Other Irish chess blogs - discussion thread

caissa007

cdeb wrote: »

Worth noting that now Gerry Graham and Jonathan O'Connor have "both in the past shown a racist grudge" against an ICU member. This, to my knowledge, is a completely new charge which not even the ICU member concerned has ever publicly voiced.

Darko's comment? "I agree"

Yet this is the site Pat Fitzsimons publicly condemns for vile and virulent comments.

Anyone still in doubt as to which way to vote on Sunday should keep in mind that this is the way the current exec is operating. Nasty stuff, and the sooner they're gone, the better for Irish chess.

I don't know any of the parties involved but have to commend your restraint as compared to the fb & cogitations sites. Surely the majority of reasonable people will see the tone and content of the incumbents claims and vote according

checknraise

I have no doubt the overwhelming majority of chess players are in favor of a new executive. The problem is there is such a small playing pool that a small number of votes will have a huge impact.

It is really important that if anyone is undecided if they can attend the AGM they make the extra effort and let your vote count.

Tim Harding

checknraise wrote: »

I have no doubt the overwhelming majority of chess players are in favor of a new executive. The problem is there is such a small playing pool that a small number of votes will have a huge impact.

It is really important that if anyone is undecided if they can attend the AGM to make the extra effort and let your vote count.

I second that emotion. Undoubtedly the current EC chose the date of the agm (clashing with two major Irish sports internationals) in the hope of minimising the opposition, especially those who have to travel from outside Leinster for the meeting.

Also with ballot papers handed out at the door (which they might stop distributing after the meeting is called to order at 11am) it is important to be there on time (and preferably with proof of membership).

rob51

mikhail wrote: »

I think that by "using force on a child", you mean "becoming the victim of someone with a middle-class background". :P

This sort of stuff seems very out of line with this committee's public concern with child protection.

Unfortunately it seems like a lot of what this executive does is seriously out of line with its public concerns. And indeed the interests of the general ICU membership.

iriship

My answer to the current problem is to bring in a postal vote, So a drunken bunch of lager or Guinness louts will not dominate the day. If I was one of the women or any women for that mater haven read cognition site I would not want to be in the same room as them.

uck51js9zml2yt

I've been following this forum for a while and though not an ICU member the accusations against Mark are horrific.

I was astounded to see on ICU.ie the implication/allegation that he has mental health issues.

http://www.irishchessunion.net/?p=1242#comments


Just throwing out a question that may not be answerable but should the current exec hold their positions is the formation of another chess union likely?

Tim Harding

Nataly Pitiful Heat wrote: »

I've been following this forum for a while and though not an ICU member the accusations against Mark are horrific.

I was astounded to see on ICU.ie the implication/allegation that he has mental health issues.

http://www.irishchessunion.net/?p=1242#comments


Just throwing out a question that may not be answerable but should the current exec hold their positions is the formation of another chess union likely?

To answer your question, no, it would be pointless as it's the Irish Chess Union that is affiliated to the world governing body FIDE.

It might not matter to casual social players but for any serious competitor, another body is not an option.

We have to win the elections and take the power back.

To quote Margaret Thatcher (sorry about that!):
"There Is No Alternative!"

NubieOne

I really could not believe what I was reading yesterday on the FB Irish Chess page, someone called Andrew Ingram made a lot of serious allegations while all the while admitted that what he said was based solely on hearsay. It sounded like he was not even at the event in question.

This didn't stop him from making outrageous claims on a blog that many people assume is an official blog of Irish Chess. It certainly doesn't help when 9ne of the current executive likes the post and the current Chairperson refuses to condemned it either.

Time for a change, methinks!

cdeb

NubieOne wrote: »

someone called Andrew Ingram made a lot of serious allegations [...] It sounded like he was not even at the event in question.

He certainly didn't play in it anyway; you can see that from the ratings site.

Tim Harding

cdeb wrote: »

He certainly didn't play in it anyway; you can see that from the ratings site.

On the ICU membership list (as of March 2015) there is a player of that name in the Ennis club.

But not on that list is the Barry Boswell who has posted on the http://www.irishchessunion.net/ site.

Does anyone know if this is a real person, or just another Mustafa avatar?

reunion

Tim Harding wrote: »

On the ICU membership list (as of March 2015) there is a player of that name in the Ennis club.

But not on that list is the Barry Boswell who has posted on the http://www.irishchessunion.net/ site.

Does anyone know if this is a real person, or just another Mustafa avatar?

The individuals involved have a history of creating accounts to support their view. Barry Boswell is not a real chess player - it is fake (no Barry Boswell in FIDE or ICU databases).

