English Chess Forum

No Caruana, but entries led by Ding, Giri, So, MVL, Kramnik, Naka, Karjakin, Anand, Aronian .... Adams

Masters entries

Major

Minor

Schedule

Prizes include £50K for 1st

Preview: http://www.chessdom.com/isle-of-man-international-2018/

Has Isai Scheinberg settled his differences with the US legal and tax authorities yet?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 21, 2018 10:52 am

Has Isai Scheinberg settled his differences with the US legal and tax authorities yet?

It seems not - and unlikely he will 7 years later.

Reckon you might be right

On his way to IoM Peter Doggers gets aboard a Scottish airlines flight with an unexpected announcement:

“We have a very light flight today with hardly any luggage stored. Therefore, we will ask a few passengers to move to the back of the aircraft.”

This reminded me of a flight I got around 20 years ago from City Airport in London to Dundee where the pilot unexpectedly announced that due to turbulence and bad weather the plane was running out of fuel so we were going to land in Glasgow instead.

Adding a note here that Ding Liren is not playing in this event. He is listed for it on https://2700chess.com/ but http://iominternationalchess.com/ (which is obviously more authoritative) says " updated 18 September: Ding Liren withdrawn".

Chess.com preview Chess.com Isle Of Man, Strongest Open Ever, Kicks Off Saturday

Chris Rice wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:36 pm

Chess.com preview Chess.com Isle Of Man, Strongest Open Ever, Kicks Off Saturday

The generous support of the Scheinberg family

Well Chess.com won't be asking any difficult questions about the Scheinbergs or their history with the Isle of Man, will they?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:10 am

Chris Rice wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:36 pm

Chess.com preview Chess.com Isle Of Man, Strongest Open Ever, Kicks Off Saturday

The generous support of the Scheinberg family

Well Chess.com won't be asking any difficult questions about the Scheinbergs or their history with the Isle of Man, will they?

Yes it's hardly likely. The tournament site has "Sponsored By Chess.com & The Scheinberg family on every page." Isai Scheinberg recently won a high roller poker event but the article ends with:

"Don't expect Isai Scheinberg to suddenly become a fixture of the live tournament circuit, however, as the US government is still looking to get their hands on the former owner of Pokerstars."

Chris Rice wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:40 am

the US government is still looking to get their hands on the former owner of Pokerstars.

To be clear, the reason for this is that Pokerstars allowed US citizens to play online poker, a right taken for granted in most countries. This was illegal because Las Vegas interests, which somehow have considerable clout in Washington, saw online gambling as a serious threat to their monopoly. Among American players, far more see the Scheinbergs as heroes than villains.

This is surely true, and just as surely, neither here nor there.

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:15 pm

To be clear, the reason for this is that Pokerstars allowed US citizens to play online poker, a right taken for granted in most countries.

Pokerstars and others tried to get round the ban on online poker for money by using various subterfuges involving credit card billing. Rather than tolerate this, it would appear the Washington lawmakers resorted to their laws on wire fraud etc.

If playing poker for unlimited stakes is immoral, and it might be, the starting point for the US would be closing down the Las Vegas and other casinos.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:34 pm

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:15 pm

To be clear, the reason for this is that Pokerstars allowed US citizens to play online poker, a right taken for granted in most countries.

Pokerstars and others tried to get round the ban on online poker for money by using various subterfuges involving credit card billing. Rather than tolerate this, it would appear the Washington lawmakers resorted to their laws on wire fraud etc.

"Resorted to" here means "attempted to enforce". "Various subterfuges" means "lies told to banks and the legally constituted authorities".

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:31 pm

This is surely true, and just as surely, neither here nor there.

It seems to me to be very "here or there".

Isai Scheinberg is a fugitive from the USA because he did something which would not be an offence in most jurisdictions.

To my mind that is very different from his having done something which would be an offence in almost any jurisdiction.

I confidently predict that your campaign to get players to boycott the Chess.com Isle of Man International will continue to be totally unsuccessful.