Congratulations to Irina Barron!

[Ben Daswani]

Let's see if we can't sink our rating below 2000 before flying halfway around the world on sponsors' money!

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Congratulations to Irina Barron!

Let's see if we can't sink our rating below 2000 before flying halfway around the world on sponsors' money!

So, are you saying she should have withdrawn from the Labour Day Open after the 1st, 2nd or perhaps 3rd round to protect her rating??

Kudos to her (and others) for showing up and tuning up despite the inevitable sniping from wanna be

[Ben Daswani]

Re: Congratulations to Irina Barron!

So, are you saying she should have withdrawn from the Labour Day Open after the 1st, 2nd or perhaps 3rd round to protect her rating??

Kudos to her (and others) for showing up and tuning up despite the inevitable sniping from wanna be

No, I'm saying she should learn how to not suck at chess before accepting thousands of dollars in sponsors' money.

"Wanna be"? I'm a stronger chess player than she is. In what context am I a "wanna be"?

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Congratulations to Irina Barron!

No, I'm saying she should learn how to not suck at chess before accepting thousands of dollars in sponsors' money.

"Wanna be"? I'm a stronger chess player than she is. In what context am I a "wanna be"?

It seemed to me that your mini rant was uncalled for and rude, and that likely was due to your disappointment at not being selected... :p

As far as I know, there were no terms attached to the selection - if a player qualified, they might be offered the chance to go - regardless of what happened to their rating in the meantime...

[John Coleman]

Good practice

Personally, I was pleased to see the five women playing; with any kind of luck they are sharpening their skills, trying out lines, etc. It would be nice if each of them was at the top of her game, but the goal is to be in form at the Olympiad.

I think you are being a bit spiteful, Ben (or ben).

[Duncan Smith]

Re: Good practice

*************

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Good practice

It seems the critics just always need to find someone to pick on if they don't all register good results every event. Three months ago it was Hazel and she looked pretty close to sharp this weekend in most of her games. She was experimenting with openings which cost her rating points no doubt but that's not the point of playing. Ochkoos took 6 hours to beat her first round, he's a 2300+ player/coach who beat a GM this weekend. Dina looked close to ready to go already. Yuanling and Natalia no issue really to start with.

There is no reason to believe Irina will not improve again by November. There is no reason not to believe she is trying a few new things out this weekend, or just simply understands a weekend event in September is not that important in the bigger picture.

I think it's important to counter this negative crap. So little perspective is gained trying to use crosstables and ratings to evaluate people. It's just dirty politics.

ps Ben Daswani recently came last in a RR with a performance around 1900 and nobody congratulated him for doing so on a bulletin Board. At some point he was a CFC governor during the organization's decline phase.

Hi Duncan,

Since you brought it up and made me curious, I looked. 2.5/6. Lost 11 rating points. Performance rating of 2034.

Look it up yourself then you won't have to guess. You'll know.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

more practice

Since you brought it up and made me curious, I looked. 2.5/6. Lost 11 rating points. Performance rating of 2034.

Look it up yourself then you won't have to guess.

Since you brought it up again and made me curious, I looked. 1.5/5. Lost 48 rating points. Performance rating of 1918.

Maybe you should look it up again.

[moderator hat on]

All of this is, of course, irrelevant. Ben's initial remarks with their mock congratulations were just sarcastic and mean-spirited. They could even be looked upon as objectionable or as a personal attack - both of which violate our General Guidelines.

If Ben - or anyone else for that matter - makes a habit of such remarks, then I expect they will be hearing about it from me, or Chris, or someone, and asked to tone it down.

[moderator hat off]

[Ben Daswani]

Re: Congratulations to Irina Barron!

It seemed to me that your mini rant was uncalled for and rude, and that likely was due to your disappointment at not being selected... :p

As far as I know, there were no terms attached to the selection - if a player qualified, they might be offered the chance to go - regardless of what happened to their rating in the meantime...

Why would I expect to receive funding from the CFC? I barely deserve it more than Irina Barron does. I'm just pointing out how frivolously money is being wasted, especially considering the numerous children who are stronger than she is.

She has every right to accept the invitation and funding, but then she should expect to be criticised if she performs poorly. This is an Olympic competition, is it not? Was Chris Pronger immune from criticism after his performance in Turin?

