Tweet
Re: Biggest chess scandal in Canadian chess history?
Unless I'm badly mistaken, a working adult can contribute to a pension plan. As for a museum - Canadian chess would require some internationally recognized feats to even consider commemorating such a small element of Canadian culture. Didn't even bother reading the rest of your post.
Unless I'm badly mistaken, a working adult can contribute to a pension plan. As for a museum - Canadian chess would require some internationally recognized feats to even consider commemorating such a small element of Canadian culture. Didn't even bother reading the rest of your post.
Originally posted by Erik Malmsten
View Post
What are scandals as opposed to disasters? Something done poorly or with evil intent? The dictionary says "public disgrace." Two items are not enough for a poll. Canadian Chess has had lots of dirty laundry:
There has been controversies throughout Canadian chess history, such as in the 1870s one city's team was playing telegraph matches with their opening chess book open. Disputes about where the Canadian Championship should be held. A Russian spy at the Ottawa CC. A chess & bridge club being used as a front for gambling. A master who worked with the Nazis. A player who was a pedophile and murderer. A punch being thrown at the Toronto CC. A GM not getting immigration papers to stay in Canada. What about Anderson not getting his GM norm at the Olympiad? When the Canadian Closed was a round-robin someone strong would be left out. Selections to the Olympiad team usually have a difference of opinion, but I don't think anybody has been selected because they're friends. And just last year a strong junior was prevented from representing Canada internationally. Is sending weak juniors to a master event a scandal?
Organizers have organized big events with poor turnout, losing lots of money. There has been organizers who didn't give out all the prizes or forward CFC memberships. The Toronto CC lost its money in being kicked out after renovating and the membership voted against moving to Bloor & Bathurst, leading to its decline. The Toronto Building Fund was swallowed by the CFC. The biggest financial scandal was lottery money going to Man versus Machine 1978. What about paying for a year subscription to a chess magazine that folded after 2 issues?
There has been players cheating. I remember one opponent going to the washroom with a pocket set; the TD refused to peak through the toilet stall. (Also Players peeing at the board.) There has been players in the Canadian Junior who played out a prepared game, player in the Canadian Closed who slept at the board and been woken up, players who have preentered but didn't show up, players who have withdrawn from a round-robin or rusty players who didn't prepare, resulting in preventing a more interested player from playing. A player quitting the Olympiad team mid-tournament. Is it scandalous to play 1. g4!?
There has been lost adjournment envelopes and pairing errors. An organizer deliberately mispaired Hebert in 1985 because he was losing money on the event. But the pairing in the 2006 Canadian Closed wasn't deliberate as it was a computer error. Likewise, the 2010 Canadian Open accelerated pairings barfed out a mispaired point group. So to me the bigger scandal is the CFC continuing to promote a defective product. At the very least, organizers should buy FIDE-recognized software (like Swiss-Manager) and do phantom pairings to double check what Swiss-Sys does. The scandal from that Closed was not paying the food bill to Master's Buffeteria for the closing banquet.
And what does one call the large-scale systemic scandals like the CFC not providing full service in both official languages, going to war with Quebec (Even in last year's agreement with the FQE, players' FQE rating doesn't count for the Olympiad team calculation and the number of FQE rated games doesn't count towards eligibility). The Fischer boom was an opportunity to get government and corporate support and the CFC failed, contributed to the collapse of the Chess Canada empire, and, while 20% of Canadians played chess, CFC had declining membership. Nowadays thousands play chess online, unconnected to the CFC. Hundreds of schools have chess teaches and buy equipment, unconnected to the CFC. At the Olympiad Canada has to compete with teams that get government funding. Canada couldn't afford to send a team to some Olympiads. We have no pension plans for those who have devoted their life to chess. We have no Canadian Hall of Fame chess museum. Canada is its own FIDE zone? Now that's scandalous.
There has been controversies throughout Canadian chess history, such as in the 1870s one city's team was playing telegraph matches with their opening chess book open. Disputes about where the Canadian Championship should be held. A Russian spy at the Ottawa CC. A chess & bridge club being used as a front for gambling. A master who worked with the Nazis. A player who was a pedophile and murderer. A punch being thrown at the Toronto CC. A GM not getting immigration papers to stay in Canada. What about Anderson not getting his GM norm at the Olympiad? When the Canadian Closed was a round-robin someone strong would be left out. Selections to the Olympiad team usually have a difference of opinion, but I don't think anybody has been selected because they're friends. And just last year a strong junior was prevented from representing Canada internationally. Is sending weak juniors to a master event a scandal?
Organizers have organized big events with poor turnout, losing lots of money. There has been organizers who didn't give out all the prizes or forward CFC memberships. The Toronto CC lost its money in being kicked out after renovating and the membership voted against moving to Bloor & Bathurst, leading to its decline. The Toronto Building Fund was swallowed by the CFC. The biggest financial scandal was lottery money going to Man versus Machine 1978. What about paying for a year subscription to a chess magazine that folded after 2 issues?
There has been players cheating. I remember one opponent going to the washroom with a pocket set; the TD refused to peak through the toilet stall. (Also Players peeing at the board.) There has been players in the Canadian Junior who played out a prepared game, player in the Canadian Closed who slept at the board and been woken up, players who have preentered but didn't show up, players who have withdrawn from a round-robin or rusty players who didn't prepare, resulting in preventing a more interested player from playing. A player quitting the Olympiad team mid-tournament. Is it scandalous to play 1. g4!?
There has been lost adjournment envelopes and pairing errors. An organizer deliberately mispaired Hebert in 1985 because he was losing money on the event. But the pairing in the 2006 Canadian Closed wasn't deliberate as it was a computer error. Likewise, the 2010 Canadian Open accelerated pairings barfed out a mispaired point group. So to me the bigger scandal is the CFC continuing to promote a defective product. At the very least, organizers should buy FIDE-recognized software (like Swiss-Manager) and do phantom pairings to double check what Swiss-Sys does. The scandal from that Closed was not paying the food bill to Master's Buffeteria for the closing banquet.
And what does one call the large-scale systemic scandals like the CFC not providing full service in both official languages, going to war with Quebec (Even in last year's agreement with the FQE, players' FQE rating doesn't count for the Olympiad team calculation and the number of FQE rated games doesn't count towards eligibility). The Fischer boom was an opportunity to get government and corporate support and the CFC failed, contributed to the collapse of the Chess Canada empire, and, while 20% of Canadians played chess, CFC had declining membership. Nowadays thousands play chess online, unconnected to the CFC. Hundreds of schools have chess teaches and buy equipment, unconnected to the CFC. At the Olympiad Canada has to compete with teams that get government funding. Canada couldn't afford to send a team to some Olympiads. We have no pension plans for those who have devoted their life to chess. We have no Canadian Hall of Fame chess museum. Canada is its own FIDE zone? Now that's scandalous.
Comment