More Chess Drama As Grandmaster Gets Expelled From US Championship For Allegedly Assaulting A Videographer After Losing Match
Portland Press Herald. Getty Images.Chess.com -- The Saint Louis Chess Club has expelled GM Christopher Yoo from the 2024 U.S. Championship, saying in a statement after round five that the 17-year-old was guilty of "gross violations" of the event's "Code of Conduct" and the "US Chess Safe Play Policy."
After losing his fifth-round game to GM Fabiano Caruana, Yoo is alleged to have "crumpled his scoresheet, stormed out of the tournament hall and struck a videographer from behind," according to the Saint Louis Chess Club, who say the police were called and responded.
I'll tell ya what, man. There's never a dull moment in the world of chess. Had I known there was this much drama in the game, I would have become the head correspondent on all things chess years ago. Allegations of players shoving vibrating anal beads up their ass to cheat their way to victory. Scandals involving players hiding phones in bathroom stalls to cheat while taking an exorbitant amount of shit breaks throughout the match.
And now we have a player getting tossed out of a tournament for crumpling up a scoresheet and "striking" a videographer on his way out. Let me just say that I'm glad we finally have some chess drama that doesn't involve anything going in or coming out of a player's ass. That's a very welcome change.
But also, let me say it's hilarious that when describing the incident that occurred here, "crumbled his scoresheet" is the action that gets the lead. Not striking a videographer from behind, which was labeled as an "assault" on a woman by the guy who had the final say in kicking Christopher Yoo out of the tournament.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just splitting hairs here and digging too into the semantics of everything. But it seems like crumbling the scoresheet is the main issue, and hitting the videographer from behind was just the final straw.
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Seems to me like one of those alleged actions is much worse than the other, but who am I to say. I don't know nearly enough about chess to understand the etiquette. Maybe crumbling up your scoresheet is the most abhorrent behavior imaginable. Or maybe the video isn't quite as bad as that Chris Bird fella is making it out to be. But all I'm saying is that typically you'd want to lead with punishing someone for assaulting another human being over ripping up a sheet of paper. Especially if chess is going to continue having more drama pop up like this at every tournament.
Also one last thing here. Again, l admittedly don't know much about chess. But I feel like there are way too many grandmasters out there. I feel like that's a title that should be reserved for like 4 or 5 players maximum. It seems like every time I have a new chess scandal to write about, it's about another grandmaster. They either need to find a different term, or they need to stop letting so many people reach that level.