Personally, I was pleased to see the five women playing; with any kind of luck they are sharpening their skills, trying out lines, etc. It would be nice if each of them was at the top of her game, but the goal is to be in form at the Olympiad.

I think you are being a bit spiteful, Ben (or ben).

The goals (of the CFC) should be to promote the game and develop strong players. Expert-rated adults should not be on the CFC's radar, funding-wise. I don't care what Irina Barron's personal goals are. I am irked by her actions, namely her selfish acceptance of chess funding - a rare commodity in Canada - that would have better been spent on juniors.

It seems the critics just always need to find someone to pick on if they don't all register good results every event. Three months ago it was Hazel and she looked pretty close to sharp this weekend in most of her games. She was experimenting with openings which cost her rating points no doubt but that's not the point of playing. Ochkoos took 6 hours to beat her first round, he's a 2300+ player/coach who beat a GM this weekend. Dina looked close to ready to go already. Yuanling and Natalia no issue really to start with.

There is no reason to believe Irina will not improve again by November. There is no reason not to believe she is trying a few new things out this weekend, or just simply understands a weekend event in September is not that important in the bigger picture.

I think it's important to counter this negative crap. So little perspective is gained trying to use crosstables and ratings to evaluate people. It's just dirty politics.

ps Ben Daswani recently came last in a RR with a performance around 1900 and nobody congratulated him for doing so on a bulletin Board. At some point he was a CFC governor during the organization's decline phase.

DUNCAN SMITH. Classic replier. For those of you who are new to ChessTalk, let me give you a summary of Me vs. Duncan. For the past seven years, I've expressed my opinion, and then Duncan has replied and pointed out that I lost rating at some tournament.

Duncan, I'm going to number my points to make it easier for you actually debate rationally and sanely. I know you won't number your points, respond to all of my points, or even construct a semblance of a logical argument, but I feel that these facts will be made more noticeable by my neat structuring of my ideas.

1. I agree that there is no issue with the play of the the top three performers, although that doesn't justify gender-based funding in the first place.

2. Hazel scored +0 -0 =2 against players under 1900, no? I admit, that's a marked improvement from losing to someone under 1700, but still, that's "pretty close to sharp"?

3. I know you're very weak relative to the experts and masters on whose development who so frequently pontificate, but even you should know that lasting six hours doesn't mean one played well. What does the average reader know about the game? Was it close for the first five hours and 40 moves? Did Ochkoos easily gain an advantage in the opening and simply grind out a textbook win?

4. Crosstables are the best way of evaluating chess players. They're tables of quantitative results. What would you prefer, judging on the basis of who underwent the most emotional growth? The Olympiad's an adult event; participants are expected to perform well.

5. Ben Daswani has also never received or asked for national funding. The minute I do, feel free to put my performances under scrutiny.

[Howard Streit]

Re: Congratulations to Irina Barron!

Recently we ran a thread that queried how to attract former CFC members back to the fold. The initial post on this thread is a good example of how to drive people away from Canadian chess. Petty, sarcastic and disrespectful it is an embarrassment to the spirit of sportsmanship that we should be encouraging.

I guess though Irina should be congratulated for being compared to a millionaire all-star NHL player...though I don't know why or how this fits.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Thanks Howard

Recently we ran a thread that queried how to attract former CFC members back to the fold. The initial post on this thread is a good example of how to drive people away from Canadian chess. Petty, sarcastic and disrespectful it is an embarrassment to the spirit of sportsmanship that we should be encouraging.

Good points.

I've re-looked at this thread and both Ben and Duncan could be faulted for personal attacks. If this sort of thing continues, then I'll simply close the thread.

[Duncan Smith]

Re: Thanks Howard

I don't know how you blundered into the conclusion that I can be faulted for a personal attack but I don't accept your conclusion. However, I also have very little interest in these petty games anymore so I'll delete my entire comment on the thread.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

some more remarks

I don't know how you blundered into the conclusion that I can be faulted for a personal attack but I don't accept your conclusion. However, I also have very little interest in these petty games anymore so I'll delete my entire comment on the thread.

I blundered into that conclusion by noting your remarks about Ben's tournament play and his stint as a Governor. Those two things have nothing to do with Irina's performance or a critique thereof. [I see that you've deleted your comments anyway. You didn't have to.]

Perhaps it's time I just shut up and closed this thread.