19-11-2012, 12:34 AM
As some of you may be aware, a situation arose this weekend in Oban regarding a certain player and a refusal to play on a live board. I don't want this to turn into anything personal or overly negative, but there were a large number of us seriously disgruntled by what went on that I feel it is worth raising so that something similar can either be avoided or fully clarified.
Live boards were in operation on the top 4 boards of the Open this weekend, in order that people watching could see some of the highest quality games played in Scotland purely for the entertainment and interest of spectators. After round 1, a request was made by the resident of the top board that he did not want to play on a live board, for what I believe was due to him feeling that he was disadvantaged by having games online which could be potentially used in future rounds for prep (matches are available on the same night in a database at most international tournaments by the way). As a result, you may have noticed that no moves were broadcast from this board for the rest of the event. Funnily enough, the IM in question seemed to be the only person who wasn't at the pub quiz on the Saturday night... Must've been preparing in his room for his game the next morning against my flatmate!
The reasons why some of us were upset is as follows:
These sensory boards were funded by the generous donations of CS members in order that games could be watched by people who either could not make the event, or do not play tournaments but still enjoy following them. By refusing to play on such a board seems somewhat selfish. It should also be noted that when one of Scotland's top players plays, the event becomes more interesting to everyone, including potential sponsors.
This player played the remainder of the games on a DGT board but with the transmission switched off. This seems a farce, as a perfectly functioning board was not being used to broadcast some of the other incredibly hard fought games in all 4 of the sections.
The thought of refusing due to prep issues during an event seems quite poor sportsmanship. Everyone is allowed to go and watch games, and even request to see duplicate scoresheets from the arbiter. Nobody really uses these games for preparation.
This is not meant as an attack on the person in question, but instead some clarification of what will happen in the future would be nice. As far as my own personal opinion goes, a clause should be inserted into all congresses that means all entrants agree that if they are due to play on a board which is being broadcast, it is being broadcast because the organiser feels it is something of interest to online followers, and therefore the game must be played on this board.
If anyone else has views on this it would be nice to hear them.
Live boards were in operation on the top 4 boards of the Open this weekend, in order that people watching could see some of the highest quality games played in Scotland purely for the entertainment and interest of spectators. After round 1, a request was made by the resident of the top board that he did not want to play on a live board, for what I believe was due to him feeling that he was disadvantaged by having games online which could be potentially used in future rounds for prep (matches are available on the same night in a database at most international tournaments by the way). As a result, you may have noticed that no moves were broadcast from this board for the rest of the event. Funnily enough, the IM in question seemed to be the only person who wasn't at the pub quiz on the Saturday night... Must've been preparing in his room for his game the next morning against my flatmate!
The reasons why some of us were upset is as follows:
These sensory boards were funded by the generous donations of CS members in order that games could be watched by people who either could not make the event, or do not play tournaments but still enjoy following them. By refusing to play on such a board seems somewhat selfish. It should also be noted that when one of Scotland's top players plays, the event becomes more interesting to everyone, including potential sponsors.
This player played the remainder of the games on a DGT board but with the transmission switched off. This seems a farce, as a perfectly functioning board was not being used to broadcast some of the other incredibly hard fought games in all 4 of the sections.
The thought of refusing due to prep issues during an event seems quite poor sportsmanship. Everyone is allowed to go and watch games, and even request to see duplicate scoresheets from the arbiter. Nobody really uses these games for preparation.
This is not meant as an attack on the person in question, but instead some clarification of what will happen in the future would be nice. As far as my own personal opinion goes, a clause should be inserted into all congresses that means all entrants agree that if they are due to play on a board which is being broadcast, it is being broadcast because the organiser feels it is something of interest to online followers, and therefore the game must be played on this board.
If anyone else has views on this it would be nice to hear them.