| From | Message |
nathanman22
2/01/2008
17:42:50
[ report abuse ] |
 Subject: Congrats to Rodog (Part II)
Message:
Below is lighttotheright's post to which I came back from vacation to give a response...
"With due respect, I think some of you are missing the point Rodog is trying to make. Let's take a look at the circumstances surrounding his statement in his Profile.
(1) Rodog has a somewhat guarded use of English--not bad but guarded. (2) Both Cyrano and Rodog are from Parma, Italy. (3) They probably know each other. They might even be "friends". (4) Rodog wrote the original notice about using "friends" to increase your rating after it should have been obvious that he had beaten Cyrano. At such high level chess, it is normally safely assumed you are proficient at endgame--generally out of due respect. (5) Cyrano refused to resign the game until Rodog's rating had passed his. Yet still the game continued, despite the hopeless position Cyrano had. He was delaying the game for a reason. Perhaps he still hoped Rodog would make a fatal error--not likely. (6) Check the start date of their game. Cyrano was nearly 125 rating points ahead of Rodog when the game started. Rodog was still 100 point behind in rating points at a point in the game when he had a winning position. (7) Both players knew this. They are both too good not to have known this. (8) I've talked to people that have played and talked to Rodog. He really is a nice guy. (9) Take a look at his games. You have to respect him as a significant chess player.
I respect both these players a great deal. Both are incredibly good. I think a personal 'spat' got 'aired out' somewhat in public--it should not have been. It looks like Rodog has somewhat toned down his latest statements in his profile. Good.
Perhaps we can get beyond this. I believe Rodog is good enough to raise the highest rating ever achieved on GameKnot significantly. I'm looking forward to seeing his rating go to 2600 and beyond."
|
nathanman22
2/01/2008
17:58:08
[ report abuse ] | Now my response
Message:
I read over your post and thought that it required a brief (or maybe long) response. lol. I would like to bring up a few things.
First of all, what does Cyrano's decision to keep the game running have anything to do with what Rodog placed on his profile. This is essentially a straw-man argument and you have no definites that this is the reason why Rodog put that there. It's pretty much guess work. Cyrano had the right to play his game all the way out and force rodog to checkmate him--and there would be nothing wrong with that. The whole idea of ratings is irrelevant as well. Cyrano may have been waiting, but once again, this is hardly a violation of general chess rules which state that a person can play the game until the 'king shall move no more'. I'm being poetic tonight. lol. I see this assumption as just that an assumption that can't be proved and really is not pertinent to the discussion we are having. I want to make it clear lighttotheright, that I am not trying to be offensive to you and I hope that I am not. You are a great chess player here and I have a great deal of respect for you. I hope to be able to even play you sometime. I just don't think that we should base our debate on assumptions that can't be proven and reactions to something that is perfectly legal.
As a part of this chess community, I believe we should treat each other with a great deal of respect. We are all adults here (for the most part) and we need to be good losers and winners, realizing that no one is perfect and people make mistakes. And honestly, I'm willing to forgive Rodog for what I view as libel--a personal attack on someone in print designed to smear someone's name. The words on his profile are again not able to be proven true. In fact, if you look at the facts and the games, you can see very clearly that they are false. I don't know why he did it, nor can I make assumptions--but libel is just that--libel, a personal attack. I'm happy that this information has been removed, but I think he owes Cyrano a personal apology for falsely accusing him. Generally, it comes down to immaturity vs. maturity--good sportsmanship vs. bad sportsmanship, and gentlemenliness (is that a word) vs. disgraceful behavior. Until Rodog is willing to offer a public apology for his false accusation, I do not think this situation is settled. It's not enough to just remove the information. Rodog may be a great chess mind (his rank shows that)--but the fact that he handles himself the way he does does not allow me to have any respect for him. Any respect I had for him was lost when he used libel against Cyrano, another player who definitely deserves our respect and who has been a true gentleman across the boards here now for many years as far as I can gather from my observations (I came in 2003) and other people's conversations.
Thanks for listening.
-Nathanman22
|
lighttotheright
2/01/2008
20:19:07
[ report abuse ] |
Message:
I believe we should treat each other with respect too--that includes respect to both Cyrano and Rodog.
I think people are taking Rodog's comments far too seriously. They were not libel as you state, merely suspect because he (Rodog) appeared to be guilty of the same thing on a smaller scale. What Rodog accused Cyrano of (at least of what I saw) was not against any rules, so it cannot be considered libel. I've witnessed many players do exactly what Rodog stated. Many players have discussed similar things with others on this site through this forum. Some players openly admit to doing it. Why? ...because this type of manipulation is not against the rules. You cannot convict someone from using all the time that they are given to play the game. But it is still manipulation. Having said that, I certainly don't think Rodog's comments should have been placed on his profile. That was wrong, and he has corrected that mistake as best he can.
Rodog is a chess player, not a Politician. He is not running in a popularity contest. I've seen far worse behavior from a Grandmaster personally toward me (he was upset that he was paired with me in the final round of a tournament because I was considered someone new--a nobody). It was that experience of total lack of respect that convinced me not to enter in another OTB tournament. I played my best and good enough to get into the final round with a Grandmaster! ...yet there was no respect on his part; it didn't matter that he beat me in that game.
This discussion should stop. We should not continue it, lest we could become guilty of what Rodog is being accused. Sometimes we need to be reminded of what the word 'forgiveness' means.
|
chessnovice
2/01/2008
21:20:45
[ report abuse ] | lighttotheright
Message:
I would never even begin to imply that rodog doesn't deserve the status he's achieved. I wouldn't even want to imply that he isn't a nice guy, because I'm certain that he is. But even talented, nice guys are prone to error. All I intended to imply was that the message left on his profile was in poor taste.
However, like you mentioned, he has since removed the note. So it is a non-issue at this point. I'm not so involved that I would refuse to move on.
|
nathanman22
2/09/2008
10:52:27
[ report abuse ] | Message to Rodog
Message:
Rodog, I wanted to thank you for your message on your profile. I accept your apology and I will congratulate you on how well you are playing chess right now. I respect someone who can admit that they were wrong and try to work out differences so that we can all play chess in a fair and respectable way.
-Nathanman22
|
tim_b
2/09/2008
14:47:16
[ report abuse ] |
Message:
A good reconciliatory gesture from rodog. :)
|
|
Post a reply to this message:
|
