Nick Addante Post on IL

[tommyc]

There you are Jan.................................Nick told Gene he wasn't going to set an alarm or use a wake up call, and rely on Gene, since he was the tournament director .........................

[Palomino]

May i please ask again who the tournament director was?????? Maybe he/she needs to comment on this?

Hi Jan,

From Tommy's post you can see that Gene Ellison was the tournament director a position he has held for many years.

Sadly, Gene is not a member of the forum and therefore can not respond directly to the nasty insinuations and accusations that have been made against him and Gary.

Gene Ellison has done more to promote checkers than just about anyone else I can think of. He and his brothers are as good and honest as any men I have ever come to know!

We have not heard the whole story, only one side of it, and until the whole story is know I hope fair minded members of the forum will stop assuming that the Ellison brothers are guilty of conspiring to cheat Nick out of the title.

[Palomino]

Josh,

You are assuming that Gene has working internet, which he does not.

I do know that Judy Grisley has written a letter and I believe it has been mailed to Alan Millhone also Gary Ellison is now writing a letter in response.

Please show some patients and don't rush to judgment. The Ellisons deserve better than that!

[bugs]

Thank you Pal....That is what I was trying to get across but some had to jump on the ban-wagon just to take pot-shots... All this has upset me to no end... Loosing some respect for some pople.... I was taught to do unto others as you would have them do unto you...Maybe I said some harsh words but I see they are becoming the truth....

[Eric Strange]

My mind is not "made up" that these players are guilty of anything. Whether actions were taken to deliberately screw nick or whether this was simply a miscalculated decision that turned into a big heaping pile... the fact is that things were not handled properly and I think future tournaments can learn from this mistake. Of course I have to offer my opinion on HOW we can avoid situations like this so here we go.

In close player relationships like brothers I believe that they should be paired first!!! It seems that the urge to throw games is only aspired towards the ending rounds based on the current standings. Look at British open in 2006. The fact that the tournament director and his brother happened to pair each other for the very last round when they were down 3 points from another IL member made things fishy. If Gene or Gary had taken both games in the first round then I doubt any of this would even happen.

GG

[jaguar72]

Gene Ellison has done more to promote checkers than just about anyone else I can think of. He and his brothers are as good and honest as any men I have ever come to know!

We have not heard the whole story, only one side of it, and until the whole story is know I hope fair minded members of the forum will stop assuming that the Ellison brothers are guilty of conspiring to cheat Nick out of the title.

Absolutely. Well said Pal (and Bugs and John Acker). Exactly so and I'm glad you all had the courage to post.

There has been nothing presented but unsubstantiated (and publicly posted, of course...I can't, for the life of me, understand why that was necessary...) allegations which (as Pal pointed out) resulted in a completely unwarrented rush to judgement, not to mention character assassination.

It's appalling and it's ugly and it's shameful.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[rich beckwith]

Eric,

Nick told me the Ellisons were indeed paired previously in the tournament, quite possibly in the first round. There were then repaired since that is done based on equal points. However, their early pairing was likely coincidental. While the Ellisons are fairly equal in strenth, having a generic rule requiring family members to play each other might generate new problems, say if one brother is a much stronger player -- he may inherit an easy 3 or 4 points in every tournament's opening round. At World Qualifiers, people from the same federation are paired against each other in Round 1, but federations are generally sending their best players in that scenario. It's an interseting point though, and could also apply to checker buddies who travel together.
******
As Alan hinted at previously, we (ACF Exec) have been talking to both sides and have been gathering input that all hasn't been presented here. All forum comments should be respectful to the integrity of fellow ACF members (regardless of sides), as potential ACF members may be looking in.

[jaguar72]

All forum comments should be respectful to the integrity of fellow ACF members (regardless of sides), as potential ACF members may be looking in.

Too late, Dr. Beckwith; the damage, alas, has already been done.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Jan, I didn't ignore your question, but I don't know an exact answer. I can't guarantee that Gene was official director this year: it could be either Gene or Gary. They are always together for years and decades, run IL ty's and do same amount of work.

Sometimes Gary, sometimes Gene run cross table. Their levels and strength in checkers are extremely close.

If I play in this event next year - I will make a motion about "State Title Repair" rule.

Alex

[Eric Strange]

Being extremely close in points and then losing 2 games in minutes to the other again seems fishy but I am not saying for sure that anyone threw games just that it should be looked at. As far as allegations If you read nicks posts he did not post blame against anyone.... only gave the facts and allowed everyone draw their own conclusions. Many drew the conclusion that something was fishy and others say that this is only unsubstantiated claims. This is indeed open to opinion and in all honesty there probably will not be a way to prove anything dirty was done.

Making posts like these public are very important because it does bring to light flaws in offline tournaments. Flaws that can be worked on and eventually avoided. If this was swept under the rug then we would have nothing to discuss and improve.

Thank you,

Eric Strange

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Too late, Dr. Beckwith; the damage, alas, has already been done.

We are OK so far, I don't see much damage yet.

[jaguar72]

Too late, Dr. Beckwith; the damage, alas, has already been done.

We are OK so far, I don't see much damage yet.

I meant to the reputation and especially to the "integrity of fellow ACF members"; there has been considerable damage done already.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[Danny_Alvarez]

It sounds to me like this is just a whole lot of mud slinging ..... having said that... wasn't there a match referee present?
We should let all parties have an opportunity to defend themselves or state their side of the coin before we arrive at conclusions of any kind

regards
Daniel Alvarez

[kiwinurse]

Thankyou Tommy,Pal and Alex,i never read properly,probably shouldnt have concerned myself with it at all,hopefully whoever was running the tournament will find a way to comment on here about the whole scenario.But to me the Ellisons seem pretty decent,ive played them online and they always seemed fine people.

[neilwenberg]

All I can do is apologise to Nick Addante for asking him to play pool checkers. I should have encouraged Nick to watch the match between Gary and Gene as it was a very important match in regard to who would become the IL Champ. This would have resolved any discrepancy in regard to the match if Nick had been able to watch and see the outcome. I cannot speak to what actually happened because I do not know, but I do know that I have played in several IL checker tournies and Gene has always run an excellent tournamnet as far as I am concerned in regard to anything that might have transpired in games and matches that I have played in the IL tourney over the years. Sorry Nick that I asked you to play pool checkers. Neil Wenberg