“It’s a weekend and the world chess championship schedules a rest day. I don’t get that at all.”–Andrew Martin
[b]NEW YORK – Chess fans from far and wide flooded into the sold-out World Chess Championship match in New York City Saturday and they were surprised — and many were furious — at how little they actually saw of the two grandmasters competing for the title.
The larger-than-sold-out crowd at Saturday’s second round of the 12-game match overwhelmed the accommodations at the Fulton Market building in the South Street Seaport area of Manhattan. That led to long lines and frazzled nerves among attendees who paid $75 for a ticket.
“This is the worst-organized event I’ve been to in my life,” said Carl Fisher of Brooklyn. “It’s a terrible disgrace.”
Fisher said he had been standing in line for more than an hour to get into the one room from which fans could see defending world champion Margnus Carlsen and challenger Sergy Karjakin, who were playing inside a glass-partitioned, soundproofed room.
The viewing room for fans has room for perhaps a few dozen at a time of the hundreds of attendees. For those not in the viewing room, there were two large lounge areas with bench seating or seating at tables, some of which had chess boards and pieces. But there weren’t enough seats for everyone, and the spectators’ only view of the two players in those rooms was by watching them on TV screens.
“I paid $75; may I please have a chair?” Anatoyl Shpirt demanded in an exchange with event organizers. They directed him to rows of chairs that had been hastily added and which quickly filled up.
Shpirt, 60, is a Russian native who lives in New Jersey, and who has attended two world championship matches in Moscow, where there was theater-style seating so all ticket holders could eyeball the players on stage continuously.[/b]… startribune.com/chess-fans-f … 400956085/
To reiterate, this event was solely the operation of FIDE and its contractor. US Chess did not bid on this event, is not involved in the organization, and is not responsible for any aspect of the match.
The problem is that it is not universally understood. At the recent FIDE congress the general thought was that US Chess had bid on this event as there is no provision in FIDE regulations to hold an event the way they have chosen to do it.
It has been reported to me that even some people at the venue think this is a US Chess bid event. Where we hear that, we are trying to set the record straight.
That is unfortunate. I will spread the word on my blog and elsewhere that US Chess has no involvement in this event.
I’ve made this clear in posts to Chessbase, my blog, our club’s Facebook page and in an email to my chess club list. I urge our members to do the same with their club newsletters and any other outlets that they have available.