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Alireza Firouzja complains about arbiter (Aris) at Candidates
As I understand, family members are allowed the first 15 minutes free gallery spectating. And then after that time control ... they are forced to pay.
A father watching his son play chess in this most critical moment of BOTH their lives.
Such disgusting manipulation, of both the father and the son.
Shame.
Who the f'k thought up that one???
Whomever you are ... please leave Canada. Thanks so much ... sigh.
Neil, you do not understand it. Have you ever been to a CMA tournament? No parents in the playing hall.
Pre-tournament, it was this father who demanded no spectators in and out as they could be a go-between between the players and a person with a computer (even with a 15 minute time delay to the broadcast). The parents/players team never pay, have free entry to the VIP area for the whole tournament. I think the teams also got free hotel rooms, etc. They have been treated very well.
Those living within reasonable distance of Toronto, should probably consider visiting this event. Tickets being sold-out is not a real reason not to make the trip. A 3-week-long event with multiple side-events happening around it. Even going by the venue's main intersection, hanging out at the nearby pubs would absorb some of the vibe. There are those who stand outside the venue's entrance awaiting players to arrive / exit and take a snap-shot. The Candidates are, after all, the single biggest chess event in Toronto's history. And certainly one of the biggest in Canada's history.
Commenting on Chesstalk, sitting at a computer in a far-away land (or even not-so-far-away), is too easy.
The Candidates venue is an older building with creaky wooden floors. The images online of the playing hall display what looks like an arena, walled on most-sides, with balconies above for spectators.
The "ground floor" has artificial "walls" / banners surrounding the playing area. These banners vertically match the balcony's edge, so it looks like a continuous wall from the balcony down. The banners dividing the playing area therefore, separate an inner square / rectangular area, from a wider rectangular area, comprising the outer space.
Although the venue's floors are wooden, the inner space (playing venue) had a half-to-one-foot-high stage put in place, which is carpeted. The outer space (underneath the balcony), where players can pace, sit on a couch, get a snack, wasn't carpeted. And it's directly adjacent to the boards, separated by this banner "wall".
Re: Kerry: spectators have a time-slot to visit the balcony and are not allowed re-entry once they exit.
As for the shoe situation... there have been multiple accounts that Firouzja kept stomping nearby. Not an issue in previous rounds seemingly. Not an issue later in the same round seemingly.
With 16 players plus staff, all in formal dress-code, likely including some women with heels (tendency to be noisier on delicate flooring), the only complaint came in Round 9 about Firouzja.
When Firouzja writes about "all these unprofessional things are happening to me in almost every tournament" - when others don't have the same complaints, it makes me wonder...
Alex Ferreira
Thanks for the (very) relevant information Alex. It is especially useful to know the layout of the playing area and the adjacent spaces.
The first time I saw video of the overhead gallery I thought that this can only lead to multiple issues. I realize there are a lot of issues
in the planning of such an event so I can understand the organizers did what they could given constraints... I saw a video of the moment
when the complaint was made about the noise of the footsteps and in that video the noise could clearly be heard. Some people complain
about anything and many people complain about nothing.
Sounds Like the 1972 World Championship Fischer wanted no camera sounds. He complained and they removed them. So someone complains about shoes. Hey The kid got in to top rated by a loop hole. Now he wants to complain that he is being upset to effect his mind set. I think if Wesley had come there. We would have had a better Candidate,
There were complaints. The arbiter handled the situation efficiently and professionally. End of story.
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
So (pun intended) ... isn't Alireza Firouzja the guy who barely made it into the Candidates by "playing" in some rather dubious last minute "tournaments" to get his rating up? And now he's complaining about the "shameful action" of others! Well, ... huh!
(apologies in advance for thrusting a link on Twitter - I was hoping the video might be on Youtube or some other more sensible platform).
Listening to Aris' account of the incident it seems to me he was more than reasonable and as he pointed out, the arbiter team has an obligation
to protect the interests of ALL players.
Worth a listen in my opinion...
Hello everyone, I won't be getting into a big back-and-forth about this, but after literally weeks of being off ChessTalk (kinda really busy at the Candidates), I'm just catching up now. Big thanks for all the supportive posts, and thanks to Kerry for posting the full Chess.com interview above. Then, ChessBase India posted this video capture: https://twitter.com/i/status/1779945491213508949
I'm not sure from exactly where the sound capture is coming from, as each board had five cameras. There was AI-ish software that would switch between those five automagically. Regardless, no matter which of the five at Abasov-Caruana we're listening to, the microphone is so weak that it cannot pick up the sound of Abasov's voice complaining to me, which was at most two feet away. But, it clearly picks up the footsteps, which were behind a barrier and 15-20 feet away. It was loud. I believe the only person who has commented here so far, and was also there in person, was Erik, and he could hear them from the other end of the hall, and about 1.5 stories higher. In my opinion, this extra noise was innocently accidental, but I felt that I had to intervene appropriately.
Specifically, my objective in intervening was to stop the excess noise. That was achieved, for the rest of that round, and for every round afterwards. With the same shoes. I'm at peace with that.
P.S. All my interactions (albeit brief) with Mr.Firouzja on subsequent days were pleasant. In fact, I was honoured that he chose me to confirm his draw claim in Round 14. We both seem good.
Aris, you handled the situation very well. I think most people agree you were 100% right. Firouzja, sadly to me, seems a bit of a cry baby. I have seen him in other disputes on Youtube.
I am glad he did not hold a grudge against you.
Great job on this matter and the whole tournament.
The whole Candidates to me was run unbelievably well. I wish I could have experienced more of it. Congrats to all the organizers, sponsors and volunteers who made this spectacular event happen.
Aris, you handled the situation very well. I think most people agree you were 100% right. Firouzja, sadly to me, seems a bit of a cry baby. I have seen him in other disputes on Youtube.
I am glad he did not hold a grudge against you.
Great job on this matter and the whole tournament.
The whole Candidates to me was run unbelievably well. I wish I could have experienced more of it. Congrats to all the organizers, sponsors and volunteers who made this spectacular event happen.
Thank you very much Ian. And yes, so many things went so well!! Toronto chess stepped up bigtime!!
(I appreciate there were people helping who came from outside Toronto, but Toronto volunteers ruled)
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