I would like to thank all organisers and officials that were involved in running the 2019 British Chess Championships at Torquay.
It was highly successful and at some times stressful experience for me as I secured my Second IM Norm blowing the IM Norm requirement out of the water but more importantly, one of my students won the British Under 16 Championships and others did extremely well too just missing the National Title by a very small margin.
i am a trained football coach and referee (1.000 professional referee matches) and realise that can be a thankless task as players seem to think they know everything at times and question the decisions of football referees. When the football referees don't turn up it is only then the players fully respect the referee.
Being a referee is a hard job as is a chess referee (arbiter). From my own experience as a player who has played in excess of 300 Chess Tournaments i thought the ECF referees did an excellent job as did the organisers.
I make a special note of thanking all organisers and referees after every tournament as they give up their time and put themselves in the firing line.
All strong players want to win and we all hate losing and we may say things in the heat of the moment, however, on reflection appropriate apologies should be made.
I lost a lot of sleep over the Lorin incident as I do value him as a friend and feel as though that was damaged,I also value him as a Coach and fellow competitor, however, I was not impressed that he publicly attacked me on here with his 'version' of events.
Anything that I said when asked to step into the corridor to discuss with Lorin was said in the best interests of everybody.
i am an organiser of several Norm events and I immediately new the consequences of Lorins actions whether it was intentional or not.
I am also aware that in Australia the largest 'type' of Chess Cheaters are International Masters.
I am not saying Lorin cheated at all, however, when you see a player march out of a tournament hall with a bag it does play havoc with your own emotions and thoughts as to fair play; especially, after seeing all of this incredible imagery of Grandmasters hiding in cubicles over the past few months, players being scanned at this event for mobiles each round.
My own thoughts at the board were that Lorin was heading to the out of bound toilets for players (This may not have been true but was my thoughts at the board as he had already disappeared from view on at least one other occasion whilst his bag remained under the table), with a bag that I had been told was not to be moved. The position at the board was extremely complicated at move 20 and I wanted to ensure Fair Play even in that moment I had wondered if he had went to the out of bounds for player toilets) ay was being enforced. The out of bounds toilets were also near the Players Coffee drinks. I waited 2 minutes - the time I had assessed to take a drink from the fast track players lane and Lorin did not arrive back so I then informed the arbiter that my opponent had taken his bag and I wanted to ensure there was no mobile phone in his bag. After 15 minutes had elapsed the arbiter informed me that I had 'won' as he had found a Mobile Phone in his bag. I then suggested Lorin should resign to avoid what would be inevitable fall out which would create both him and me inevitable tournament stress. I believe Lorin took this the wrong way claiming "I only wanted the rating points" I was disappointed with this comment as I had already 'won' and with it the rating points, I then asked if I could leave the situation and return to the board and the arbiter agreed. the reason I suggested this as like many other players I have a lot of respect for Lorin (Although his comment in this thread took a dent to that). I still have a lot of respect for Lorin and I will put our mutual respect and friendship on hold until I see an apology for attacking and accusing me of things that are not true. If he cannot apologise then it is unlikely we will have a beer together and I will reduce any further interaction to that of being civil.
Putting all of this to one side, again, I would like to thank all organisers and referees for allowing us players an excellent environment to pit our wits against each other it has been a very positive experience for me on the whole with a highlight of an excellent victory against the excellent Grandmaster Stephen Gordon - who made a fantastic comeback to almost win the event had he of won in the final round.
As there was no further investigation in to whether a mobile phone was used by Lorin in the out of bounds cubicles then I have resolved in my own head that there is no evidence at all to suggest he used a mobile phone that was on his person and it was a rare act of stupidity / forgetfulness and it was entirely his own fault and neither myself nor the arbiters have any fault. Anyone disagreeing with this position I would suggest arbiters take a close look at such players and their ethics at the board - paying special attention to persons in this thread who chose to attack a player who simply requested an explanation why a player had taken his bag out of sight of players and arbiters - An entirely reasonable and appropriate request.
Again thanks to all including ALL of my opponents as securing an IM Norm is extremely difficult in the current Rating System with so many underrated juniors.
FM / FT Charlie Storey Informatics Forensics (Hons) PGCE Computing (2 IM NORMS!) Winner of over 160 Opens
Ethical Hacker BSc - Expert in Physical and Computer Security
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