Grandmaster Gangsters

In an episode reminiscent of Fischer's complaint against the Russians - Carlos Illardo reports of grandmasters ganging up on one Gaston Needleman. If this was the case, it seems that the tournament format only had itself to blame for it was pretty much designed to discard a participant as quickly as possible - at least, according to Mig.

Yet later we find, from the young Needleman himself, that contrary to Illardo's dramatic account, he believed that there was no collusion at all.

UPDATE: The article has also attracted comment over at the Ottawa Message Boards. Kevin Spraggett had a different take:

If anyone should be criticized for putting the young Needleman into an unfair situation then one should start with the organizers. How could a frail boy resist against a group of the world's strongest GMs until 3 or so in the morning?

And with a little help from Google, Kevin finds that this Carlos Illardo has a rather bad habit.