Accusation against Alejandro Ramirez

[Mick Norris]

I am not finding it remotely difficult to take this seriously, names are only needed for those investigating, principally the police

[MJMcCready]

No not at all, name them and take them take them to court if they are indeed guilty. If they are not, you can still take them to court in hope of making money out of them (as some do), in which case its game on.

[IM Jack Rudd]

If anything, lawfare is more likely in the opposite direction here. Threatening to sue people for defamation when you have actually committed the offence they accuse you of is a time-honoured tradition.

[Chris Goodall]

I hope you have a bit more understanding if someone close to you suffers what she has gone through.

What she claims to have gone through. You were not there.

(Mods, are we seriously still doing this?)

Your default may be not to believe her but it's certainly not mine.

No Lawrence, my "default" is to take her story at face value. To entertain the possibility of it being true, which is the courtesy our legal system extends to all parties in criminal cases. Unless you're a rape crisis counsellor, belief and disbelief are not helpful terms.

[MJMcCready]

If anything, lawfare is more likely in the opposite direction here. Threatening to sue people for defamation when you have actually committed the offence they accuse you of is a time-honoured tradition.

To scare them off and save their skin, it certainly does happen yes. And sources tell me that one of those accused (but not yet named) has already been in contact with his lawyers and been in contact her (this cannot be confirmed). One of the difficulties is that had these allegations occurred and had she reported at the time (which you would expect) there would be physical evidence (mostly DNA) in play to prove it. That's not the case now. It remains an open question why someone would not chose to report a crime when they can actually present physical evidence but that's a sensitive issue to discuss.

[LawrenceCooper]

What she claims to have gone through. You were not there.

(Mods, are we seriously still doing this?)

Your default may be not to believe her but it's certainly not mine.

No Lawrence, my "default" is to take her story at face value. To entertain the possibility of it being true, which is the courtesy our legal system extends to all parties in criminal cases. Unless you're a rape crisis counsellor, belief and disbelief are not helpful terms.

Probably not as unhelpful as the tone of your posts in this thread though.

[Sabrina Chevannes]

WOW, just wow.

I have been alerted to the absolute disgustingness in this conversation by multiple people and I felt compelled to reply again.

I am shocked, but also not surprised at the same time, considering this is everything we’ve been complaining about.

The attitude here is utterly shocking.

A female in your community came out about some traumatic and horrible events that have happened at tournaments and your reaction is to blame the victim, suggest she’s making it up and call her an attention-seeker.

Incredible.

Let me ask you all a few questions:

1. Have any of you been sexually assaulted? Do you know how it feels and what it does to you? I presume not, from the way you’re talking. Do you think it’s easy to report such crimes especially when the men are often in positions of power? Take a look at your attitude now and it should be no surprise that less than 20% of rape victims actually come forward.

2. I don’t believe any of you are specialists in rape crimes or sexual assault, but please can you tell me how providing evidence will help convict someone in a rape case? Even with semen samples, bruises etc., it’s still incredible difficult to prove it wasn’t consensual. This has been shown time and time again. Again, why would women go through all of that in order to be told “sorry we can’t prove it”?

3. Many have already explained the legal ramifications of naming names, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for you guys as you just want the juicy gossip and could not care less what happens to the victim. I’m not here to create a witch hunt or ruin someone’s reputation. I came out about what happened to try and fight for real change and keep my female students safe.

Since so many other women have come forward, I do not need to name names to show that a clear change is needed in the chess world.

4. Also, to those saying I’m attention-seeking - have any of you had this kind of attention before?? In the last month, I’ve had to get therapy, taken a leave of absence from work and cried most of each day. Do you really think I’m enjoying this??

5. Are you all saying you’ve never ever seen a single ounce of misogyny or any man behaving inappropriately towards a woman?? Because I think you’d be lying if you say you haven’t. And if you genuinely think you haven’t, then you probably aren’t appreciating what’s appropriate or what’s not.

By the way, I do have evidence to most of what I have put on Twitter. I don’t see the ECF denying anything that happened in Story 3 either. I named them straight out.

I also DID report a couple of things to the ECF back in the day and nothing was done about it. I was also told it was in my best interest to be “nice” to one of the guys because he had a position of authority.

So, frankly, I’m appalled by what I am reading here.

I sincerely hope that none of you have daughters, and I really feel if you have wives too. I truly hope that nothing ever happens to any of them if this is the attitude they’re expected to receive.

Or is it perhaps something about me that you makes you choose not to believe it?

Once again, I am getting disgusting attitude from my fellow English chess players. I don’t believe I have ever done anything to suggest I am untrustworthy - it should be quite the opposite.

But why is it that I get this response when I try to take action to help other women?

If you cannot see that this attitude is EXACTLY what we are speaking out against and this is what is causing the problem, then I think the chess world is pretty doomed.

Thank you for proving my points though.

[Chris Goodall]

Probably not as unhelpful as the tone of your posts in this thread though.

I try not to worry about the Tone Police; it's remarkable how they never seem to come after the tone of something I've said unless they also disagree with the content.

[Sabrina Chevannes]

Probably not as unhelpful as the tone of your posts in this thread though.

I try not to worry about the Tone Police; it's remarkable how they never seem to come after the tone of something I've said unless they also disagree with the content.

And it's remarkable how the disgusting attitude of victim-blaming usually comes from someone with something to hide...

[Matt Mackenzie]

If anything, lawfare is more likely in the opposite direction here. Threatening to sue people for defamation when you have actually committed the offence they accuse you of is a time-honoured tradition.

And is remarkably easy to do in this country, certainly compared to some others.

[Chris Goodall]

If anything, lawfare is more likely in the opposite direction here. Threatening to sue people for defamation when you have actually committed the offence they accuse you of is a time-honoured tradition.

And is remarkably easy to do in this country, certainly compared to some others.

Absolutely Matt, and although pro bono help, as Roger says, may not be forthcoming in defamation suits, CFAs and after-the-event insurance absolutely are. Just look at Tracy-Ann Oberman and Rachel Riley's catalogue of defamation actions launched at negligible risk to themselves, thanks to the generous terms reportedly provided by the aforementioned Mark "hurry up and die" Lewis. It put me right off Countdown.

[Paolo Casaschi]

WOW, just wow.

Thank you for your effort for making the chess world a better place. The events you described should not be tolerated in the chess world or anywhere else. The people responsible for those actions should be hold accountable. I really hope this will eventually happen.
Posting this for support and to show a different voice from what you highlighted.

[Carl Hibbard]

I am closing this for now until I am home to deal with some of the McCready comments.

[Carl Hibbard]

I am closing this for now until I am home to deal with some of the McCready comments.

I have pruned some posts and left a couple in from MJMcCready just to show how out of touch this user is.

[Carl Hibbard]

But please report posts I am back watching again.