When termites attack

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
User avatar
Carl Hibbard
Posts: 6028
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:05 pm
Location: Evesham

When termites attack

Post by Carl Hibbard » Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:43 pm

Extracted from http://stevegiddinschessblog.wordpress.com/ but 'comments' are allowed....

A recent exchange from the ever-delightful Egregious Chess Forum, between one of the nicest people in English chess, and the self-appointed Censor-in-Chief of the said Forum. I am sorry to see Kevin mired in such nastiness, but, as the old saying goes, “Those who sup with the Devil…”

“Kevin Thurlow Post subject: Tournament dispute from several years ago Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:47 pm
Post removed in protest at censorship by Forum managers. The post was relevant to its former home, but obviously someone found it uncomfortable reading!

Carl Hibbard Post subject: Re: Tournament dispute from several years ago Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 12:37 pm
There was no censorship just a move into it’s own thread since as you say a little further down the two are unrelated, you were also referring to someone who is sadly no longer with us and we felt uncomfortable with that element of your post
Your original post was left intact though

Kevin Thurlow Post subject: Re: Tournament dispute from several years ago Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 1:10 pm
Really?
I made no derogatory comments about any deceased person and your insinuation that I did so is intolerable. It is an immediate requirement that you apologise for your false accusation and/or delete it.”
Cheers
Carl Hibbard

User avatar
Carl Hibbard
Posts: 6028
Joined: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:05 pm
Location: Evesham

Re: When termites attack

Post by Carl Hibbard » Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:44 pm

Devil and self-appointed Censor-in-Chief seem excessive does it?
Cheers
Carl Hibbard

User avatar
Ben Purton
Posts: 1631
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:53 am
Location: Berks

Re: When termites attack

Post by Ben Purton » Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:05 pm

If you are the Devil , does this Make me God?
I love sleep, I need 8 hours a day and about 10 at night - Bill Hicks
I would die happy if I beat Wood Green in the Eastman Cup final - Richmond LL captain.
Hating the Yankees since 2002. Hating the Jets since 2001.

Paul McKeown
Posts: 3732
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:01 pm
Location: Hayes (Middx)

Re: When termites attack

Post by Paul McKeown » Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:12 pm

Carl Hibbard wrote:Devil and self-appointed Censor-in-Chief seem excessive does it?
Just the Anteater frothing at the proboscis, nothing serious.

User avatar
Paolo Casaschi
Posts: 1186
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:46 am

Re: When termites attack

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:15 am

I must have missed something...
Who is this guy and why is he so upset with this forum?

Michele Clack
Posts: 437
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:38 pm
Location: Worcestershire

Re: When termites attack

Post by Michele Clack » Wed Oct 05, 2011 9:03 am

I don't know why he's so upset with the forum but he does sound rather over the top. What a thing to say! I don't think I'll buy any more of his chess books.

Ian Kingston
Posts: 1071
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:16 pm
Location: Sutton Coldfield

Re: When termites attack

Post by Ian Kingston » Wed Oct 05, 2011 10:28 am

I think it all started with some criticism of the 2008 Staunton Memorial. In summary, the tournament was criticised for slowness in publishing the games; for including a hopelessly outclassed Bob Wade in the field; and for clashing with other events (notably the British Championship).

The arbiter, Eric Schiller, posted an article entitled Behind the Scenes: Beware of termites!, and Steve Giddins, who wrote the tournament reports, referred to the same insects in his Round 7 report.

And there it might have rested, but there was a passing reference to termites in 2009, picked up by the Streatham & Brixton blog.

In 2010, Giddins was made editor of the BCM. During his brief tenure, he published various comments on a blog (http://stevegiddins.blogspot.com/ - now deleted), which are referred to in another Streatham & Brixton blog post. Some of the BCM's travails were discussed on the forum when an appeal was made for more subscribers - otherwise the magazine would fold.

I dimly recall that termites were again criticised on the now defunct blog, but that could be a false memory. There is more discussion of the deleted blog in this thread. In any case, relations between Giddins and this forum were by this time rather poor.

