ChessVibes editors GM Erwin L'Ami and IM Merijn van Delft, both currently participating in the
Open Dutch Championships in Dieren, were fired on the spot today. The direct cause is the supposed cheating by Erwin L'Ami during the first and second round, and an incredible story by Merijn van Delft about his stay in Amsterdam last week end. As is well-known, Erwin L'Ami
lost to junior talent Christov Kleijn in the first round. Most professionals would not have survived such a hammer blow, but yesterday, L'Ami experienced an improbably resurrection, even with the black pieces, against Sebastiaan Smits. The suspicious circumstances were confirmed by the news that L'Ami had spent an unfair amount of time on his opening preparation. To make sure the name of the Chessvibes-site would not be contaminated further, the editor-in-chief saw no other choice than to fire L'Ami.
Shameless
Merijn van Delft's conduct was possibly even more shameless. Last weekend, Van Delft celebrated his bachelor party in Amsterdam. However, the editor in chief, who is currently on chess tour in
Pardubice, was not aware of this.
Nightmare
'I feel deceived,' Peter Doggers informs us from the Czech Republic. 'Van Delft has told me more than once that he was in Hamburg. But now it turns out he was having a good time in my very own hometown. He was also spotted by a chess player who wished to stay anonymous. I am speechless. It's a nightmare.'Van Delft himself considers Doggers' decicion 'unbelievable'. 'Okay, I didn't inform him, but I was already rebuked for this by co-editor Arne Moll, who by the way is suspiciously close to Doggers.' L'Ami only declared he will still play the third round today.
ChessVibes team to continue
Chessvibes strongly disapproves of this behaviour, and desperately asks how it will ever be possible to promote the game of chess when editors themselves cannot be trusted anymore. In the mean time, the
remaining contributors have announced that they will continue with their
tour. The editor in chief has made the decision this morning.
'It's up to the guys. They have a mission. Who am I to stop it?'
Editorial postscript, August 5th, 2007:Unfortunately many visitors didn't recognize that this article was nothing but a big joke. The article was published several hours after cyclist Michael Rasmussen, who was almost sure of his first victory in the most important cycling event of the year, the Tour de France, was fired. Perhaps our parody wasn't tongue-in-cheeck enough, perhaps we overestimated the popularity of cycling. Anyway, we hope you liked our small side-step to our mostly serious articles, since we might do it more often. As Becky Alunan said: "Life is a joke. The only way to survive it is to find the right punchline."
ChessVibes editors GM Erwin L'Ami and IM Merijn van Delft, both currently participating in the Open Dutch Championships in Dieren, were fired on the spot today. The direct cause is the supposed cheating by Erwin L'Ami during the first and second round, and an incredible story by Merijn van Delft about his stay in Amsterdam last week end. As is well-known, Erwin L'Ami lost to junior talent Christov Kleijn in the first round. Most professionals would not have survived such a hammer blow, but yesterday, L'Ami experienced an improbably resurrection, even with the black pieces, against Sebastiaan Smits. The suspicious circumstances were confirmed by the news that L'Ami had spent an unfair amount of time on his opening preparation. To make sure the name of the Chessvibes-site would not be contaminated further, the editor-in-chief saw no other choice than to fire L'Ami. Shameless
Merijn van Delft's conduct was possibly even more shameless. Last weekend, Van Delft celebrated his bachelor party in Amsterdam. However, the editor in chief, who is currently on chess tour in Pardubice, was not aware of this.
Nightmare
'I feel deceived,' Peter Doggers informs us from the Czech Republic. 'Van Delft has told me more than once that he was in Hamburg. But now it turns out he was having a good time in my very own hometown. He was also spotted by a chess player who wished to stay anonymous. I am speechless. It's a nightmare.'Van Delft himself considers Doggers' decicion 'unbelievable'. 'Okay, I didn't inform him, but I was already rebuked for this by co-editor Arne Moll, who by the way is suspiciously close to Doggers.' L'Ami only declared he will still play the third round today. ChessVibes team to continue
Chessvibes strongly disapproves of this behaviour, and desperately asks how it will ever be possible to promote the game of chess when editors themselves cannot be trusted anymore. In the mean time, the remaining contributors have announced that they will continue with their tour. The editor in chief has made the decision this morning.
'It's up to the guys. They have a mission. Who am I to stop it?'Editorial postscript, August 5th, 2007:Unfortunately many visitors didn't recognize that this article was nothing but a big joke. The article was published several hours after cyclist Michael Rasmussen, who was almost sure of his first victory in the most important cycling event of the year, the Tour de France, was fired. Perhaps our parody wasn't tongue-in-cheeck enough, perhaps we overestimated the popularity of cycling. Anyway, we hope you liked our small side-step to our mostly serious articles, since we might do it more often. As Becky Alunan said: "Life is a joke. The only way to survive it is to find the right punchline."
