Players who cannot play against opponents from Certain Countries

[samsloan]

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2012/12/rules-who-cares.html

You can make a political point if you want to but what would be
accomplished?

In FIDE it is well known that representatives of certain countries
cannot play each other and thus are never paired.

For example, most of the Arab countries cannot play against Israel.

The players themselves want to play. It is their governments that
prohibit them from playing. Very few players are willing to take a
stand against their own government, unlike Bobby Fischer who was
ordered not to play Spassky in 1992, disobeyed the order, and spent
the rest of his like as a fugitive from justice for that reason.

Sam Sloan

[David Ames]

Post by samsloan
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2012/12/rules-who-cares.html
You can make a political point if you want to but what would be
accomplished?
In FIDE it is well known that representatives of certain countries
cannot play each other and thus are never paired.
For example, most of the Arab countries cannot play against Israel.
The players themselves want to play. It is their governments that
prohibit them from playing. Very few players are willing to take a
stand against their own government, unlike Bobby Fischer who was
ordered not to play Spassky in 1992, disobeyed the order, and spent
the rest of his like as a fugitive from justice for that reason.
Sam Sloan

When I attempted to post to the blog that Sam referred to, above, I
got a response "Unknown Google account." Funny thing. Google
recognizes my account and allows me to post here.

So, as I was saying but was prevented from doing so,

Team members who refuse to play should be forfeited and should be
sanctioned by their team if they have the balls to do so. Students do
not have the option of not taking required courses.

David Ames

[David Ames]

Post by samsloan
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2012/12/rules-who-cares.html
You can make a political point if you want to but what would be
accomplished?
In FIDE it is well known that representatives of certain countries
cannot play each other and thus are never paired.
For example, most of the Arab countries cannot play against Israel.
The players themselves want to play. It is their governments that
prohibit them from playing. Very few players are willing to take a
stand against their own government, unlike Bobby Fischer who was
ordered not to play Spassky in 1992, disobeyed the order, and spent
the rest of his like as a fugitive from justice for that reason.
Sam Sloan

Fischer was a fugitive for breaking the law when he played for prize
money in the former Yugoslavia. He was a fugitive for failing to pay
U.S. taxes on his prize money from winning the World Championship in
1972. Publicly tearing up the letter officially telling him not to
pay was not a smart move either.

[samsloan]

Post by samsloan
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2012/12/rules-who-cares.html
You can make a political point if you want to but what would be
accomplished?
In FIDE it is well known that representatives of certain countries
cannot play each other and thus are never paired.
For example, most of the Arab countries cannot play against Israel.
The players themselves want to play. It is their governments that
prohibit them from playing. Very few players are willing to take a
stand against their own government, unlike Bobby Fischer who was
ordered not to play Spassky in 1992, disobeyed the order, and spent
the rest of his like as a fugitive from justice for that reason.
Sam Sloan

I have heard a new twist on this controversy. I have not had the time
or the ability to check this out.

A little bird told me that Paul Truong switched the top two players on
the Webster Team so that the Isreali player on his team would play the
Iranian Team on the Texas Tech Team, knowing that this would cause the
Iranian player to forfeit.

He did this just before the 5:00 PM deadline for making such switches.

Then, Al Lawrence of the Texas Team upon learning this switched his
top two players so that once again the Iranian Player would not be
paired against the Israeli player.

Truong's real complaint is that Lawrence did this a few minutes after
the 5:00 PM deadline and thus was a violation of the rules.

Isn't Truong supposed to be banned from USCF events?

Sam Sloan