Barcza Memorial cancelled after 1st round

Barcza Memorial cancelled after first round; organizer never paid anything
9 April 2009, 18.17 CET By Peter Doggers

This week the very strong 2nd edition of the Gedeon Barcza Memorial, with GMs Zoltan Almasi (2685), Ivan Sokolov (2669) and GM Evgeny Postny (2648) as its favorites, was cancelled after the first round, when it became clear that the organizer didn’t have the money to pay the venue nor the players. As one of the participants, IM Robert Ris gives us a personal account of a small nightmare.

The II Gedeon Barcza Memorial was supposed to take place in Budapest 6th-17th April 2009. It was a 12-player round-robin with GM Zoltan Almasi (2685), GM Ivan Sokolov (2669), GM Evgeny Postny (2648), GM Victor Mikhalevski (2625), GM Eduardas Rozentalis (2595), GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal (2572), IM Gabor Papp (2524), IM Marcos Llaneza Vega (2522), IM Peter Prohaszka (2511), GM Oleg Romanishin (2501), IM David Recuero Guerra (2459) and IM Robert Ris (2432).

Although the first round was actually played, it became clear very soon that the main organizer, Gabor Pali, didn’t have any money to pay either the venue or the players. The top GMs were still waiting for their appearance fees and the Ramada Resort Hotel, where the players were staying and where the tournament was held, never received any money from Pali either. On the second day they had to decide to close the playing hall, according to the basic economic rule: “no money, no business”.

Here is the full article.