KAMSKY'S HOUSE ARREST
Joseph F. Ford
: Interview with GM Roman Dzindzihashvili (Gata Kamsky's second)
[Interview omitted]
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get
you.
This would make a heck of a movie.
GM Larry Evans
(Copyright by Chesstours. Warning: Do not reprint without permission!)
In this interview, Dzindzi discusses Gata Kamsky's prospects to become both
PCA and FIDE world champion; he also describes a political war currently being
waged against America's only world title candidate.
He reports that Gata was fined $120, a trifling sum. But many observers worry
that if FIDE president Florencio Campomanes claims the power to fine an
American grandmaster without previous contractual arrangements, then he has
established a precedent for withholding far larger sums on future occasions.
Indeed, Campo has already warned that he intends to make up other such rules
even though there is no provision for them in the FIDE statutes.
Some observers fear that just as FIDE failed to pay the promised $2.7 prize
fund for its 1993 Karpov-Timman title match, so the president is establishing
a basis for withholding large amounts of future prize funds for behavior that
occurs away from the board.
Dzindzi also claims that the Kamsky team was held under what, in effect, was
house arrest for nine days in India after the match with Salov. He believes
that FIDE and the PCA are now colluding to prevent an American from winning
both championship cycles.
EVANS: You told me yesterday that while in India you and Gata Kamsky and his
father Rustam were under house arrest for nine days?
DZINDZI: When the organizers in Sanghi Nagar took the car away from us for
nine days and told us not to talk to journalists or not to leave home -- which
is in the desert -- what would you call it? It's practically house arrest,
even though that may not be the legal term.
Q. And you were finally paid prize money at four o'clock in the morning on the
day before you left India?
A. Oh, yes. Absolutely. 100%.
Q. How much was Gata's end of the purse?
A. $156,250. The total purse was $250,000. Kamsky got 5/8 and Salov got 3/8.
Q. What was FIDE's cut?
A. The total for our match and Gelfand-Karpov was $500,000. FIDE got 10% of
the total which was paid to them directly by the organizers in addition to
what the players got.
Q. What was the problem between the Kamskys and the organizers?
A. The way it happened was this. Gata's father bought plane tickets before
leaving America. They were supposed to reimburse him $7,000 immediately.
Instead they were telling him tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, postponing for 22
days! They were lying to him every day, and I was a witness.
Q. Just a moment. How many tickets did he buy?
A. He bought four -- for Gata, himself, me and Shabalov. When the match ended
they still said "tomorrow." At the end they explained they needed government
and bank permission to issue hard currency, but they never mentioned it any
sooner. When Gata's father asked for it before we left, Ravi Sanghi started
yelling at him and was very rude. I should mention that he was very nice to us
for a few days after we got there. But the day Campomanes came his approach
completely -- COMPLETELY -- changed. Day and night. He became very dry and
very official and very unfriendly.
Q. Before you go any further, did the sum you mention include the $7,000?
A. No. We were paid the $7,000 about three days before our departure. They
told us we would be paid prize money the evening before our departure, but
they tried to deduct $120 for statements made by Gata's father to the press.
We asked how Campomanes could fine a player without any authority? It has
never happened before in the history of chess.
Q. Gata didn't sign any contract permitting them to do this, right?
A. Of course not. When Sanghi refused to pay him and yelled that he didn't
like Rustam coming every day and bothering him, Rustam said he also didn't
like being promised to be paid tomorrow and tomorrow, but that he wasn't
complaining about it to the press. "Go and complain anywhere you want!" he was
told. So Rustam gave interviews expressing his dissatisfaction with what was
happening. After that Sanghi said, "You can leave the country!"
Q. This is after the match is over?
A. Yes. I went to Sanghi by myself to talk things over. He said, "I can put
you all in jail. I can do anything I want. I'm a king here." He repeated it
five or six times at least. At least. Rustam was very much afraid we wouldn't
get the prize money either. Sanghi said he would send it to FIDE and we would
get it from FIDE in a few months, or whatever. After a long discussion we
agreed that Kamsky's father would approach the media and say the statements he
made were in bad taste, but he wasn't taking them back. They then signed a
joint agreement that the ticket and prize money would all be paid before we
left on February 24.
Q. What was Campomanes' role in all of this?
A. First of all, Sanghi broke the agreement next morning and told the
newspapers all kinds of dirty lies. He contaced Campomanes, who flew to India.
