Open Letter from GM Erik van den Doel as published on ChessVibes.com
During the European Chess Championships in Dresden I stayed at the IBIS hotel. The European Chess Union had made the participants an offer: Full board in a single room in the IBIS hotel during 14 nights for 98 euros a night. Payment could not be done directly to the hotel; the national federations had to transfer the money to the bank account of the European Chess Union (ECU). The ECU would then pay IBIS. This is an important point to understand what happened. Many players made use of this arrangement – of the Dutch Chess Federation GM Tiviakov, GM Smeets, GM Werle and myself opted for it.
Lunch and dinner in the hotel were extremely poor. Both in terms of quality and quantity. Our complaints to the waiters did not have any effect. After about seven days I spoke to the cook. He told me he couldn’t change the situation since he had been ordered to prepare meals for the players for a value of five euros. And indeed five euros average seems like a good indication for what we got, although it could also have been less.
Now it was time for some calculation. We paid 98 euros. The normal rate for a single room including breakfast (which could, for example, be found on a billboard next to the entrance) is 70,50 euros. 98 – 70,50 = 27,50 euros left for lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner together had a value of 10 euros so 27,50 – 10 = 17,50 euros per person per day disappeared! That is 245 euros per person for the whole stay.
By now we had grown very curious about how much ECU had actually paid IBIS. The manager of IBIS refused to tell us, saying this was something between the players and the organisers. Then I spoke with the organiser in charge of these matters, Mr Verleger. He also refused to tell me. One gets the impression there was something to hide.
I think the national federations whose players stayed in the IBIS should claim a decent refund from ECU.
Furthermore, in the future national federations should transfer money directly to hotels and not through ECU, or any other organisation. And if they must, they should ask for written guarantees /specifications where the money will go. Otherwise history may well repeat itself, for example during the 2008 Olympiad, in Dresden.
GM Erik van den Doel
Leiden
Holland
Everybody is trying to make a buck.
$98 Euro/day seems like a lot of money for 14 days.
It seems to me it is very expensive to play chess.
Prize moneys are tiny and costs are very high. The only solution I can see is to bring in big corporate sponsors who can afford to raise the prize moneys so that at least the winners come out ahead.
Also needed are corporate sponsors to pick up the expenses of certain players. For example I believe if there were good corporate sponsorship of Nakamura then he could be doing much better on the world chess scene. Magnus Carlsen seems to get plenty of corporate sponsorship to take care of his considerable expenses.
I could be wrong but it is my understanding that many golfers and tennis players get good sponsorship to help them play on their respective circuit.
some poker players get needed support because the winnings can be huge and the sponsors get a slice of the winnings when possible.
What a whiner.
The best model for these events is a choice of hotels and you pay for the quality you want.
The World Youth in Turkey this year, and the Olympiad in Dresden, are both planned to be like this.
However, the three meals a day idea is boring and old-fashioned. Who can eat the same thing day after day? Usually you just waste some of your meal entitlements and just go out to eat like a normal person in a local restaurant.
You would expect a large organisation like ECU to negotiate a discount for block bookings, which were presumably made well in advance. I think it’s quite legitimate to ask where the money actually goes.
lsur
1) From my experience, making regularly business trips to Dresden, the business block discount for room & (very good) breakfast is ~75 Euro. I would expect (at least) slightly more for not-regular business partner bookings.
2) There is a difference between “raw cost” of a meal and total cost, including service etc. So, how were the “5 Euros” mentioned by the cook meant?
As a regular Dresden visitant, 98 Euro/day in a hotel like IBIS icluding all meals is quite good. (How much would be the price in a dutch hotel of the same quality?)
Of course, you could get it much cheaper there by choosing other accomodation alternatives…
I think Chessplayers should stop complaining for small things. No Sponsor needs Chessplayers. Chessplayers need sponsors.
Sorry….. some (ahem…i mean MANY) people on this planet are starving from hunger, they even have no water to drink!!
GMs are quite rich people. So i don’t take these kinda complains seriously! Why not get out and find some food yourself in that case?
I find it a perfectly reasonable request. Where did the money go and how much did the ECU actually pay the hotel? Did they make money on the deal? If so then the GM’s have a right to complain.
Most are NOT very rich people and $1372 euros can be a big bite out of their budget. That being the case they need to ensure they spend their money wisely. If they are getting shafted by the ECU then their grievance is certainly valid. If the ECU is taking care of their accomodations for a profit they should say so and the GM’s can spend their money themselves without having to go thru an intermediary.
Mendrys
jeeI can’t believe the sort of things I am reading here about GM’s being ‘rich’. Millionaires are rich, GMs are as a rule relatively poor compared to ordinary chess players. Where do you think a GM’s money would come from huh?
It’s not like chess is such a big thing all over the world that there are gold coins falling out of the sky for professional chess players. Even players like women’s #2 Koneru Humpy struggle to get sponsorship.
How could anyone call GM van den Doel a whiner when he complains about lack of transparency? Do you think corruption isn’t worth complaining about? I don’t see how you can consider 14 hundred Euro to be unworthy of comment (especially if you think GMs are rich!).
If you are someone wants to see Chess become more mainstream and get more exposure then the way players are treated or mistreated should matter to you.
I think GM Van den Doel was right to speak out against this and that something should be done about it.
If you disagree with him then at least show some spine and put your name behind your opinion.
€ 98.- for a good hotel in a good location sounds like a reasonable prize. (Otherwise the Dutch GMs probably wouldn’t have opted for it.) But GM Van den Doel’s request is reasonable as well: How was the money spent?
The ECU should feel encouraged that someone takes an interest in the details of what they do. The treasurer of our local chess club always does. There shouldn’t be a problem in providing the details. The treasurer of our local chess club always has the numbers. They should jump on the occasion to present the results of their efforts.
By the way: The cook should have been able to prepare decent meals for € 5.-‘s value. It sounds as if he was pissed off to have to serve budget customers.
If you are used to using quality ingredients in your cooking changing gears and preparing a meal for Euro$5 may well be frustrating.
I have personally noticed that it costs me nearly $20 (ingredients) to prepare a caesar salad for a dozen. That doesn’t include extra ingredients such as eggs, chicken or salmon!
There is no excuse for serving poor food ($5 Euro!!??). This is not a concentration camp, but the European championship. If this is how they will treat guests at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden? No one should go to Germany. Those people really do not know a meaning of the word “hospitality.” Disgusting.
Get ready for the worst chess olympiad ever!
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2007/04/euro_ch_hijinks.htm
Come on. This has happened in the last years eurochamps. You will find the same complaints for every year, including the team competitions (In Turkey they are especially experienced). The players “have” to stay in the officiol hotell etc. Corruption! Corruption! And what happens? Nada! My country; Norway couldnt afford sending players this year. No wonder. The chess community is about to be a rotten potato, if it isnt already. I really start to opt for an corruption/crook organization besides Fide. care to join?
ECU is not the best friend of Kirsan..
In the elections they had suppoorted Bessel. Those are the organisors of this european championship, and people cannot blame Kirsan and Fide for this.. (If instead Dresden they gave the organisation to say Greece, evrybody would shoot for not giving to new corporate organisors the organisations)
The Dresden failed. They were led by Bessel Kok. This is how all FIDE events will be organized.
It is an Ibis, not “a good hotel in a good location”.
i wish i c ould afford a hotel like that., anyway it smells fishhy to me, did the food smell like it too??