into the type of troll fest that often occurs on chesstalk. Victor Plotkin has done a lot for Canadian chess. He is a good man. He is a very logical man. He bases his actions and decisions based on mathematical calculations in many cases.

Kaiqi Yang is also a good man. He has stepped forward and volunteered and performed admirably as a coach for the CFC. I have met him a few times and corresponded with him. He has coached a few of my students and former students and they all say wonderful things about him. I am not happy with his decision to leave the team without at least letting me know that there was a problem. I can understand how this can happen. The player feels hurt and offended and unfairly treated and it doesn't seem to be any way to resolve the situation and so he removes himself from the situation.

This is however in the past. There is nothing that can be done to resolve what happened. What can we do going forward? What lessons can we take from this situation?

Chess in Canada is often a house divided which as a result cannot prosper because we are too busy fighting each other instead of doing the things which will help us move the ball towards the goal at the other end of the field. Lets stop fighting each other and fight the issues which are holding us back.

So far I see only one troll here -- the person who started this thread. His mention of Nikolay's younger brother was absolutely unnecessary, and in my opinion, is an example of trolling and bullying. However, if you want to move this discussion to CFC forum, I don't mind doing this.

You asked about lessons, what can we learn from this conflict? For the next CFC voting members meeting, I am going to propose a motion which allows CFC executives to adjust a certain player's FIDE and/or CFC rating for qualification matters, following the recommendations of CFC rating auditor and CFC master representative. Also, I am going to support a motion which penalizes a player for leaving Canadian team in the middle of a tournament.

Many people here mentioned communication issues between captain and players. Before and during the tournament, I exchanged emails with many team players, including players on the men's boards -- Nikolay and Raja. A few days before the start of the tournament I provided my phone number to the team with the words: "from 7 am to midnight, any problem, any time." A few players used this number to call me and we had good discussions about their questions, which I answered. After first tournament day, I sent an email to every player with an analysis of our play, tournament situation, chances, and our next opponent(s). There is always more that can be done, but I don't see a lack of communication from my side.

[Vlad Drkulec]

If we are going to have a very public airing of grievances, I would prefer that it occurs on the CFC forum where we can be assured that it won't descend into the type of troll fest that often occurs on chesstalk. Victor Plotkin has done a lot for Canadian chess. He is a good man. He is a very logical man. He bases his actions and decisions based on mathematical calculations in many cases.

Kaiqi Yang is also a good man. He has stepped forward and volunteered and performed admirably as a coach for the CFC. I have met him a few times and corresponded with him. He has coached a few of my students and former students and they all say wonderful things about him. I am not happy with his decision to leave the team without at least letting me know that there was a problem. I can understand how this can happen. The player feels hurt and offended and unfairly treated and it doesn't seem to be any way to resolve the situation and so he removes himself from the situation.

This is however in the past. There is nothing that can be done to resolve what happened. What can we do going forward? What lessons can we take from this situation?

Chess in Canada is often a house divided which as a result cannot prosper because we are too busy fighting each other instead of doing the things which will help us move the ball towards the goal at the other end of the field. Lets stop fighting each other and fight the issues which are holding us back.