KS rubbish revisited

[Kerry Liles]

More rubbish from Kevin Spraggett (on his blog today):

-Quote-
As a way of short digression, in the Canadian chess community, we have a bully who goes by the name of Larry Bevand: director, king, absolute dictator and modern-day oligarch of an otherwise smallish 'blackbox' enterprise known as CMA. (Do you know who is President of this group? I don't! And millions of other Canadians don't know either.) Not only has Larry intimdated and threatened to black-list some of my blog readers from posting pro-''Spraggett on chess'' messages on his chesstalk message board in the past, but he has also intimidated some of my own family members to try to get them to discourage me from publishing my ''True Colours'' report on the state of Canadian chess.

To this I can only say: intimidation is the smaller brother of extortion and blackmail!
It is all in writing, Larry! I only have to re-produce my email inbox.
Sue me! YOU STUPID F***!
-EndQuote- (lightly edited since there are children who read this site)


So, Spraggett, where is this fabled "True Colours" report??
You have talked about it for what seems like forever
- always saying it is just about to be published...
Where's the beef?

Publish, Moron!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

More rubbish

Is it a direct outcome of a last birthday party? :D

[Roger Patterson]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

so if you think it's rubbish, why exactly do you pay attention, and copy & paste to make sure the rest of us see it?

[Kerry Liles]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

so if you think it's rubbish, why exactly do you pay attention, and copy & paste to make sure the rest of us see it?

Simply because it is out there and some people seem to think K.S. should be Saint Kevin... K.S. talks a good game (perhaps) but he so far has failed to deliver.

It seems that he does not provide any mechanism to reply to posts on his blog (moderated or not) and therefore his statements necessarily go unchallenged.

Given the title of this thread, I don't think it is a stretch to believe that people who don't care are able to ignore it...

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

[QUOTE=Kerry Liles;31220]...It seems that he does not provide any mechanism to reply to posts on his blog (moderated or not) and therefore his statements necessarily go unchallenged.... QUOTE]

From Kevin's site:

"Questions and inquiries can be sent to spraggettblog@yahoo.com"

[Alex Ferreira]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

Hi,


I don't know Spraggett the man, and know some in terms of his chess by living and playing chess in Canada, and visiting his blog sometimes. Unfortunately chesstalk is way too keen on feuds and long histories I don't care too much for.
(I have my blitz friendly grudge matches at the Hart House Chess Club)

However, Spraggett's blog has incredible entertainment and educational value in my opinion. And I will not stop visiting it because he has posted a picture of an upside down Canadian flag, or because he has some problems with some people. I simply SCROLL DOWN on the stuff I don't consider interesting, and get to the goods: chess and humour.

The tactics puzzles are quite sharp and good, and Kevin Spraggett's chess analyzes are absolutely awesome, and more often than not, on games that happened... a few hours prior. Combined with some pretty entertaining humour, even if some of it seems a bit vulgar, it makes for a pretty enjoyable read. I've also learned a few things from his blog completely unrelated to chess, from some random articles about facts or interesting things.

So KS promises an article that everyone is talking about because they have nothing too interesting to do while waiting for it. One thing seems to work for him though: it's a publicity stunt and many people keep coming back and reading everything else KS wants to show you. YOU keep his blog running, as interested parties. Maybe it will be an interesting article, or a rant, or a personal issue. Or maybe it will never be published. I don't know, I don't much care.

I visit his site 2-3 times a week because I get something out of it every time. I plan to visit his blog whether an article comes out or not, and / or even after it's published, provided Mr. Spraggett keeps making his blog educational and entertaining.

The reason I posted this is because everything I read about his blog on chesstalk is negative, and maybe I am naive but I find a lot of positive in it, worth re-visiting.


Alex Ferreira

[Ed Seedhouse]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

When Spraggett started slagging a nice honest elderly lady whom I happened to know, and who has done far more for chess than I or anyone else I know has, I tuned out and have no plans to go back unless and until someone lets me know he has recanted and apologized to her.

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

...The reason I posted this is because everything I read about his blog on chesstalk is negative, and maybe I am naive but I find a lot of positive in it, worth re-visiting.


Alex Ferreira

I think there has been a fair bit of praise here for Kevin's blog. And, no matter what you think of his politics, he is the best Canadian chess player ever. I would buy, sight unseen, any chess book he wrote.

But I can see how his writings can rile some people. I always thought that was his aim.

[Adam Cormier]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

He might be the Bill O'Reilly or the Glenn Beck of the Canadian Chess Community(I've heard from several sources that O'reilly's persona on TV might be more of an act than his actual views, while Glenn Beck is just insane). He might not believe everything he is saying and is just doing it to arouse discussion or cause controversy, maybe he enjoys it?

Not that I'm defending his actions but it is a possibility. Of course he might just be extremely deluded and has his sense of reality horribly skewed.

[Brad Thomson]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

Kevin Spraggett causes me to feel one emotion, pity.

[Peter Bokhout]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

Perhaps we have a simple case of sour grapes here - none of us, including GM Kevin, thought of the Chess 'n Math idea before Larry Bevand did! As a result he is making money while the rest of us are just looking in! But we only have ourselves to blame...

[Kerry Liles]

Re: KS rubbish revisited

Perhaps we have a simple case of sour grapes here - none of us, including GM Kevin, thought of the Chess 'n Math idea before Larry Bevand did! As a result he is making money while the rest of us are just looking in! But we only have ourselves to blame...

Chess 'n Math is a non-profit. Presumably, Strategy Games is a business venture, and I hope it makes some money - although I don't see much company info on the Internet...

Anyway, if KS ever actually publishes his rants, we might learn the specifics of his complaints about all and sundry. From what KS posted on his blog, I gather that Larry suggested that it wasn't wise to publish what might be considered slanderous (KS seems to think that such suggestions to not do something is a sort of threat; without seeing the fabled emails or other correspondence, it is rather hard to tell).

I'm tired of KS making blanket statements (that can't be rebutted in the same blog where they are posted) and constantly making promises to publish his pronouncements (anyone remember how long it took for him to produce his blockbuster report on the Olympiad Team fiasco several years back? A "21-page report..." (or something like that) that turned out to be a yawn. And so it goes.

I very much like the chess content of KS's blog, but the level of claptrap is getting too much.