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Even if KS had no problem at all with the CFC, why would he, a serious professionnal chess player, want to spend over 2 weeks of his time every second year to play in olympiads for no financial compensation at all ? It is all very nice to represent one's country but eventually one must somehow make a living off his chosen profession. This is not just KS's problem...
Another good question, however KS had made it clear before (and recently) that his problem is in fact with certain people involved with the CFC.
Perhaps money is also an issue. If that's the case, perhaps he could state - unequivocally - how much it would take to be worth his while?
I'd be interested to know just how many countries pay their teams, and (below the top-10 or so) how much?
Also, there is the problem of all our Canadian IMs and GMs quitting chess after a few years.
Yes. By the time many have reached their early 20's they have played at every level available in this country. The only thing remaining is becoming a candidate and it's a 2700+ world.
A Canadian closed should be a round robin and not a swiss. Also better sponsorship and a decent prize. Top players should be playing other top players.
The CFC wants player to commit. Do they commit by telling a player who has a very good Olympiad he WILL be on the next team if he wants?
As I see it, GM Spraggett playing on first board would not only bring many points to the Canadian olympic team, but he would also play the role of mentor for the young members of the team.
It is generally desirable to have your best players on the team. But there is no sure thing in life. The last time GM Spraggett played was in Bled 2002. It did not turn out quite as planned, neither for the points nor for the "mentoring". In any case do we wish our young hopefuls to follow in KS's footsteps ang go earn a living abroad ? Of course it does make sense for them but hopefully the CFC has a preference for creating the conditions that will allow our players to stay here and keep having a meaningfull and at least minimally rewarding chess life.
I agree. Considering the CFC rating at this level doesn't make any sense.
Also, GM Kovalyov should be part of the team on next Olympiads. Maybe we could hope for an all-GM team? :)
How about GM. Anton Kovalyov? Nobody is talking about him in the team? He is not worthy to be a part of the team??
:)
Re: Re : Re: Re : Re: Re : Canadian Team selection process
Would different players attract different level of sponsorship for the Olympic team? Would different players have a different attitude towards representing their country? Maybe the selection process should consider these questions, and the decision should be made also on a player's commitment to proudly represent his/her country. Armenia is a good exemple. With the exception of Aronian, the others are good but not exceptional players, however their commitment creates a synergy not seen within many other teams. Another exemple, this time from football (soccer) - the great team of Spain won three Championships in the last four years, but not before their coach left out Raul, a superstar that created more trouble in the locker room than he benefited in the field.
So rating alone should not be the only factor. Commitment to the game and personal attitude, in chess and outside chess, should be taken into account.
I like Mr. Plotkin's idea to give the 5th place to a promising junior. Even a qualification tournament - round robin - for this purpose will make sense.
Re: Re : Re: Re : Re: Re : Canadian Team selection process
Originally posted by Laurentiu GrigorescuView Post
Would different players attract different level of sponsorship for the Olympic team?
Yes, I think so. "Looking good" while winning is what sponsors look for. Having an Olympiad team who is "aesthetic" would be the best choice for Canada in my opinion. Names that come to my mind are Aman Hambleton, Eric Hansen, Liza Orlova, and Anton Kovalyov.
There must be a formula/algorithm that takes into consideration ELO and aesthetic appearance.
Once the sponsors have invested their money on our "aesthetic" team, then can we field our strongest possible line-up as we will still have the sponsors money on our side. However, our team would not be the most "aesthetic" anymore.
Re : Re: Re : Re: Re : Canadian Team selection process
This reminds me of an episode from the mid 1980s. I was editor of the FQE chess magazine, and Kevin was a regular contributor. One day he brought me his article, and at the same time showed me a letter he had just received from the CFC. There was a list of a dozen names or so at the top of the letter, and then something like this:
"Dear CFC member
If your name appears among those given at the top, then you are entitled to play in the Canadian Closed. You have until (some date) to confirm your participation, otherwise your place will be offered to someone else."
And he told me something like: "I'm not any random CFC member after all. If the CFC really wanted their highest rated player to play in their championship, would they send such an impersonal letter like this? Does the CFC really care if I play or not?"
