Author: Larry Proffer
Date: 08:48:57 05/12/01
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On May 12, 2001 at 11:05:01, Mogens Larsen wrote: >On May 12, 2001 at 08:15:31, Larry Proffer wrote: > >>Which is what I totally fail to understand about SMK and Ossi. >> >>Presumably they were on the $400,000 / possible $200,000 as well. So why throw >>that away, and all the playing publicity, TV, International Press (for which >>Ed/Christophe appear to be prepared to die for)? >> >>Because Kramnik would have the program for three months beforehand? >> >>So Shredder loses. Big deal. $200,000 plus 25 zillion tons of free advertising >>as World Champ. >> >>Doesn't compute. > >They would still have to win the qualifier to reach the end of the rainbow. The >cost, however, compared to the possible gain doesn't seem out of proportion. All >business is risky in nature. But they may have felt that the qualifier >parameters and the significance of a possible loss weren't reasonable. I would >have taken the chance if givn the option. Do you know the sequence of events? I heard that the first approach was by Ossi to BGN offering a WC vs WC challenge match. Ie. an exclusive Shredder-Kramnik show. BGN liked the idea, presumably. Then at some later stage Chessbase became involved. And Enrique. How did this all happen? Did Chessbase introduce Enrique, or did Enrique introduce Chessbase? Who was first on the scene? Did BGN go out and find Enrique (or Chessbase), or did Enrique (or Chessbase) come looking? Or did Ossi suggest to dilute his chances by introducing a competitor? Not very likely? > >The other scenario vented here a few times indirectly by Thorsten is the >possible coorperation between CB and Millennium. I believe the reference was to >the good natured talks between Feist and Weiner at Paderborn. Personally, I have >a hard time swallowing that explanation, ie. "cash without risk" to Millennium >for withdrawing and an exclusive match for ChessBase. > > >It's farfetched IMHO. > Very much so. Would it even be 'legal' in a criminal justice sense? To pay someone / accept money to not compete in order to gain financially? Thorsten should be very careful before making that sort of allegation. I would be very surprised if two reputable companies were to behave that way. Additionally, there is a slight problem with posing the above scenario. How do you account for what looked like efforts to derail the event after the Ossi withdrawal? There was some seriously vindictive stuff going on, and, it seems, final contracts were not quite in place. If the derailing successfully took place, then wouldn't this "cash without risk" be at risk? All very complex, don't you think? >Mogens.
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