This picture was taken during the second round after improvement was made to the playing condition. I do not know the set up in the first round which I was told was a little tighter. Mr. Berry also personally tried to fix the problems but he has since turned the matter over to Mr. Goichberg.
I briefly reported about the space controversy at the US and US Women’s Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma last night. Here is an article by one of the organizers today: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8430/456/
This is an excerpt by Mr. Tom Braunlich, one of the event’s hardest working persons, chief media officer, commentary expert, and everything else which is needed to be done:
Space Disadvantage
Overall the event is running very smoothly. The Radisson hotel here in Tulsa is not only very nice, but has an excellent restaurant (I took my mother there on Mother’s Day). But one controversy has arisen that is causing a lot of consternation. I’ll only give a brief account of it here, as to some extent we are still trying to find a good solution. The gist of the story is this: the playing hall is a little bit cramped. We were aware of this, but thought it would be okay. In case the players complained, as a backup plan we had reserved another room down the hall to be able to move the women’s tournament into there if needed.
As it turned out, no one complained — except one, the top-rated player, who was nice about it but said it was so seriously bothering him he would withdraw if some kind of change was not made. Many other players I talked to said he was totally out of line. A few others agreed that the room was cramped.
TD Frank Berry’s first reaction to Onischuk’s threat was to ask him if he needed a ride to the airport! But it was eventually decided to implement our backup plan. But in this case it was the women who complained, feeling that it demoted their event to second-class status. So for round 3 we decided to instead move the 5 lower boards of the regular championship into the other room. Well, you guessed it. Although the other room is comfortable, the players in there felt isolated and were miffed that they couldn’t easily see what is going on in the other games, which of course is part of the fun of chess tournaments. So after the round they were complaining, and of course they have a point as well. They wanted the room back the way it was and said we should call Onischuk’s bluff about it.
I have to admit that after seeing the playing conditions, I can see the points from all sides (organizers and players). I report the facts and I will let you decide.
All pictures from round 2
This looks like a weekened swiss and not the us championship. But on the other hand, the sponsor can do as he wishes. He was kind enough to offer GM Onischuk a ride to the airport.
I was there for round 1. The tournament room is a little small. One side of the room is next to the hotel restaurant. The other side of the room is next to the hotel bar/pool hall. A few non-chess players were kind of loud. But I don’t think the players should complain because Mr. Berry paid for the entire tournament from his own pocket. He can do as he wishes. They should appreciate the person who’s paying them.
Who cares about what the players think. The USCF knows what we need.
I support GM Onischuk. The US Championship is a prestigious event and not a weekend type tournament. The space is not adequate.
Yes Mr. Berry paid for the tournament however that does not give him the right to have sub-standard playing conditions.
GM Onischuk should make good on his threat and pull out, hopefully beginning a trend so other players leave as well.
This is worse that a weekend swiss.
If the foreigners don’t appreciate a good person like Berry, they should go back to where they came from. I support Goichberg and Berry.
Why should this be different than the world open? GMs need to make money and they’ll play with plastic sets in the hall way. Stop catering to the professional players. Quit whining. Today they want more space. Tomorrow they want more money. Forget about it.
Mr.Berry did the right thing! I think the real problem in chess are many of the top players behavior.
Nice to see the trolls are still interested in Susan’s blog…LOL.
In any case. I’ve mentioned this earlier, but it’s embarrassing to see the US Chess Championship being played under such conditions. The local Holiday Inn has a better setup for the chess tournaments I’ve been to here in Wisconsin.
ESPN can broadcast such events as a national spelling bee and a Rock Paper Scissors championship, but not the US Chess Championship?
In the past there have been great corporate supporters of US chess…like Microsoft, Intel, IBM, etc… and now you can’t get the local bar to sponsor a tournament because the USCF has lost all credibility thanks to Goichberg and the gang of incompetent people that have been in power for years. Thank goodness Susan has the resolve to at least try to make a change and put up with public attacks on her character by selfish, incompetent, political backstabbing SOBs like the ones that have been in charge for way too long. The winner of this tournament gets $7500… The winner of the Rock Paper Scissors championship got $5000. The winner of Susan’s own Champoinship for Girls gets a full ride scholarship to Texas Tech…probably worth nearly the $100,000 that the whole US Championship fund is. It’s disgraceful and ridiculous.
