Friday, January 25, 2008

Friday Night Update

This past week was a lost one in the Panner household as we all succumbed to a flu bug. Now that I am back somewhat healthy, I figure it is time to comment on some of the chess things that occurred over the last week.

I realize the year is less than a month old so far, but Topalov-Kramnik at the Corus tournament had to have been the game of the year thus far.

I probably should mention something about Fischer's death, but honestly, I am so tired of seeing debates on Fischer. Like any player, yes I respect his games. I think he also did a fair share of setting the game back with his actions and it pains me to see so many apologists for him. My least favorite topic when I teach chess is when the occasional student asks about what Fischer is doing and why he doesn't play any more after I show one of his games. Now at least there is an easily understood answer suitable for telling school kids.

It is interesting that even in fall 2007 Iceland was seriously courting Karpov to come for a match against Fischer to take place. Plans actually were derailed by Fischer's illness. That would have been worth watching.

The NACA IM norm bearing round robin is now just a couple of rounds from finishing up with both Dr. Tansel Turgut and Mehmed Pasalic in contention for IM norms. The chess has been hard fought this last week though with a fair share of minor blemishes. These events are one of the few occasions our master level players get to try to achieve international titles without having to travel abroad. Invitations to this type of event is an honor, so when I see things like what happened this week transpire, it really ticks me off.

Bill Calton and Tom Bartell both withdrew from the event. Withdrawing from a RR is significantly different than from a swiss. In a RR event, if a player drops before completing half of their games, their score does not count at all, so a player could conceivably lose a NORM chance because someone drops out too early (even if you already played them). It also isn't fair to drop for the spirit of the event and is considered in very poor taste. Having organized events like this, I can tell you that it is MUCH easier to run a 200 player swiss than have to deal with a 10 player round robin. If I were Sevan, not only would I not invite either of these guys back, but would also warn the other organizers against inviting such tools to their event.


Glenn

7 comments:

HubDiggs said...

How come Bartell and Calton dropped out? I'm sure there are some cases where players should drop out. Chess players aren't legendary for having lots of money so I guess it's not appropriate to ask for a deposit of say $100 at the beginning of a tournament that will be refunded after the registrant completes the schedule.

HubDiggs said...

Good question Hub! Please look at
http://main.uschess.org/forums

There you will see the organizer responding to the very question you posed. It is below.

Sevan Muradian:

"Yes first Bill Calton withdrew from the event and then Tom Bartell.

Calton's withdrawl nearly destroyed the event but with the help of Ben Finegold we were able to salvage the situation, have him play 2 more games against those in norm contention, and have him complete more than 50% of his games. So his score will count and it will remain a 9R event. I validated this with numerous IA's.

Tom Bartell dropped out. From one standpoint I can't blame him. 2 played forfeits due to his cell phone ringing and I think he just got down right discouraged. Tom though was nice enough to play one of his games out of order with Calton.

Dr. Szmetan was admitted into the hospital on Thursday afternoon and I am awaiting to hear his situation. The good thing about the 2 withdrawls is that Dr. Szmetan will have 2 days off to recuperate. As far as I know he is still planning on playing his last two games especially since Round 9 is crucial for a norm for FM Mehmed Pasalic.

Lessons learned on my side here - there will be a players agreement that they will sign in the future if they intend on playing where if they withdraw the expenses of the entire event will be borne by that individual. Needless to say I wasn't happy with Calton's response when I told him that I would be out the tournament EF's and still be responsible for the appearance fee's of the IM's for nearly a loss of $2k (well that's a risk you take and it sucks was his response).

Keep forgetting to buy earplugs too. Dogs next door were annoying last night."

glennpan said...

Hub,

That is a very important question! There are obviously cases where players should drop out. No organizer in their right mind would begrudge you from dropping out in case of family or even work emergency, or health problems. However, when you are dropping out because you were forfeited twice for cell phone infractions, or in Calton's case because you are out of the running for norms and not playing well. That is pretty lame.

Some events, the Colias is one, that do require a deposit to be put down. You are also right that it is an effective deterrent to players dropping out.

Glenn

jonburgess said...

To be honest both Bartell and Calton should never be invited back to sevans tournament. You cant drop out of a norm tournament it totally messes things up. It breaks the tournament if you havent played all the norm seeking players. Also sevan puts a lot of hard work and money into these events so it is disrespecting sevan by dropping out. I am playing in sevans feb event and even if I get 0/9 I am not dropping out.

MCA FIDE Tournaments said...

I think Glenn and Sevan are totally correct. I respect what Burgess is saying.

Glenn, how about a link?
I have you linked.
thanks!

HubDiggs said...

I totally respect what Panner and Burgess and Baumgartner are saying.

Come to think of it I totally respect what anybody is saying nobody who says it and what they have to say. In fact I totally respect what I'm saying right now.

MCA FIDE Tournaments said...

hubman!