Campo immediately levied the $120 fine on Gata without hearing our side of the
story. We were not even permitted to leave the house to watch another game
between Gelfand and Karpov. We told Campo that he had no right to fine us
because there was no provision for it in the FIDE rules. He said he knew that
but he was changing the rules on the spot because it would take too long to
get approval to go through the board and lawyers. He said he didn't need to
listen to our side of the story because he believed the organizers.
Q. What about Karpov, did he play any role in this?
A. Karpov and all the other players were absolutely outraged at Campo's
decision. And Campo was not just talking like a president of FIDE but like
president of the whole world. He was very rude to us, that's why we filed an
official complaint. Finally at ten o'clock on the night before he left the
organizers agreed to pay us in full if we took back our protest.
Q. Was Karpov present?
A. He tried to be a peacemaker. At four in the morning before we caught
our plane back to America a four-way statement was signed by Kamsky, Karpov,
Campo and Sanghi. It said that in the best interests of chess we would stop
the arguments for now. Campo did not want to sign it, but under tremendous
pressure from Sanghi he did sign.
Now let me tell you another bombshell. There are witnesses, I have their names
and addresses. Sanghi went around asking players to sign a petition that they
would never, ever play Gata Kamsky.
Q. What have you heard about the coming match between Kamsky and Karpov.
A. Nothing. Nothing has been decided.
Q. Will it be before or after the coming PCA championship that Kasparov will
play with Kamsky if he defeats Anand?
A. That's what both Kamsky and Karpov want.
Q. Yes, but what will happen?
A. They absolutely refuse to play under Campo's rules.
Q. Yesterday you told me that Kasparov is even dirtier than Campomanes. What
did you mean by that?
A. Kasparov and Campo conspired in all these games. First of all, Sanghi said
that we had no right to criticize in his town his "good friends Kasparov and
Campomanes." A Yugoslav journalist was threatened with deportation from India
unless he apologized for reporting Kamsky's criticism of Kasparov, who made
dirty deals to get Campo elected at the Olympiad in Moscow last December.
About six months ago Sanghi signed an agreement that he would organize the
final FIDE match for $2.95 million, and the press reported it. But now
Kasparov does not want the FIDE prize fund to be higher than the PCA fund for
the match in Cologne this September, which is only one million.
Q. But the PCA announced two million.
A. You have old figures. It's already only one million.
Q. But how do you prove that Kasparov is pulling strings behind the scenes?
A. I don't have proof that will stand up in court. But the papers in India
reported that Kasparov does not want to see Kamsky playing for the title in
either the FIDE or PCA cycle. The papers also reported that the purpose of the
incident in India was to put even more pressure on Kamsky, who starts his last
PCA match with Anand in Las Palmas early this March.
Q. The PCA announced that their title match would be only 20 games instead of
24. Do you know if Kasparov will retain draw odds even in a shorter match?
A. Nobody knows. Before both semi-final matches started in India, all four
players demanded to be part of the negotiations in the FIDE-PCA Commission
that will decide these issues.
Q. Will Kasparov be on this comission?
A. Kasparov, Short and Bob Rice. From FIDE you will never believe who is
there: Campomanes, Ghobash and Sanghi, and I'm not sure the man even knows how
to play chess. Sanghi is a very big businessman but so far he hasn't been able
to break into the Russian market.
Q. What does he sell, textiles?
A. A lot of different things. Not only textiles but wood, everything.
Q. But Campomanes can't get him into Russia.
A. But Kasparov can!
Q. Is there anything else you want to add?
Overestimating a Death Threat
A. One of the largest Indian newspapers DECCAN CHRONCILE on February 24 had a
big exclusive interview with Karpov, who says "They Threatened to Kill Me!"
It's a huge interview.
Q. Can you give us a few quotes?
A. When asked why Campo turned on him in Moscow last December even though he
was the FIDE champion who supported the organization over the years, Karpov
replied: "The top brass are now all Kasparov men. You know, Russian chess
federation president Makarov threatened to kill me. He is a close friend of
Kasparov. When I took up the issue with Mr. Campomanes, he said that I was
overestimating the threat. Is this any way to treat a world champion?"
Karpov added that FIDE strongly desires Kamsky to be eliminated in both
cycles. "The funny part is that if Gata wins both cycles, there will be no
playoff to unify the titles in 1996," concluded Karpov.
