The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

[George Zhou]

Re: Re : Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

impressive, good luck to both smart players

[Nigel Hanrahan]

struggling with comprehension issues

I see you're still struggling with reading comprehension issues.

Likewise. Why don't you have the last word and try something clever and inane at the same time?

[Paul Bonham]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

I see you're still struggling with reading comprehension issues. To the best of my recollection I've never used the words 'CFC decision', 'climate change', and 'socialism' in the same body of text. Nor have I ever said that I thought there was a relationship of some kind among those terms. So, Nigel, if you want an answer to your pathetic, argumentative question, then perhaps you should ask Brian Profit, not me. Meanwhile, imo of course, a couple of potshots by BP don't instantaneously make his comments incoherent.

Nice catch, Peter. Let's start with what Brian Profit defined as socialism Vlad Drkulec-style: "Taking money from others and redistributing it to who he and the executive feels needs it."

There is nothing incoherent about the definition nor its application to Vlad and the decision that was made (unless you're Nigel Hanrahan and are ultra-sensitive to any negative-sounding swipe at your cherished political beliefs, and we all know Nigel from his days as moderator... ULTRA-sensitive! Every criticism of his opinions was a personal insult! Abuse, abuse!).

But as you wrote, Peter, Brian's commments weren't incoherent. The connection with socialism that Nigel can't fathom is that at the time of his post, Brian thought the money was coming from CFC membership dues. If that were indeed the case, Brian would have a point. Although Tom O'Donnell did make a good correction from socialism to crony capitalism: socialism would redistribute the money to some needy group of people (who might indeed be needy, as we see in the U.S. with the food stamp program, but no system is foolproof against abuse), but crony capitalism would redistribute it to a 'special few' whose needs are simply for more wealth.

But in fact, the CFC has very cleverly used 'surpluses' from youth events to set up a separate fund from which it can draw money to gift to whomever they feel is winning enough to deserve it. I suppose the rest of the kids are just hosers and can 'take off, eh?'. Well.... except please keep attending our youth events so we can continue to have surpluses!

And what are these 'surpluses'? Could it be that the CFC deliberately overcharges parents of young players, knowing the ill-informed parents will dish out and the CFC can grab the 'surplus' for their own ends? We've already seen Vlad turn the altruistic "To promote and encourage generally in Canada, the knowledge, study and playing of the game of chess" into the blunt reality: "If we ever want to be something more than we are now as far as sponsorship and being considered a sport worthy of support then we had better have some success stories like Qiyu and Razvan to talk to corporate and government and sporting federations about."

Yes, looks very much like a money grab from the parents to support the true objectives of the CFC, which have nothing to do with youngsters like Razvan or Qiyo, but everything to do with getting the government to fork over money to the CFC. Razvan and his like would seem to be just pawns in this chess game.

But Brian seems ok with it now because it's not his membership money after all, it's just some parents that are being robbed. So he's all calmed down and offering the hand of friendship to Vlad. And so the status quo marches on.....

[Brian Profit]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

Dear Paul,
I would not say that I have calmed down. I thought it was a bad decision at first. Now I think it was just questionable as I have heard the full story. This is because of the randomness of how is was decided. I would be much happier if more rules were put in place in the future and every junior out there knew it was a possibility. Hopefully the executive will see the benefit of putting a policy in place for these gifts to juniors in the future. As for their right to do it, the new rules say they can. Again, I would not have done it but I am not in charge. Also, with the Canadian Open still not nailed down, I would have shored that up in almost any way possible before I had moved on this issue. Again, that is what I would have done.
Finally, Vlad does not see it like I do. That is ok. We can disagree and not need to ruin 25 years of friendship over it. He is a highly intelligent and principled man, if you have not noticed already. He gets frustrated at times, but who wouldn't in his position. If you want to keep going, I now pass the baton to you.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Like I said - incoherent.

Nice catch, Peter..

Still incoherent. But if you throw enough dung, some is bound to stick.

Keep shovelling. lol.

[Garland Best]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

try now brian

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Like I said - incoherent.

Still incoherent. But if you throw enough dung, some is bound to stick.

Keep shovelling. lol.

Players gonna play, play, play, play
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate...
Fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake...
I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake
Shake it off...

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

Dear Paul,
I would not say that I have calmed down. I thought it was a bad decision at first. Now I think it was just questionable as I have heard the full story. This is because of the randomness of how is was decided.

