Canada at the Olypmiad

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

Organizers are doing things to benefit the players - they are giving them a chance to play. Anything else is their problem. And maybe there are no Canadian GMs playing because there are not that many and they need to go out and earn a living in a country that does not value their skills as chess players. That is the reality of Canada. Why people do not get it is beyond me. Anyone who thinks that Canada will be a chess power is detached from reality. And I would like it to be! But I am a realist.

Why is it you don't think Canada will be a chess power in the future? Do you figure Canadians don't have the brains, the drive or the organizers who can't train and pair the players properly at the club level?

Any organizer who thinks all he has to do is take a players money and give them a chance to play with no other responsibilities is, in my opinion, a poor stupid jerk.

Most want to play like Fischer and an organizerr should be having events and pairings which challenge players. I used to use a combination of class and open events. With correspondence chess I used to try to get the good players into international play as fast as I could. From there it was onto the national teams if we had room.

What are those organizers you envision there to do? Gratify themselves or provide a service to the players?

There is one Canadian who has done very well and shows the Canadian flag in events around the world. When other Canadians are also entered guess who normally finishes higher.

Why is it the over 45's, or maybe now it's the over 50's, are doing so well in chess in Canada? Could it be a relection of the kind of responsibilities you think the organizers should have?

The kind of organizers you paint in your picture, where anything else is the players problem, reminds me of a big dog which poops on the rug and then looks around like it's someone elses problem.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

So have the organizers. I believe a top player needs the services of a strong organizer more than an organizer needs the services of the top players since I believe a tournament can be just as successful, if not more, through volume of players instead of quality.

I've organized tournaments both ways. Small events and large events. Pairings in large events can also be interesting and challenging. The largest correspondence event I organized in Canada was over 400 entrants so I know there is interest.

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

Now, Jean, please indulge us for a moment, because what I'm about to ask is very important.

So respectfull for a second. And in the previous post it was "Hebert be damned"... Almost gets a tear rolling off my eye.
As if anything that the king of hypocrisy and ignorance may say, ask or think could have any importance.

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

Hi Marc, I would be interested in chatting with you to try and learn a few things.

The kind of smart things to do for open-minded people. Taking defensive positions to try to make virtues out of shortcomings and negligence is not leading anywhere.

[Paul Leblanc]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

To get back to the original topic, I intend to make a donation in addition to my share of the Victoria Chess Club contribution already sent in.
This is because I care about our Olympiad team and I admire the dedication of those willing to play for Canada, even at their own expense.
It is shameful for those who claim to care about chess to offer nothing but cynicism towards the fund raising effort.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

It is pretty unbelievable to see someone who signs his messages "President, Ontario Chess Association" write that he has no use for sponsors. Why then would anyone volunteer to help you out find sponsors you have no need for ? Is it that you are not aware of your responsibilities or that you have taken up too much for your actual capabilities ? No one pretending to be an organizer should say (or think) that he has no need for sponsors. It would be like a player saying that he needs no opponents.

Regarding your "point" that for some reason you seem to consider very important to "win", it is a non-starter. Jean Hébert as a player with some achievements, coach, teacher, author is and always has been available to meet and talk to people involved or potentially involved in chess, including organizers and sponsors.

What is it, 2 years between chess Olympiads? So Jean Hebert has had nearly 2 years to meet and talk to people involved or potentially involved in chess, including organizers and sponsors, to secure funding for the national team. And gee whiz, it just hasn't worked out. Well, if the Almighty can't do it, what chance do regular organizers have?

Returning to reality, it's obvious Jean Hebert's "availability" either isn't free or isn't there at all for anything to do with the Olympiad. Could that possibly be because the Olympiad doesn't offer huge cash prizes? But those weekend events in Quebec sure do. I wonder if Jean helped secure sponsors for the Quebec Elite event in which he just won over $800? He'll probably deny it, but my guess is he was there. He knows who butters his bread.

Really, folks, anything you hear coming from Jean Hebert has to be taken in this context: he wants an easy chess life, where he can just show up and make enough money to be able to tell the starstruck public that he's a pro chess player, and he wants the frazzled organizers to do all the heavy lifting for no compensation, because they love the game.

The irony is so heavy here. He's on this thread ranting because he "cares" about what is good for chess in Canada... he pretends to be available to talk to organizers and sponsors.... the one thing that most of us would agree is good for chess in Canada, a national team, he has done nothing for.... and the only "talking" he seems to do to organizers, on this board anyway, is to call them dumbells and tell them to move their asses and get him some prize money.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

In any of these fund-raising posts - why don't you simply replace Jean's name with any other Canadian GM or IM? Same result - what other GM or IM has secured funding for the Olympiad teams? Jean is the only GM/IM responding in this thread (and Tom O'D to some extent), so of course everyone dumps on him!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

Same result - what other GM or IM has secured funding for the Olympiad teams?