Q. Can you make any prediction about the outcome of the Anand-Kamsky match?
A. No. I can only tell you that it is very difficult to prepare simultaneously
for two matches. Salov has an entirely different style than Anand.
Q. Will Kamsky have another second in Las Palmas besides you?
A. Just two days ago we took on Alexander Ivanov.
Q. Do you think that Kamsky can beat Karpov?
A. I think he should win without any problem. Kamsky is a very heavy favorite.
Q. Really? Has he improved so much?
A. You see, Kasparov told the press that Anand is going to beat Kamsky. But
this is his WISH. He sells it as reality.
Q. Do you think Kamsky really has a chance to beat Kasparov?
A. He has, if there is time for enough preparation. Kamsky has at least a 50%
chance. Nobody but me -- I think I'm the only person in the world, including
Gata himself -- knows his real strength.
Q. Yes, but people could say that you're biased.
A. Okay. I'm just expressing my opinion to you as chessplayer to chessplayer.
Nobody knows how good Gata is. And is is very, very good. Incredibly good.
What he shows on the board is nothing compared to what he is capable of.
Q. Why is he so good? Is he a chess genius like Fischer?
A. He is a genius, absolutely. No doubt about it. And he works a lot, he's
been totally dedicated to chess since he was 8.
Q. What about his education?
A. Let's talk about that in another interview.
--
GM Larry Evans
L. Evans
du...@netcom.com
: In article <3ivuk5$crv$1...@mhadg.production.compuserve.com>, GM Larry Evans <7214...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
: |> Interview with GM Roman Dzindzihashvili (Gata Kamsky's second)
: |> By GM Larry Evans
: |>
: |> (Copyright by Chesstours. Warning: Do not reprint without permission!)
: [deleted]
: The adventures of the innocent Kamskys...
: Hard to believe that the whole words turns against them for no reason.
: |> Now let me tell you another bombshell. There are witnesses, I have their names
: |> and addresses. Sanghi went around asking players to sign a petition that they
: |> would never, ever play Gata Kamsky.
: |>
: That sounds familiar. Same (?) 'Roman' on ICS promised me to never, ever
: play me again after I dared to refuse a draw in a winning ending with time
: advantage as well. Since this was 5 0 and I was so surprised by this offer
: (some GM's do, relying on their elo power in lost positions to get a draw this
: way) that the game ended in a draw (not enough time to mate him). It is
: worth mentioning that I got lag-flagged in advantageous positions many times by
: him before, something I am everything but serious about myself.
: So he wants to play me only if money is involved (sorry, no kamsky article
: without the term 'money' possible). But, who pays the trip? ;)
: [deleted]
: |> Q. Can you make any prediction about the outcome of the Anand-Kamsky match?
: |>
: |> A. No. I can only tell you that it is very difficult to prepare simultaneously
: |> for two matches. Salov has an entirely different style than Anand.
: [deleted]
: |> Q. Do you think that Kamsky can beat Karpov?
: |>
: |> A. I think he should win without any problem. Kamsky is a very heavy favorite.
: Wow. We'll see. I can't even win without problems against players rated much
: lower than me. Kasparov once said that it costs him an enourmous amount of
: energy to beat an average GM these days. But Kamsky beats Karpov with-
: out 'any problem'.
: [deleted]
: |> Q. Do you think Kamsky really has a chance to beat Kasparov?
: |>
: |> A. He has, if there is time for enough preparation. Kamsky has at least a 50%
: |> chance. Nobody but me -- I think I'm the only person in the world, including
: |> Gata himself -- knows his real strength.
: That's interesting. Anand is considered to be a much harder opponent than
: Karpov, maybe even harder than Kasparov!
: The [chess] world according to Kamsky:
: 1.Kamsky / Anand
: 3.Kasparov
: 4.Karpov
: --
: ___
: (o o)
: -------------------------oOO--(-)---OOo-----------------------------------
: Martin Borriss bor...@rpi.edu
: RPI,Troy,NY mb...@irz.inf.tu-dresden.de
: --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Borriss
|> By GM Larry Evans
|>
|> (Copyright by Chesstours. Warning: Do not reprint without permission!)
|>
[deleted]
The adventures of the innocent Kamskys...