Since Kevin is the one who has the problem with the CFC... perhaps he could outline - clearly - what exactly would have to happen for him to participate in 2014. Then the CFC could decide one way or the other if that was of interest to them. I don't think he will actually clearly state what he wants, however. But I challenge him to prove me wrong :)
Let's imagine GM Spraggett's thinking while reading this. "If Mr. Mallon really wanted me to represent Canada at the next Olympiad, would he try to convince me by using such a negative approach?"
To me, what you wrote shows (at best) a huge lack of enthusiasm... or a very serious gap in your knowledge of what a sales pitch is.
It's not so easy to select. There are 5-8 GMs to choose from (9 including Lesiege), although they should not be rusty. For example, Charbonneau occasionally plays.
Top FIDE (i=inactive) [ol=year played on Olympiad team]
1 Kovalyov, Anton GM 2598
(2 Bluvshtein, Mark GM 2590 i2011 [ol2010, 08, 06, 04, 02])
3 Spraggett, Kevin GM 2572 [ol2002, 00, 98, 96, 94, 92, 90, 86]
4 Sambuev, Bator GM 2535 [ol2012]
(5 Lesiege, Alexandre GM 2528 i2004 [ol2002, 00, 98, 92])
(6 Charbonneau, Pascal GM 2517 i2011 [ol2008, 06, 04, 02, 00])
7 Hansen, Eric IM 2502 [ol2012]
8 Tyomkin, Dimitri GM 2486 [ol 2004]
(9 Roussel-Roozmon, Thomas GM 2476 i2011 [ol2010, 08, 06])
The idea of always including a junior or IM is interesting, perhaps limit them to only 1 Olympiad experience. So possible newcomers could be Zhe Quan, Bindi Cheng, Raja Panjwani, Shyiam Thavandiran, or Renier Castellanos.
Other top FIDE (over 2400)
(9 Zugic, Igor IM 2462 i2009 [ol2008, 06, 04, 00])
10 Noritsyn, Nikolay IM 2461 [ol2012, 10, 08]
11 Gerzhoy, Leonid IM 2461 [ol2012, 10]
(12 Teplitsky, Yan IM 2448 i2008 [ol2004, 02, 96])
13 Quan, Zhe IM 2431
(14 Linskiy, Oleg M. FM 2424 i2002)
(15 Rabinovich, Alexander IM 2423i)
(16 Marantz, Michael FM 2420 i19xx)
17 Porper, Edward IM 2420 [ol2012]
(18 Suttles, Duncan GM 2420 i19xx) [ol1984, 82, 74, 72, 70, 68, 66, 64]
(19 Pelts, Roman FM 2417 i19xx) [ol1988, 84, 82]
20 Krnan, Tomas IM 2415 [ol2006]
21 Cheng, Bindi IM 2415
22 Adam, Valerian IM 2407i2009)
23 Kriventsov, Stanislav G IM 2406 i2006)
24 Panjwani, Raja IM 2403
25 Hebert, Jean IM 2399 [ol2002, 96, 90, 84, 82, 80, 78]
26 Samsonkin, Artiom IM 2396 [ol2010]
Others who have played in an Olympiad
(Hergott, Deen IM 2385 i2003 [ol1998, 94, 92, 90, 88, 86, 84])
Hartman, Brian IM 2374 [ol2004, 84]
O'Donnell, Tom IM 2350 [ol1994, 92, 90, 88]
Yoos, Jack (FM) 2340 [ol2000]
Livshits, Ron IM 2336 i2009 [ol2006, 96, 94]
Cummings, David IM 2328 [ol2000, 1996]
(Taylor, Gordon (FM) 2309 i19xx[ol 1990])
Piasetski, Leon IM 2298 [ol 1992, 88, 78, 76, 74]
Day, Lawrence IM 2225 [ol 1998, 96, 94, 92, 86, 84, 82, 80, 78, 76, 74, 72, 68]
Top CFC (over 2500)
1 Sambuev, Bator QC 2689
2 Kovalyov, Anton QC 2638
3 Bluvshtein, Mark ON 2632
4 Spraggett, Kevin Por 2618
5 Noritsyn, Nikolay ON 2605
6 Charbonneau, Pascal USA 2585
7 Hansen, Eric AB 2579
8 Le Siege, Alexandre QC 2577
9 Gerzhoy, Leonid ON 2571
10 Tyomkin, Dimitry Isr 2570
11 Krnan, Tomas ON 2562
12 Samsonkin, Artiom ON 2552
13 Panjwani, Raja ON 2517
14 Zugic, Igor ON 2516
15 Thavandiran, Shiyam ON 2514
16 Castellanos, Renier QC 2501
Last edited by Erik Malmsten; Saturday, 15th September, 2012, 05:59 PM.