When you are on the CFC executive dealing with randomness and entropy is a full time job at times.

I would be much happier if more rules were put in place in the future and every junior out there knew it was a possibility.

It seems to me that most people know that there is such a possibility. On a regular basis we get requests for support or official player status (which is also a form of support by virtue of our being a federation affiliated with and in good standing with FIDE). Sometimes this blows up in our face as happened in the last Continental. Sometimes the CFC messes up and we have to make good on that.

Hopefully the executive will see the benefit of putting a policy in place for these gifts to juniors in the future. As for their right to do it, the new rules say they can.

The old rules also allowed it judging by the rules as written, past executive decisions and precedents.

Again, I would not have done it but I am not in charge. Also, with the Canadian Open still not nailed down, I would have shored that up in almost any way possible before I had moved on this issue. Again, that is what I would have done.

I am really not sure how much more we can do on the Canadian Open than we are already doing which is talking to people who might be able to organize it. We cannot ignore every other objective of the CFC just because this important one is still outstanding. I and the directors still get hundreds of emails and contacts which I and they have to deal with.

Finally, Vlad does not see it like I do. That is ok. We can disagree and not need to ruin 25 years of friendship over it. He is a highly intelligent and principled man, if you have not noticed already. He gets frustrated at times, but who wouldn't in his position. If you want to keep going, I now pass the baton to you.

I am sure we will disagree again. Ruining the 25 years of friendship was never really on the table as there is too much good shared history there that far outweighs the bumps and bruises.

Having a youngster on the verge of a GM title is a special situation that in the opinion of the board justified making a small gesture of help. I am glad that the CMA independently decided to do the same.

[Jean Hébert]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

I will give a different point of view.
The CMA is free to do whatever it wants with its money. However, it is criminal for what the CFC has done. With no precedent, no selection process, no advertising that this is a practice, and no idea of the final dollar amount, they have taken money from the CFC accounts and directly given it to a single member. The Pugi fund is the place for this and Razvan should have applied to it earlier or waited for the money to come eventually. 30 years of experience tells me that one more Canadian GM will do very little to improve Canadian chess. Thomas Roussel-Roozmon, Bluvshtein, LeSiege, Charbonneau. They all come and go. All this with the backdrop that there is no Canadian Open planned for all the members. $1000 should have been offered up to help an interested organizer host the Open. That is the sort of thing that a national organization who is not in the business of picking winners or losers should do.
The only good thing I can see is that Vlad has embraced socialism. Taking money from others and redistributing it to who he and the executive feels needs it. Climate change acceptance will be next.

In french a proverb says "l'enfer (hell) est pavé de bonnes intentions". Anybody knows the equivalent in english ?

[Jack Maguire]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

In french a proverb says "l'enfer (hell) est pavé de bonnes intentions". Anybody knows the equivalent in english ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_roa...ood_intentions

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Like I said - incoherent.

Players gonna play, play, play, play
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate...
Fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake...
I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake
Shake it off...

What a way to refer to your 'friend' Brian! Hater and faker.... I wonder if the friendship will survive THAT.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Like I said - incoherent.

What a way to refer to your 'friend' Brian! Hater and faker.... I wonder if the friendship will survive THAT.

Nigel was replying to you. HTH.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Like I said - incoherent.

Nigel was replying to you. HTH.

Ahhhh.... so for my criticisms of your actions as CFC President, I'm a hater and faker. For Brian's criticisms, he's... ???? No matter how you fill that in, it doesn't speak well of you nor of how you make decisions. Deciding to "shake off" the criticism of one you might call derogatory names, while using weak and pathetic arguments trying to wriggle out of criticisms of one you'd call a friend, is not the way of a true leader. But that's what to expect from one whose role model is someone who has never wanted for anything (Taylor Swift) and who learned shady influencing techniques from the likes of Dale Carnegie. HTH

[Ken Craft]

Re: Like I said - incoherent.

The English equivalent Jean is " The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

[Kerry Liles]

Re: The CMA and the CFC support IM Razvan's quest for the GM title!

In french a proverb says "l'enfer (hell) est pavé de bonnes intentions". Anybody knows the equivalent in english ?

I believe others have given the English equivalent... there is another saying in English: "No good deed goes unpunished" - I wonder if there is the same in French?