In 2006, Sevan Muradian approached my wife and me with a proposal - Sevan wanted the Renaissance Knights to be like the Marshall Club was to USCF; his main club to promote his organization. Sevan stated over the next several years his organization would compete against the USCF and then take it down. Sevan related his organization would become recognized by FIDE as the governing body of chess for ‘North America’. When we declined his request, Sevan stated those who supported him would be rewarded and those who don’t will be left behind.
Our refusal to go along with Sevan’s plan is the reason I believe he was responsible for the Craig’s List post on December 29, 2006, titled "Sheila- the Northbrook Hottie". The ad was for a 23 year old prostitute and gave our home phone number. The post came from Sevan Muradian’s Comcast account in the morning about 1 hour after I was featured on the local news channel talking about the chess tournament Renaissance Knights was sponsoring as part of the City of Chicago’s annual Sports Festival.
This would not be the only time Sevan has used a reference to prostitution when upset with someone. In January 2006, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk turned down Sevan's request for her to play in his tournament and Sevan wrote the following in an email about being turned down "they are trying to do damage control. Alexandra has been getting slammed that she is a joke of a player (even though being a GM) and she is pulling a Kornukova routine banking on looks and not ability so she wants to play in the lower half of events so if she loses then she tried but was not expected to do well.... diego borderline
pimps Alexandra out which is bad really for chess, women, and women in chess but it serves the purpose of bringing in the almighty dollar - even though technically he comes from a very affulent family and doesn't need the $$$."As to the excuse that Sevan a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) left his WiFi unsecured and someone else outside his house used the open WiFi to make the post is beyond implausible. First the person would have to know Sevan's WiFi was open. Second the person would have to have something against Sheila and or me. And third, why would someone who taught IT security leave his WiFI open.
I have had a wireless router for many years and from day one it has been secure. When someone needs access all it takes is typing in a 7 character code to allow them access – something very easy to do; even a caveman can have a secure wireless in his home.
David Heiser
May 28, 2011