Comments on: Impressions from Week 1

By: Sour Grapes

Sour Grapes — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:32:08 +0000

I heard the accusation squad was made of two people one whom you would expect and one
whom you would not: Nakamura and Charboneau, both of whom are in Montreal, I wonder if
apologies are due.

By: Derek Slater

Derek Slater — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:14:48 +0000

I thought Shabalov’s comments were (intentionally) funny, and loved Matt Phelp’s rejoinder on the blackboard. Good
clean fun.
The cheating accusations are actually (unintentionally) kind of nice. Could you have picked a less likely place
for someone to attempt to cheat? The entire Boston team and TD would have had to be in on it. So the stupidity of
the accusations is self-evident.

By: Robby Adamson

Robby Adamson — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:32:14 +0000

Unfortunately in the internet age, people are very bold and claim whatever they want online and it tarnishes the player, team, league, etc, with no consequences to the offender. I am sure most haters out there never have the guts to make those statements to Jorge’s face. Clearly it was just sour grapes.

In any event, congrats to Jorge and the Blitz.

By: Derek Fisher

Derek Fisher — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:14:02 +0000

People on ICC have sour grapes towards Jorge for winning the dos hermanas tournament two years running. I personally place most of the blame on ICC and feel if the USCL was hosted through another interface (i.e. Playchess), there would be no problem. I personally use ICC, but am fed up with the constant paranoia and accusations that get thrown around on the site, with the administrators playing favorites to certain players.
It has been quite obvious Jorge has not been cheating and Im glad you guys whooped on New York and the arrogant Shabalov. Nice article and keep up the great play!

By: Jason Rihel

Jason Rihel — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:06:53 +0000

There were accusations of Jorge cheating after his two impressive Dos Hermanos victories as well. This must be where the idea stems from in the first place. Anyone sitting in the room last night knows Jorge could not have been cheating.

Shabalov has now lost to a Board 1 blitzer, and to a Board 4 Blitzer (Chris Williams at Foxwoods) this year already.

By: The Fabulous 00s: 2008 USCL Season Starts « IM Mark Ginsburg Presents A Personal Chess History

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:03:39 +0000

[...] An excellent journalistic moment as Ilya Krasik alludes to some dark fisticuffs that might have been: “Besides welcoming David Vigorito, I was quite surprised to see another fellow with him, FM Braden Bournival. Last year it was simply unthinkable that he would come to watch our games unless he planned to leave on a stretcher but of course one cannot keep old grudges forever and sometimes circumstances force you to become more amenable as well.” Those nutty Beantowners! Boston una Sumus! [...]

By: Mark LaRocca

Mark LaRocca — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:01:51 +0000

I was listening to the Globe reporter as he questioned Jorge.
Jorge was caught unaware when the reporter asked how he felt
about the accusations that he was somehow cheating and using
a computer. These type of remarks by anyone do bring suspicion
on chess in general and make the USCL look bad… and quite
hurtful to the players they are directed against.
We’ll see if the cheating allegations make the Globe article.
If so, I would expect the USCL officials to attempt to get control
over this type of slander and issue a strong statement.
It is my hope that all this was a misunderstanding… but, even
so, it may make the news… and produce some bad pub for the
league. As the league attracts more attention from non-players,
we players need to control our comments a little… Even Ilya
has toned things down of late…:)