Gormallygate Two Kings and a Queen

Arianne Caoili

Not since Bobby Fischer carved his way through the Candidates Matches then smashed Boris Spassky to take the world championship has chess attracted anywhere near the attention that was created at this year's Olympiad. When Dan Gormally threw a punch at Levon Aronian he couldn't have anticipated what a commotion it would create. As punches go it was pretty amateurish, but its impact registered about 9.6 on the Richter scale.

At Rooty Hill we became aware of the extent of the kerfuffle when our site statistics went through the roof. In the space of just a few days we had over 4,000 visits from people searching for Arianne Caoili. (That doesn't show up in the hit-counter on our home page because these visitors were taken directly to reports on the Australian Championship.) In view of the extraordinary interest, Robert Ambalong and I thought we should do a follow-up story.

The facts, as far as we can ascertain, are these:   Danny Gormally had exchanged emails with Arianne Caoili for some time before the Olympiad and, based on those, felt he had some kind of relationship with her. This was a surprise to Arianne who seems to have been friendly with Danny but nothing more.

At an after-party Danny saw Arianne dancing with Levon Aronian and, fuelled by jealousy and a couple of drinks too many, he punched him. It was a fairly clumsy affair that has been reported as "pushing" as much as "punching", but whatever happened, Aronian ended up sitting on the floor.

Lev displayed commendable restraint by refusing to retaliate. Had he done so it would have looked as though the two men were brawling over a girl and both players may well have faced censure from their home associations.

Next day Gormally, walking with some of the England team, met Lev's team mates in the street. Inevitably they "threw a few punches". Once again it seems to have been fairly restrained. The men who attacked Danny calmed down when they learned that an apology had been offered.

Danny Gormally then left Torino. There were some suggestions that he had been sent home while other reports said he had left of his own volition. In view of his obvious embarrassment it's reasonable that he would have been eager to move out of the spotlight.

It was a minor affair that needs to be kept in perspective. I hope Gormally can put it behind him and continue his chess career.

The incident has brought chess an enormous amount of publicity at no more cost than the dignity of the three players concerned. Of course Arianne had no responsibility for what happened; nor did Lev – but both are as involved as Danny and given this major departure from the staid perception of chess, the media went into a feeding frenzy.

The day Gormallygate hit the news I was challenged on Chess Chat Forum to write a limerick about it. I had to write two because I didn't know how to pronounce Danny's name. Did it rhyme with "dark alley" or with "normally"?
Levon Aronian	A punchy GM called Gormally, Was trying to get much too pally, With a lady IM Who was not keen on him: She preferred Lev or even Vitaly. or should that be... A punchy Pom player, Dan Gormally, Was part of the England team (formerly); Now his future's in doubt Because of one clout -- He behaved, so it's said, quite abnormally.	Danny Gormally

But jokes aside, be sure of this: Danny Gormally is no thug. What he did was extremely foolish but he probably felt humiliated when his friendship with Arianne wasn't what he had led himself to believe. Understandably he at first refused to talk about it; eventually he spoke to Melbourne Age journalist, Annabell Crabb, who described his statement as "disarmingly honest":

Understandably Danny is now wondering whether he has a future in chess.
Certainly he will find himself in the same position as Amanda Redman's character (Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman) in the pilot episode of "New Tricks" in which she shot a dog. Hilariously her reputation as "the lady who shot the dog" was a recurring theme throughout the series.
No matter what he achieves as a chess player Gormally will be forever remembered as "the man who punched Aronian."
I hope the day is not too far distant when he will be able to laugh about it.

Lev and Danny in happier times.

Good enough to write home about. Austria was the first country to allow institutions and private people to order their own official stamps. It's uncertain when this stamp was issued but Arianne looks quite young.

Arianne's Stamp

The Making of a Master
Arianne Caoili is multi-talented. Born of a Dutch-Australian mother and a Filipino father she is gifted academically and has a beautiful singing voice. (You can hear her sing by visiting her site, listed at the bottom of the page. She's easy to listen to.)

But most important from our point of view is that she's also an exceptionally talented chess player and we've added a few games to map her journey since she first appeared on the world scene.

Enjoy!

                              —Story:   David Evans

ARIANNE was at the centre of another sensation in February 2000. Playing in Round 4 of the Malaga Open she had white against GM Vladimir Epishin, rated 2667. Unfazed by Epishin's cheeky pawn pinch on move 39, Arianne's simple response forced his resignation. She was only fourteen years old!

White to play and win Caoili (2078) vs. Epishin (2667)

If you would like to visit Arianne Caoili's website, please click her picture.