Two years ago teams raised 2k$ in a one day with Gary Gladstone's help.
http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/sh...8&postcount=14

[Roger Patterson]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

well, imagine that by some miracle you became good enough to qualify for the team for 1 year, but unlucky for you, that's the year the fundraising efforst came up short. Sorry, we don't send a team without 100% financing. You can't pay yourself. How would you feel about that?

You mention the fundraising efforts of Brian Hartman and Sid Belzberg. Brian has told me in the past that it was an intensely unpleasant experience - not the raising funds part - the part of dealing with the chess community - those who stood to benefit and miscellaneous others who attributed dark sinister motives to his efforts. Don't know about Sid's opinion but at the time there were certainly some negative comments going round.

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

What is it, 2 years between chess Olympiads? So Jean Hebert has had nearly 2 years to meet and talk to people involved or potentially involved in chess, including organizers and sponsors, to secure funding for the national team. And gee whiz, it just hasn't worked out. Well, if the Almighty can't do it, what chance do regular organizers have?

Returning to reality, it's obvious Jean Hebert's "availability" either isn't free or isn't there at all for anything to do with the Olympiad. Could that possibly be because the Olympiad doesn't offer huge cash prizes? But those weekend events in Quebec sure do. I wonder if Jean helped secure sponsors for the Quebec Elite event in which he just won over $800? He'll probably deny it, but my guess is he was there. He knows who butters his bread.

Really, folks, anything you hear coming from Jean Hebert has to be taken in this context: he wants an easy chess life, where he can just show up and make enough money to be able to tell the starstruck public that he's a pro chess player, and he wants the frazzled organizers to do all the heavy lifting for no compensation, because they love the game.

The irony is so heavy here. He's on this thread ranting because he "cares" about what is good for chess in Canada... he pretends to be available to talk to organizers and sponsors.... the one thing that most of us would agree is good for chess in Canada, a national team, he has done nothing for.... and the only "talking" he seems to do to organizers, on this board anyway, is to call them dumbells and tell them to move their asses and get him some prize money.

And aside from your feud with Jean, what have you done? This is getting tiresome and has never been particularly productive either.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

In any of these fund-raising posts - why don't you simply replace Jean's name with any other Canadian GM or IM? Same result - what other GM or IM has secured funding for the Olympiad teams? Jean is the only GM/IM responding in this thread (and Tom O'D to some extent), so of course everyone dumps on him!

Jean is advertising himself:

"Jean Hébert as a player with some achievements, coach, teacher, author is and always has been available to meet and talk to people involved or potentially involved in chess, including organizers and sponsors."

Yet he has done nothing for the national team. It's clear, and people who read his "advices" should know, that he is only out to improve his own finances. The national team doesn't play into that.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

And aside from your feud with Jean, what have you done? This is getting tiresome and has never been particularly productive either.

It's not what I've done versus what Jean has done. Jean is the one very vocally claiming he has the solution, and anyone not following his solution should quit (organizing). Aside from not being productive, that could very well be DESTRUCTIVE and cost many players their local organizer.

[Roger Patterson]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

there's a post further down about Brian Hartman's effort a few years back. Apart from anything else, it was the effort of someone who had been on the Olympiad team previously, benefited from all of that stuff, and then working to contribute back. A circle of 'chess' if not life. :-)

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Canada at the Olypmiad

It is shameful for those who claim to care about chess to offer nothing but cynicism towards the fund raising effort.

The first undermining factor is for the CFC to allow the women to pay their own way, thus making the fund raising partly expandable.
The second factor is this constant resistance to a concerted and organised effort to find sponsors, which is the only way to establish a basis to solve not only this year's problem, but also the next olympiads problems. Anything goes to block the idea: there are no sponsors, chess is not popular, looking for it is a pain in the ass (Ottosen), it won't work, it works only in Quebec, the CFC doesn't want to do it, the players should do it, it is not needed, etc. Lots of cynicism and denial, indeed.

[Duncan Smith]

Re: Canada at the Olympiad

This is not exactly the whole situation quite a few players from the last few teams chose not to attempt to qualify. So there is significant turnover which might affect their ability to build a contendor anytime soon. This might get worse two years down the road because most of the current team will be university age. Pretty decent team though given the circumstances.

It seems to me that the CFC spends far too much time wondering if there should be a women's team and not enough time ensuring the arrangements are good to allow for good results.