They created an account called "Kevin Flathead" which they then changed to "Kevin Scully" and they used it to talk to themselves to try to show that people agreed with them and listened to their nonsense. It has since been deleted. Darko Polimac and Colm Daly were the only friends of this account (before it posted on the Facebook page) and the only person the account talked to and replied to.

My username was also used on Colm Daly's personal site in an attempt to mock me and pretend to be me but it just highlighted Colm's loneliness talking to himself. They have just repeated the same process on the Irish Chess Union .net site (another website Colm owns).

TLDR: Every website Colm is a moderator on, there has been a fake person posting with Colm and/or Darko replying.

Tim Harding

reunion wrote: »

The individuals involved have a history of creating accounts to support their view. Barry Boswell is not a real chess player - it is fake (no Barry Boswell in FIDE or ICU databases).

They created an account called "Kevin Flathead" which they then changed to "Kevin Scully" and they used it to talk to themselves to try to show that people agreed with them and listened to their nonsense. It has since been deleted. Darko Polimac and Colm Daly were the only friends of this account (before it posted on the Facebook page) and the only person the account talked to and replied to.

My username was also used on Colm Daly's personal site in an attempt to mock me and pretend to be me but it just highlighted Colm's loneliness talking to himself. They have just repeated the same process on the Irish Chess Union .net site (another website Colm owns).

TLDR: Every website Colm is a moderator on, there has been a fake person posting with Colm and/or Darko replying.

That's what I suspected. There is a precedent. Howard Staunton used to do this sort of thing 150 years ago on the Illustrated London News.

must have a jest

Tim Harding wrote: »

That's what I suspected. There is a precedent. Howard Staunton used to do this sort of thing 150 years ago on the Illustrated London News.

Let's hope Mustafa doesn't start writing about Shakespeare.

caissa007

reunion wrote: »

The individuals involved have a history of creating accounts to support their view. Barry Boswell is not a real chess player - it is fake (no Barry Boswell in FIDE or ICU databases).

They created an account called "Kevin Flathead" which they then changed to "Kevin Scully" and they used it to talk to themselves to try to show that people agreed with them and listened to their nonsense. It has since been deleted. Darko Polimac and Colm Daly were the only friends of this account (before it posted on the Facebook page) and the only person the account talked to and replied to.

My username was also used on Colm Daly's personal site in an attempt to mock me and pretend to be me but it just highlighted Colm's loneliness talking to himself. They have just repeated the same process on the Irish Chess Union .net site (another website Colm owns).

TLDR: Every website Colm is a moderator on, there has been a fake person posting with Colm and/or Darko replying.

In fairness Kevin Flathead sounds plausible :-)

uck51js9zml2yt

Tim Harding wrote: »

To answer your question, no, it would be pointless as it's the Irish Chess Union that is affiliated to the world governing body FIDE.

It might not matter to casual social players but for any serious competitor, another body is not an option.

We have to win the elections and take the power back.

To quote Margaret Thatcher (sorry about that!):
"There Is No Alternative!"

Thanks for the reply Tim.
It will be interesting to watch events. I might even get out my chess set again.

iriship

Nataly Pitiful Heat wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Tim.
It will be interesting to watch events. I might even get out my chess set again.

Now after AGM, you have the set back out, can I have a game :-)

cdeb

Both blogs took a fair bit of flak at the AGM yesterday. Seems to have prompted a message from Darko on the facebook page -

I was happy to see so many members at ICU AGM. Congratulations to new team . I wish you best of luck.
In future I will make sure that this group is friendly place for all players .

Let's see if it happens that way I guess.

Colm, for his part, stood over everything he has written on his blog of course.

Ballynafeigh Chess

cdeb wrote: »

Colm, for his part, stood over everything he has written on his blog of course.

Which is why he is held in such high regard by all (walks off as the monday morning sarcasm drips from the keyboard)

pawntof4

fair play to Darko

cdeb

I don't intend to try keep this thread running ad infinitum as an indication of most of what's wrong with Irish chess, but I think it's worth noting that, 10 days after the above note about trying to make the facebook page a more friendly place for all players, we again have comments like the attached - Mark Orr needs to prove his innocence before others will stop throwing accusations at him, or the implication that some are definitely guilty and really urgently need to be investigated. Even a suggestion of a 2-year ban for the organiser of the NCC.

Sad to see.

A.Sanchez

Haha ^^ the second one is funny, guilty until proven innocent!

Tychoo

Oh Lord save us from this Madness.