Hard to believe that the whole words turns against them for no reason.
|> Now let me tell you another bombshell. There are witnesses, I have their names
|> and addresses. Sanghi went around asking players to sign a petition that they
|> would never, ever play Gata Kamsky.
|>
That sounds familiar. Same (?) 'Roman' on ICS promised me to never, ever
play me again after I dared to refuse a draw in a winning ending with time
advantage as well. Since this was 5 0 and I was so surprised by this offer
(some GM's do, relying on their elo power in lost positions to get a draw this
way) that the game ended in a draw (not enough time to mate him). It is
worth mentioning that I got lag-flagged in advantageous positions many times by
him before, something I am everything but serious about myself.
So he wants to play me only if money is involved (sorry, no kamsky article
without the term 'money' possible). But, who pays the trip? ;)
[deleted]
|> Q. Can you make any prediction about the outcome of the Anand-Kamsky match?
|>
|> A. No. I can only tell you that it is very difficult to prepare simultaneously
|> for two matches. Salov has an entirely different style than Anand.
[deleted]
|> Q. Do you think that Kamsky can beat Karpov?
|>
|> A. I think he should win without any problem. Kamsky is a very heavy favorite.
Wow. We'll see. I can't even win without problems against players rated much
lower than me. Kasparov once said that it costs him an enourmous amount of
energy to beat an average GM these days. But Kamsky beats Karpov with-
out 'any problem'.
[deleted]
|> Q. Do you think Kamsky really has a chance to beat Kasparov?
|>
|> A. He has, if there is time for enough preparation. Kamsky has at least a 50%
|> chance. Nobody but me -- I think I'm the only person in the world, including
|> Gata himself -- knows his real strength.
That's interesting. Anand is considered to be a much harder opponent than
Jose Balinas
Kasparov and Campo both know this can happen.
Now, you watch how Campo operates to distract and undermine Kamsky
when his time comes to play Kasparov. He cannot afford to lose all
those
potential $$$ earnings with Kasparov gone.
We should root for and support Kamsky, regardless. An American/U.S.
World Chess Champion is better than no American World Chess
Champion.
- JC Balinas >> bth...@bth20.med.navy.mil
National Naval Medical Center
Bethesda, Maryland, U. S. A.
Post is my opinion and countless other chess players Campo owes...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Vijaya Kumar Nadendla (Louisiana State University)
|>Subject: KAMSKY'S HOUSE ARREST
|>Date: Tue, 28 Feb 95 20:47:17 WET
|>Organization: Friends of USCF
|>
|> Interview with GM Roman Dzindzihashvili (Gata Kamsky's second)
|> By GM Larry Evans
|>
|> (Copyright by Chesstours. Warning: Do not reprint without permission!)
|>
|>PCA and FIDE world champion; he also describes a political war currently being
|>waged against America's only world title candidate.
|>
|>He reports that Gata was fined $120, a trifling sum. But many observers worry
|>that if FIDE president Florencio Campomanes claims the power to fine an
|>American grandmaster without previous contractual arrangements, then he has
|>established a precedent for withholding far larger sums on future occasions.
|>Indeed, Campo has already warned that he intends to make up other such rules
|>even though there is no provision for them in the FIDE statutes.
|>
|>Some observers fear that just as FIDE failed to pay the promised $2.7 prize
|>fund for its 1993 Karpov-Timman title match, so the president is establishing
|>a basis for withholding large amounts of future prize funds for behavior that
|>occurs away from the board.
|>
|>Dzindzi also claims that the Kamsky team was held under what, in effect, was
|>house arrest for nine days in India after the match with Salov. He believes
|>that FIDE and the PCA are now colluding to prevent an American from winning
|>both championship cycles.
|>
|>EVANS: You told me yesterday that while in India you and Gata Kamsky and his
|>father Rustam were under house arrest for nine days?
|>
|>DZINDZI: When the organizers in Sanghi Nagar took the car away from us for
|>nine days and told us not to talk to journalists or not to leave home -- which
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I am from INDIA and I
studies in the city the match played. There is not desert anywhere there.