So when Giddins started a new blog this year, it was quickly discovered and mentioned on the forum by Roger de Coverley. The fact that it was closed to comments was noted in Roger's post. Giddins managed a termite reference in only the second sentence of his very first post. Since then, Giddins has demanded the removal of a photo of himself from the forum (for copyright reasons), attacked forumites for criticising his description of Gay Times as 'a pornographic magazine' (discussion here), and most recently described Carl Hibbard as being the 'Censor-in-Chief' of this forum.

I think that covers it. Did I miss anything?

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: When termites attack

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:00 am

michele clack wrote:I don't know why he's so upset with the forum but he does sound rather over the top. What a thing to say! I don't think I'll buy any more of his chess books.
I've only read one of his books, "50 Essential Chess Lessons", which I thought was excellent. Also his blog has some fantastic studies (not his, but usually ones I've never seen before). It's OK to enjoy his work whilst still thinking the author is a prize turnip. Of course you might decide that you don't want to buy his books because you don't want any royalties going his way, and that's fair enough in my opinion.

User avatar
Adam Raoof
Posts: 2720
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:16 pm
Location: NW4 4UY

Re: When termites attack

Post by Adam Raoof » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:10 am

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:
michele clack wrote:I don't know why he's so upset with the forum but he does sound rather over the top. What a thing to say! I don't think I'll buy any more of his chess books.
I've only read one of his books, "50 Essential Chess Lessons", which I thought was excellent. Also his blog has some fantastic studies (not his, but usually ones I've never seen before). It's OK to enjoy his work whilst still thinking the author is a prize turnip. Of course you might decide that you don't want to buy his books because you don't want any royalties going his way, and that's fair enough in my opinion.
May I say, without further comment, that Learn from the Grandmasters, Flank Openings, Aron Nimzowitsch and Leonid Stein - Master of Attack are some of my favourite books.
Adam Raoof IA, IO
Chess England Events - https://chessengland.com/
The Chess Circuit - https://chesscircuit.substack.com/
Don’t stop playing chess!

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: When termites attack

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:13 am

Great, now all we have to do is find something worthwhile by Eric Schiller... OK, two out of three isn't bad.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: When termites attack

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:19 am

Ian Kingston wrote: I think that covers it. Did I miss anything?
A writer in Malcolm's magazine commented that this forum featured "obscure, endless arguments". Not to be outdone, the then BCM editor chimed in with "tiny and totally unrepresentative". This was not long after he'd taken over at the BCM, in November 2010.

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... g&start=24

(edit) comma added, since it was in November 2010 that he made the comment, having already been the editor since the summer. (/edit)
Last edited by Roger de Coverly on Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ian Kingston
Posts: 1071
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:16 pm
Location: Sutton Coldfield

Re: When termites attack

Post by Ian Kingston » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:32 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Ian Kingston wrote: I think that covers it. Did I miss anything?
A writer in Malcolm's magazine commented that this forum featured "obscure, endless arguments". Not to be outdone, the then BCM editor chimed in with "tiny and totally unrepresentative". This was not long after he'd taken over at the BCM in November 2010.

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... g&start=24
Thank you. I'd been trying to locate that thread but couldn't find the right search terms.

User avatar
Paolo Casaschi
Posts: 1186
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:46 am

Re: When termites attack

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:38 am

Paolo Casaschi wrote:I must have missed something...
Who is this guy and why is he so upset with this forum?
Thanks to everyone that replied.
Got the picture. :roll:

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5821
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: When termites attack

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:20 pm

"A recent exchange from the ever-delightful Egregious Chess Forum, between one of the nicest people in English chess, and the self-appointed Censor-in-Chief of the said Forum. I am sorry to see Kevin mired in such nastiness, but, as the old saying goes, “Those who sup with the Devil…”"

He sounds good to me...
"Kevin was the arbiter and was very patient. " Nick Grey

User avatar
Paolo Casaschi
Posts: 1186
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:46 am

Re: When termites attack

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:16 pm

Carl Hibbard wrote:Extracted from http://stevegiddinschessblog.wordpress.com/ but 'comments' are allowed....
Carl, do you have a copyright notice on the forum?
:wink: