CFC Presidency

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

Thank you, Halldor, for admitting the current state of organized chess in Canada!
Don't you think it's the direct result of the current CFC administration's work?

The current president spent a lot of time developing the CFC's new articles and bylaws to comply with the NFP act. He repeatedly asked for help and did not get it aside from Frank Lee among the governors and Pierre Denomme among the non-governors. When it became clear that I had to row across that ocean myself, I did so. The CFC survived and lived on. I don't recall very much from you even in terms of governor discussions. You prefer to snipe from the grassy knoll to doing the work required.

I happen to oppose the current Prez of the CFC because I think he is doing a poor job. I have a vote and I will vote to remove him from the office.

We can go back to being a federation that prevents talented little girls from playing if your vision for the CFC prevails.

I agree with you on this point.
Don't you think the current Prez should have handled this non-issue differently?
Why he didn't allow to discuss and decide it on the AGM - how it was in the past and how it should be according to the CFC Handbook?

I guess you missed the memo about the NFP act. In the past the executive decided.

[Sasha Starr]

Re: CFC Presidency

Dear Governors/Voting Members, CFC Members and past/future CFC Members.

We are at the beginning of complete repositioning of chess in Canada. What do we have now? A mismanaged and stagnating organization. From Vlad Drkulec's post: "I believe our total from non-members is something like $1,000". Membership keeps going down. Its Website is a joke.

Is that what we want to continue? Very soon the Governors/Voting Members will have an opportunity to answer this question!

With your help there will be a real corporate and individual sponsorship established, CFC's web site will be developed at no cost to CFC, everything will be fixed, and it is just a beginning. New and old individual and corporate sponsors will be engaged.

Kasparov Chess Foundation may engage in various projects. One of those could be a program for talented kids similar to what they have in the US. You could see a report on chessbase about Sam Sevian and Kayden Troff, both 2012 World Youth champions u/12 and u/14 respectively. Now the oldest is becoming GM and the other one at age of 13,5 has earned the second GM norm. They have one more 13,5 years old Jeffrey Xiong, who scored first GM norm at Chicago open. Besides, some participants in the current US Championship, like Robson, Naroditsky, Molner, Shankland, all went through KCF's program. Mr. Kasparov is personally involved in the program providing the master classes. The Executive Director is doing scouting and manages the program. They also are hiring the specialists to work with super talents like those mentioned above. This is something that could happened in Canada! And there will be no secrets: everything will be transparent!

I've already announced publicly my email, thank you for numerous emails I've received already, and you can verify that I've personally answered all of them.

Those of you who would like to contact me personally over the phone - here is my mobile phone number: 647-964-4556. Looking forward to hear from you. To assure your time for the personal phone conversation please send a short email and we'll set up the time, except the World Cup in Soccer!

CHEERS!

Sasha Starr.

[Michael Barron]

Re: CFC Presidency

The current president spent a lot of time developing the CFC's new articles and bylaws to comply with the NFP act. He repeatedly asked for help and did not get it aside from Frank Lee among the governors and Pierre Denomme among the non-governors. When it became clear that I had to row across that ocean myself, I did so. The CFC survived and lived on. I don't recall very much from you even in terms of governor discussions. You prefer to snipe from the grassy knoll to doing the work required.

Why do you expect me to do the work required from the President?
Do I have to?
Should I explain why I'm not running for the President?

Looks like you want the President's power only, and willing to leave President's responsibilities for somebody else... :(

We can go back to being a federation that prevents talented little girls from playing if your vision for the CFC prevails.

Could you please be more specific?
Facts, please...

I guess you missed the memo about the NFP act. In the past the executive decided.

How the NFP act affects the CFC decision making process?
In the past the AGM discussed the FIDE President election issue and decided to delegate its power to the incoming Executive.
This time it should be the same.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

Why do you expect me to do the work required from the President?

The NFP act continuance was not the work of the president. I chose to do it in order to assure the survival of the federation. It was a mammoth task that needed to be done. You seem to be implying that I am somehow responsible for the state of decline of the CFC over how many years after a single year of being CFC president.

Do I have to?

No one has to.

Should I explain why I'm not running for the President?

No but you probably should explain why the candidate that you are supporting and the Kasparov team seem to have an inside man on the governors forum feeding them confidential details of the discussions there. If I were Paul Bonham I might subscribe to the notion that it is because they are master manipulators and want to stop the flow of information from the directors so that in the coming years the executive could be accused of being too secretive. Aside from the lack of integrity it shows from the person or persons who are making the leaks, and those who are using the information provided, I ascribe it to short sighted stupidity.

I really hope that it is not you that is the source of these leaks.

Looks like you want the President's power only, and willing to leave President's responsibilities for somebody else... :(

The president's power is really the ability to collaborate with people to get things done. Some people are really challenged when it comes to working with others and it seems that they tend to be attracted to other people who are also challenged in this respect. The day I step down as president I will have way more power than I do as president.

Could you please be more specific?
Facts, please...

Jiaxin Liu. That is what convinced me that I needed to get involved in chess politics in the first place.

How the NFP act affects the CFC decision making process?

It is a whole new set of laws which regulates how non-profits are required to conduct their affairs. Transitioning and continuing into the new act implied that we accepted these new laws. We could have refused to accept them but then of course we would have ceased to be a non-profit corporation in Canada and we would have had to wind up the CFC and distribute our assets to the government and charities.

In the past the AGM discussed the FIDE President election issue and decided to delegate its power to the incoming Executive.
This time it should be the same.

You can't keep engaging in the same actions, fighting the same battles over and over again, using the same tactics and expect the outcome to be different this time.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

Dear Governors/Voting Members, CFC Members and past/future CFC Members.

We are at the beginning of complete repositioning of chess in Canada. What do we have now? A mismanaged and stagnating organization. From Vlad Drkulec's post: "I believe our total from non-members is something like $1,000".

You didn't ask what our total from members was. That is way more relevant.

Membership keeps going down. Its Website is a joke.

The website is a bit of a sore point with me too.

Is that what we want to continue? Very soon the Governors/Voting Members will have an opportunity to answer this question!

With your help there will be a real corporate and individual sponsorship established, CFC's web site will be developed at no cost to CFC, everything will be fixed, and it is just a beginning. New and old individual and corporate sponsors will be engaged.

I will address this point soon in my thread with Robert Hamilton.

Kasparov Chess Foundation may engage in various projects.

How is the Kasparov Chess Foundation going to keep all its promises if Gary doesn't win the FIDE election?

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: CFC Presidency

Well Sid life sucks and then you die. You and your fellow travellers GK campaign is wearing down folks that work day in and day out on running chess in Canada. And the state of organized chess in Canada is frankly bad - participation is at a historical low.

I cannot evaluate Sasha as a chess organizer because he has no track record. Nava simply plays the absolute minimum number of games to qualify for the women's team.

I happen to support the current Prez of the CFC because I think he is doing a good job. I have a vote and I will vote for him to say in office.

Whether GK or KI are at the head of FIDE will not have much impact on organized chess in Canada.

Sid your contributions to Canadian chess were invaluable when you chose to be involved. But that was some time ago. Each year we have 1/3 of CFC members new to chess so there is little memory of what you did years ago.

I would like folks like you and GM Spraggett to be involved in Canadian chess. I happen to think organized chess in Canada would be better if you were involved. However, both of you choose not to be involved. That choice has stood for many years.

"I would like folks like you and GM Spraggett to be involved in Canadian chess."
You have a strange way of showing it! Make no mistake about it, I also think Vlad has done good job of doing things like transitioning the organization to be compliant as an NFP.
Sadly, working hard and working smart are not the same thing. A president of an organization should be attracting sponsorship and growing the membership and promoting the organization in every possible way. If the organization had proper sponsorship the president could afford to delegate the restructuring of an organization to an NFP to lawyers and accountants freeing up his time to raise money for the organization and grow it.
My offer to be reinvolved as a sponsor to the CFC was met with welcome and acceptance and then betrayal and ridicule. What I find really upsetting is the majority of voting members were misled by a small minority. My offer was portrayed as one with strings attached even though in the single phone conversation I had with Vlad no specific offers were even discussed never mind the conditions of said offer. In the past as you know my help has never had strings attached.
i was initially assure in writing by the FIDE rep that he would enthusiastically support Kasparov and then after he returned from Russia after arbitrating from the candidates ( a paid job he got through FIDE) we were met with a complete about face. Only then did the FIDE rep receive an email demanding that he honour is word.

By the way the government interest in this and intervention are very real and one of Kirsans close cronies who nominated him for FIDE is already on the US sanctions iist. Imagine what this will do for chess if Kirsan as a close friend and partner of Putin also ends up on the sanctions list.