I cannot understand whats going on. Can someone tell such obivous lie.
|>and addresses. Sanghi went around asking players to sign a petition that they
|>would never, ever play Gata Kamsky.
|>
|>
|>A. No. I can only tell you that it is very difficult to prepare simultaneously
|>for two matches. Salov has an entirely different style than Anand.
|>
|>
|>A. Just two days ago we took on Alexander Ivanov.
|>
|>
|>
|>A. I think he should win without any problem. Kamsky is a very heavy favorite.
|>
|>
|>A. You see, Kasparov told the press that Anand is going to beat Kamsky. But
|>this is his WISH. He sells it as reality.
|>
|>
|>A. He has, if there is time for enough preparation. Kamsky has at least a 50%
|>chance. Nobody but me -- I think I'm the only person in the world, including
|>Gata himself -- knows his real strength.
|>
zorzopulos santiago
On 6 Mar 1995, VanUpp wrote:
> Rustum Kamsky claims that he spent $7,000 out of pocket for airplane
> tickets to India. This seems like a lot of money. Did they fly first
> class? No wonder the Indian organizers balked at reimbursing such a large
> sum. Sam Sloan.
>
>
It adds up pretty quick when you consider that four people went (Rustan,
Roman, Gata, and Alex).That makes it about $1750 per person. I personally
believe this figure is quite accurate since a friend of mine recently
travelled to India with his family. For the five of them it cost over
$8000! They didn't fly first class, and they were happy they found
tickets so cheap!
Santiago Zorzopulos
zorz...@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu
Philip L. Peterson
: Rustum Kamsky claims that he spent $7,000 out of pocket for airplane
: tickets to India. This seems like a lot of money. Did they fly first
: class? No wonder the Indian organizers balked at reimbursing such a large
: sum. Sam Sloan.
I don't know $7,000 for 4 people from the US to India, doesn't seem too
far fetched to me.
VanUpp
zorzopulos santiago
> I regularly travel to Asian locations like China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, and
> the like. The usual round trip fare with a about a three week lead time (the
> Kamskys knew the match date for much longer than three weeks), is around US$
> 800, give or take a hundred.
>
> So, $7000 for four people seems real steep to me!! I wouldn't reimburse
> someone $7000 if they had several months in which to make their reservations...
>
> Jake
> ae...@halcyon.com
>
>
>
Yes, however, the distance isn't always as important as the
location. It cost about twice as much to travel to south America from the
US than to Europe. My only exlaination is that only a small amount of
airlines service India and thus they charge more. Without doing an in
depth search of travel prices to India I assume that $7000 is a
believable figure.
Santiago Zorzopulos
zorz...@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu
Aegis
>Santiago Zorzopulos
>zorz...@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu
I regularly travel to Asian locations like China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, and
prin...@happy.cc.utexas.edu
this topic. Please do this under a different topic!
Besides, I really don't understand why there is a lot of noise
on this airfare problem. I mean, you guys know the original
posting on this topic. And, while there are more serious
problems, like the unethical behaviors of the people who should
feel responsible of the world chess (like campomones) or the
"killing threats" which comes from another irresponsible person
towards the FIDE world champion, you guys *unbelievably*
talk about whether or not Kamskys payed a few more dollars more
for the airfare.
As a last word, I am a foreigner but I stand up and clap my hands
for Kamsky's impressive performance. As Americans you should be
more doing so.
Regards
O. Haldun UnalmIs
prin...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
"princess" (ICS, sorry ICC :-( )
hnr_4...@emuvax.emich.edu
Well, he did fly AT LEAST four people to india (rustam, gata, shabalov ,
and roman), so that $7000 doesnt seem unreasonable, especially if there
were a fifth person...
dp
Larry Parr
"It is certainly arguable that Evans' impact on chess journalism
and politics is as dramatic as Fischer's impact on play and the
nature of the world championship...Off the board his achievements
are prodigious. He has been a columnist for 40 years and a highly
controversial one at that. He has become embroiled in all the
major battles of the chess world." -- Chess Life, August 1994 (page 33).
"I hold GM Liarry in utter contempt." -- Jerome Bibuld
The Big Lie
Readers have had another opportunity to sample the intellectual output of FIDE
arbiter Jerome Bibuld (Capsa) who proudly represents the distilled essence of
Fide and of the Old Guard mentality. Some of you have asked us whether THEY
really think like THAT. Mr. Bibuld is here to prove they do.
Mr. Bibuld believes in The Big Lie. He is convinced that if he makes the same
claim often enough, it will eventually take root. He really believes that, and
he may be right. Hitler was wrong about a lot of things, but not about the Big
Lie stuff.
5-time USA Champion
Larry Evans won the USA Championship ahead of Reshevsky in 1951 and played a
match with Herman Steiner in July 1952 to determine who would hold the title
until July 1954 -- a full two years. GM Evans won handily 10-4.