Reason: punctuation
And he told me something like: "I'm not any random CFC member after all. If the CFC really wanted their highest rated player to play in their championship, would they send such an impersonal letter like this? Does the CFC really care if I play or not?"
...
Let's imagine GM Spraggett's thinking while reading this. "If Mr. Mallon really wanted me to represent Canada at the next Olympiad, would he try to convince me by using such a negative approach?"
To me, what you wrote shows (at best) a huge lack of enthusiasm... or a very serious gap in your knowledge of what a sales pitch is.
No, in fact I don't think Kevin Spraggett would be a good addition to the Canadian team at this point. Given how many people in Canada he has trashed over the last 8 years (and even before!) of not actually playing in Canada, I can't see his inclusion as being terribly great for team morale. Unless you made sure the rest of the team were a) people he'd never previously trashed and b) people he personally found acceptable. Not to mention I highly doubt he'd be very attractive to sponsors.
Also, I have basically nothing to do with any Olympiad invitations so there is no reason for me to make any kind of personal invitation to him to explain what his reasoning will be. Even if I did, he's already said I'm the worst thing to ever happen to Canadian Chess (a title bestowed on several people, actually) so he likely won't respond :p
Naturally this is all my personal opinion and as I already said, I have nothing really to do with the selection process other than having a vote as a Governor on what that process is.
If you want to go out of your way to get a particular GM re-involved in Canadian Chess the one you should be trying to find a way to make it work is Mark Bluvshtein. Similar rating, 30 years younger and less baggage.
he's already said I'm the worst thing to ever happen to Canadian Chess
and considering what you recently wrote about abolishing the FQE, and then about abolishing "only the FQE rating"... maybe you are not the best thing to ever happen to Quebec chess either...
and considering what you recently wrote about abolishing the FQE, and then about abolishing "only the FQE rating"... maybe you are not the best thing to ever happen to Quebec chess either...
We're speaking about two separate KS comments here. The one about me in particular was a year or two ago, the other one about certain people in the CFC was in the last month or so.
And I believe I already clarified what happened with the FQE comment. I don't think that having 4+ different rating systems is good for chess in Canada.
...
and considering what you recently wrote about abolishing the FQE, and then about abolishing "only the FQE rating"... maybe you are not the best thing to ever happen to Quebec chess either...
I think that it would be unfair to put Christopher on a pedestal in this matter. Surely the current CFC president and many of his predecessors have nothing to envy him :).
No, in fact I don't think Kevin Spraggett would be a good addition to the Canadian team at this point. Given how many people in Canada he has trashed over the last 8 years (and even before!) of not actually playing in Canada, I can't see his inclusion as being terribly great for team morale. Unless you made sure the rest of the team were a) people he'd never previously trashed and b) people he personally found acceptable. Not to mention I highly doubt he'd be very attractive to sponsors.
Also, I have basically nothing to do with any Olympiad invitations so there is no reason for me to make any kind of personal invitation to him to explain what his reasoning will be. Even if I did, he's already said I'm the worst thing to ever happen to Canadian Chess (a title bestowed on several people, actually) so he likely won't respond :p
Naturally this is all my personal opinion and as I already said, I have nothing really to do with the selection process other than having a vote as a Governor on what that process is.
If you want to go out of your way to get a particular GM re-involved in Canadian Chess the one you should be trying to find a way to make it work is Mark Bluvshtein. Similar rating, 30 years younger and less baggage.
I would have to agree... put KS on the team and I would actually cheer for Canadian Losses. GM Bluvshtein would be a FAR better team player and would not embarrass Canada with stupid comments. It would be so nice if KS would transfer his title to a country that he lives in... he has made it very clear that he cares very little for Canada.
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