I am grateful to Berry for personally putting up the money to even have a championship, but where are the sponsors like A4FC and others that have supported chess in the past? They won’t even touch USCF events with a 10 foot pole because of the unprofessional actions of a few self absorbed idiots and their petty agendas.
I can’t wait to see those clowns not get reelected and hopefully start the long road to recover respect for the USCF.
I’m not a troll. Susan Polgar is a very good player and a great human being. I doubt that she would make threats like that after round 3. Especially when someone just paid money from his own pocket.
I think Onischuk made the complaints in round 1 when the conditions were worse than shown in the picture. He also complained about the noise level. He’s free to withdraw and Bill Goichberg should ban him and all the other whiners for life.
That’s the condition given. If these whiners don’t like it, they can get the hell out of Oklahoma and start their own federation. Berry is right by offering to drive him to the airport. I also agree that Berry’s friend Goichberg should ban all these whiners.
I agree, ban the whiner. Lets see whos bluffing.
Onischuk is the only one the normal World Chess Class player in the event!
Next time probably Berry brothers
could give they own money to the US Championship match Galant-Langer; probably these players could not have too much complains :-))
Lets see – no Kamsky, Nakamura, Seirawan, Benjamin, Christiansen, Ehlvest, Ibragimov, Stripunskiy, Firmian, Goldin next time probably no Onischuk;
it is not Berries fault,thank you that we have an annual tournament, but it is the USCF fault.
Just compare it to the Russian Championship, I do not know how many classes between these tournaments.
I prefer to see a chess match between Leam and Tommy Polgar and not these current world top players who have too much air in their head. I think Mr. Berry would feel much more apreciated.
There are real legitimate concerns from all sides:
1. From the top players winning the US championship is a great honor and as Onischuk and others have noted, it allows one to be in the same lineage as Morphy, Pillsbury, Marshall, Reshevsky, and Fischer – so that’s nothing to dismiss. It is also a plus for their other professional concerns. To be able to list that you are a reigning or past US champ means something for lessons, conditions in future tournaments. etc.
2. The expectations are higher in a tournament of this caliber – sets and clocks are provided and the playing conditions should be better than the usual swiss. Because the tournament is a closed one with a predetermined number of entrants, the number of boards could have been anticipated and the spacing and setup could have been preplanned. It is the type of thing (noise, lighting, where the break room and skittles room should be) the physical on-site TD could figure out ahead of time. I suppose that part of the reaction is that this isn’t the first event held and so usually the various kinks and problems have been worked out.
3. The reality is that there isn’t that much money going into US chess and without that, it isn’t as easy to mount a nice tourney. What were the conditions like back in 1963-1964 when the US championship was round robin and played in NYC? This may be an interesting question for this blog – which tournament or championship are considered the best in terms of playing conditions (not player conditions!) in the world and USA? I would guess world would be Linares or Corus?
My solution: move the TOP 5 boards to the room down the hall. Then it becomes an honor!
– Lambent
As long as chess tournaments continue to be played in hotels there will be problems in my opinion. Its more interesting to hold them in other venues such as museums, art halls, city halls, on university campuses etc.
I don’t recall the Icelanders ever hosting a major tournament in a hotel. They have been creative with playing venues for years and everyone seems to be happy (or they would not return year after year). I realize that players are then not able to run up to the their rooms etc. However, this should not be a problem in smaller and more prestigious tournaments such as the US Championships.
Sincerely,
Dr. Karlsson
The space looks barely sufficient to me. It looks like a typical two players per long table. If so, it would be good to put some space between each table – that would give each player more open space on one side (if the room will allow it).
At least they have nice sets instead of the usual junk.
Onischuk is Ukranian for “Great Whiner in Pink”.
P.s. This Blog space is too small! I protest!
The players seemed to be shoulder to shoulder originally, with no room to pull a chair back and walk out easily. I would have thought they needed twice the space provided: what do the FIDE norms say in space?
Dr Karlsson makes some reasonable points, but the SPICE Cup at TTU was hardly well accommodated, with ambient noise and an unscheduled move to ‘somewhere else’ before the end.
It’s a bit odd that Onischuk would complain about space and noise given that he played in an international tournament two years ago in the Philippines which was held in the middle of a SHOPPING MALL! A shopping mall! Only in the Philippines.
“Dr Karlsson makes some reasonable points, but the SPICE Cup at TTU was hardly well accommodated, with ambient noise and an unscheduled move to ‘somewhere else’ before the end.”
The SPICE Cup was the best tournament ever! I find it hard to believe you my Laugherty.