Mr. Bibuld has been screaming for years that GM Evans is ONLY a 4-time champ,
and is dubious that the Evans-Steiner match was actually for the title.
Chess Review, August 1952 (page 228) noted: "Larry Evans retained his U.S.
title in a challenge match with Herman Steiner, his predecessor."
Chess Life (July 5, 1952, front page) labelled "Official Publication of The
United States Chess Federation," noted: "With eight games played in the Evans-
Steiner match for the U.S. title, youthful Larry Evans leads by 6-2."
There is, of course, a lot more. The New York Times reported that this match
was for the title and Andy Soltis in his book on the history of the U.S.
Championship says it was the last match ever played for the title. Permit me
to quote from page 133 of THE U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 1845-1985:
"The natural outgrowth of Evans' victory in a short, 11-round
tournament would have been a Reshevsky-Evans match of 12 to 16
games. But Reshevsky was already committed to an 18-game match
with Miguel Najdorf at the end of the year [1952] -- a kind of
'Championship of the West.' The next time the U.S. title was
scheduled to be up for grabs was 1954. Yet there was another
challenger for Evans -- Herman Steiner. The Californian had
lost some of the positional accuracy that had characterized
his play in the late 40's but little of his confidence. In
fact, there was bitternesss in the Olympiad team tournament
in Helsinki because both Steiner as former U.S. champion and
Reshevsky, as world championship candidate, felt they were
the one to play first board. In the end, they alternated the
honor, with a consequent loss of talent by the American team.
"But Steiner was able to arrange a match with Evans FOR THE
TITLE [our emphasis] as well as a prize fund of $3,000 down
from the $5,000 of Reshevsky-Horowitz in 1941. Again, as in
1946, the match was to be concentrated on the West Coast with
ten games in Los Angeles and six others set for San Francisco,
Las Vegas, Reno and New York. The games in the East were later
cancelled when the match result was a foregone conclusion."
Even taking Mr. Bibuld's wacky sputum at face value, his arguments are absurd
on their face. He claims, for example, that GM Evans wants to be known as a
5-time champion because he is not content with being one of the greatest, he
must be THE greatest. Yet everyone knows that Fischer won the title 8 times,
Reshevsky 7 times, and Browne 6! So how does moving the title from 4 to 5 make
GM Evans the greatest?
When people ask me whether the Old Guard really thinks like THAT, I merely
steer them to the published works of a Jerome Bibuld, whose two greatest
heroes are Josef Stalin and Florencio Campomanes.
Yes, Virginia, they really do think like THAT.
Kamsky's House Arrest
I, too, know something about flying to the Orient. I lived in Southeast Asia
for nearly five years and always hunt for the biggest bargains to and from New
York City, which can usually be procured from cheapo ticket consolidators at
hole-in-the-walls on the West Side of Manhattan. I would like to know where
someone can get an $800 roundtrip ticket from New York to Sanghi Nagar in
India. Right now if you are very fortunate and can meet all restrictions, a
roundtrip ticket to Bangkok costs about $880 with an advance purchase. But
Bangkok is a major destination. I would be truly surprised if there were some
way to get to Sanghi Nagar without changing planes at least once.
When I first heard about the Kamsky flap arising from GM Evans' interview with
GM Dzindihashvili, I was truly astonished. It was another example of how our
Fideistas will do anything to defend their sacred organization and their
sponsors. Kamsky has now obliterated brilliant players such as Kramnik, Short,
Anand, Salov, etc., but the stories concentrate on his father's behavior.
Still, even taking the Fideistas at face value, there is very little to the
plane ticket flap. EVEN the match organizers did not contend that the Kamskys
were trying to rip anyone off. EVEN the organizers did not argue that the
receipts presented for the fare was high for four people.
Considering that Sanghi Nagar is not a major destination, I'd guess that if
Rustam Kamsky had shopped around endlessly and purchased four tickets with
numerous assorted restrictions (including a fixed return date, which he could
not possibly know in advance) it would be difficult to get each ticket for
less than $1100. However, I suspect Rustam Kamsky went to a normal travel
agent, explained what they needed, and got mid-priced tickets.
Considering the hard fact that Americans were held under house arrest for 9
days, one can only assume that those people carping about the price of tickets
have a hidden agenda. I agree with the foreigner (princess @happy) that we
should celebrate Gata's accomplishments instead of carping about what is
clearly a non-issue.
--
Larry Parr