Author: Amir Ban
Date: 16:50:34 03/23/00
Hi, I didn't comment on this match so far, and didn't think there was anything to comment on really. This match was a failure and of no real computer chess interest both because of the internet connection problems, and even more, in my mind, because of gross errors in operating Deep Junior. I was not directly involved in this match. I was tied up with other commitments. The main burden fell on Shay, who is a KC officer, and he, assisted by some KC staff, handled the operation of Deep Junior while also having to handle the technical communication aspect of the affair, plus doing most of the dialogue with Shanghai during the match. I was not on site, and while I got some information from Shay on the phone, most of what I know is from the KC web account which I read like the rest of you, against which Ms. Xie's letter is directed. I need to make clear that I'm NOT connected to KasparovChess in any official or unofficial way. I don't know if they intend to respond to Ms. Xie letter, but since much of what she says is directed at the "Deep Junior Team", I would like to make some comments. Ms. Xie account basically says that she was insulted and lied to, and her account is directed at that conclusion. She accuses both KC and the DJ team. On behalf of the DJ team, I can say that we certainly did not insult her, as we never made any public comment about her. We did not lie to her or break any agreement we had with her as we had none. Her contract was with KC, not with DJ, who was her opponent. If her accusations are directed only at KC, I could easily say that this is not my concern, but as an observer, I still would like to disagree with her. KasparovChess are no doubt to blame for mismanaging this match. Enough justified criticism was said about this, and I don't need to add to it. Nevertheless, to their credit I notice that both in the Adams incident and this one KC as an organization have freely taken on themselves the blame, and in no way were engaged in blame throwing. I also note that they have been eager rather than reluctant to accommodate the opponent and to offer compensation for the mishaps. So I am quite surprised to read that she found their account so offensive. The KC account is still posted on their site for anyone to see, and I honestly can't find the "many ugly words" that so deeply insulted her. I thought the account was rather delicate, and did not make any value judgement on her behavior. I do not see in that account anything that hints that connection problems in Shanghai were her fault. She was not accused of unsportsmanship (though we did indeed consider one of her demands to be poor sportsmanship). She was certainly not accused of dishonesty, and it's a mystery why she says protests honesty. Many of those who read the KC report concluded that the match ran into problems, which were not her fault, and that she was in a position to help, but didn't. As a result, some posted here that she has part of the blame for the failure of the match. This is public opinion, which we all have to deal with, but this was certainly not said by KC, and it was never implied that she was under any obligation to do anything, like playing through the telephone when internet lines were down. On the other hand, to say that playing through the telephone was a violation of the terms of the match is in my opinion nonsense which was said by her as an afterthought. Both sides are of course free to agree on anything with the consent of the arbiter, and if she were concerned about the letter of the agreement, I'm sure KC would have sent her an immediate fax exempting her of all fault for breaking it. I don't think it was possible for KC to tell a shorter story than they did without keeping the public in the dark about what happened and why. I'm even more surprised because I think that those who read her account carefully will come to the conclusion that, first, it does not contradict the KC account in any important detail, and second, that her own account reflects on her worse than anything KC said. In my opinion, KC showed proper discretion by keeping silent on some facts which, while true, if published would paint her in a less favorable light, and apparently KC had no such intention. I thought "money transfer disagreements" was a properly bland term to describe something that was best not described in detail. Ms. Xie on the other hand does not mince words and calls this a lie, and then proceeds to describe those "money transfer disagreements". Reading her account of this, I think that signing a contract and adding an additional condition at the same time can easily lead to innocent misunderstanding. I read that she received signed assurances signed by the KC CEO (of course legally binding), and she dismisses it as a worthless piece of paper, which can certainly cause some offense to Mr. Eyal Gutman. Her account strongly implies that in the end she sat down to play without getting any money, out of consideration for the fans, though she does say she got more assurances, without specifying what they were. This is in contradiction to what I've been told, that in the end Ms. Xie agreed to play only when, at her insistence, all sums promised to her in this match, including a large bonus for winning the match, were transferred to her, all in advance. Ms. Xie tells a detail that KC completely omitted in their account: That from the start of the match she refused to talk directly to any KC staff or to the DJ operator, and all the rather lengthy discussions that took place over the four games were exclusively through Mr. Leong. The people on the KC end interpreted this behavior as a declaration of contempt for them, and her account more or less confirms this impression. Her account of times and delays in each of the games are probably accurate. They have been described by the KC account in the necessary detail. All connection problems this time originated in Shanghai. This was in no way her fault, but I think it should be noted that she is discussing the same events, in case anyone is led to believe she describes problems and delays not reported by KC. The KC staff was of course aware that this was causing problems on her side, and in all games she received time adjustment and shortening of time controls as she demanded, except on one occasion: This was on the third game (won by DJ) when after a long delay in starting the game Ms. Xie demanded that all the time passed should be deducted from her opponent's clock. The KC account merely says that this was refused. In fact, Shay, who was scandalized by this demand, told Ms. Xie through Mr. Leong that the DJ team withdraws from the match, and agreed to continue only after a more reasonable agreement was reached on shortening time controls. Ms. Xie says that her demand is what everyone would do, but I don't agree with that. As to the move Kd8, in normal circumstances I'm sure the operator would pick up the phone, apologize and ask for a takeback. It's good to hear that this would have been accepted by Ms. Xie, but, under the cirucumstances of this match the operator thought that there was no point in asking and decided to bite the bullet. The king walk was certainly not meant to embarrass her in front of the audience. From the point of view of the game it was to her advantage, as was the book error in the second game. There is no disagreement about the circumstances in which the match was called off. Ms. Xie was disconnected, and was asked by the KC staff to reconnect. Since she saw at her end DJ on the move and its clock ticking, she refused and challenged DJ to make a move on her screen or lose on time. By her account, she brought well-known people to vouch for what she saw on the screen, but could not convince the KC staff. The KC staff of course did not need this testimony as it was irrelevant, and they tried to explain to her that she is seeing a local view shown by her local disconnected viewer. Giving up on that, they cancelled the rest of the match, and told it to her of course through Mr. Leong. This was not done by consensus, but I think it is obvious that in the complete breakdown of trust and communication and with no idea how to continue this was the only sane course of action. I think quite apart from the fact that Ms. Xie thought she was being lied to about this, it's hard to understand how anyone would agree to play a match through the internet without being prepared to believe the organizers about how their connection software works. Amir
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