Vlad says he has a different recollection of our phone call. Yes, this is the same Vlad who says he still does not believe Kirsan is heavily involved with Putin even though extensive documentation of this has been posted here. This is the same Vlad who turns a blind eye to one of Kirsans top political aids and close friend being convicted of murdering Kirsans most outspoken political opposition journalist. Vlad reminds me of the Holocaust deniers who chose to deny historical fact.

Gary has bravely fought for human rights risking his life being beaten by FSB agents on more then one occasion and yet I see posts here that doubt his sincerity and he is characterized cynically by playing "the Putin card". He also has devoted his life to making chess a part of the regular curriculum and in schools world wide. I don't have to state that the results in life of kids that play chess and kids that don't is like night and day. By the way the Kasparov Chess Foundation is a non profit organization with more then one billionaire sponsor behind it that has made sure the Foundation has the resources so that it is not entirely reliant on volunteer help only.

You see Halidor it is like this, the CFC is crippled as an organization that can't afford to get proper help as it is reliant and held hostage by those who volunteer and are not held accountable for results. The CFC is given an opportunity to release itself from the shackles of poverty and try an approach that promotes growth and corporate and individual sponsorship rather then a slow but steady death and you reward the status quo by supporting someone who works hard but also works stupidly. A president who adopts an approach of pissing in the well that they drink from as evidenced by his treatment of me.
By the way Halidor I agree that everyone dies but life does not have to suck. The choice is yours.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: CFC Presidency

Vlad, I admire the way you toy with your critics.

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: CFC Presidency

Vlad, I admire the way you toy with your critics.

I don't admire the way you suck up to someone who supports a man that held the WC in Libya.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

Vlad, I admire the way you toy with your critics.

Its nice that some people like yourself seem to have a good understanding of my work.

Some suggest that I am being petty at times. I have had the patience of Job for a long time but as the attacks come in fast and furious both here and now even in the twitter universe I sometimes get tired of it all and allow the mask and pretense of civility to slip. Sometimes you need to be blunt. Part of the reason for my crankiness is possibly a lack of sleep. I will have to cut back just to get my sleep patterns back into a decent rhythm ahead of the Canadian Open and CYCC.

I try to be nice. I really do. It is hard to be nice to people who seem only to be interested in attacking anyone who lifts his head for a moment out of the trenches, people who are not doers but only want to snipe from the grassy knoll. We can't return to the old ways. The world has changed.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

I don't admire the way you suck up to someone who supports a man that held the WC in Libya.

The water closet?

I believe you are referring to an Olympiad and yes I would have disagreed with that decision if I had been involved in chess at the time. However, I believe that policies were put in place which prevent future boycotts. If you are president for 18 or 19 years, mistakes will be made along the way. It is not helpful to dwell on the old mistakes.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

"I would like folks like you and GM Spraggett to be involved in Canadian chess."
You have a strange way of showing it! Make no mistake about it, I also think Vlad has done good job of doing things like transitioning the organization to be compliant as an NFP.
Sadly, working hard and working smart are not the same thing. A president of an organization should be attracting sponsorship and growing the membership and promoting the organization in every possible way. If the organization had proper sponsorship the president could afford to delegate the restructuring of an organization to an NFP to lawyers and accountants freeing up his time to raise money for the organization and grow it.

If we lived in an ideal world that is what would happen. Unfortunately we don't. If we relied on lawyers to do the NFP act transition we probably would have been looking at a bill of $50,000 without any assurance that the product would have been acceptable to the governors. I think I would have had to do just as much work on selling the NFP act transition so I don't think that there would have been much of a time savings. The reason the NFP transition succeeded was because I did a very long, painstaking selling process over many meetings while responding to the many objections raised and calmly allaying fears.

My offer to be reinvolved as a sponsor to the CFC was met with welcome and acceptance and then betrayal and ridicule.

I am sure that others will have different interpretations.

What I find really upsetting is the majority of voting members were misled by a small minority. My offer was portrayed as one with strings attached even though in the single phone conversation I had with Vlad no specific offers were even discussed never mind the conditions of said offer. In the past as you know my help has never had strings attached.

No specific offers were discussed but you did say that if Canada nominated and endorsed Gary and he became FIDE president you might become involved in Canadian chess sponsorship again. Perhaps it was a throwaway comment while travelling in or leaving a cab or trying to pay cab fare and you were distracted at times during the call but it didn't seem to me that anything concrete was being offered. I had no knowledge of you beyond what I had seen in the financial pages long ago and long forgotten aside from your name.

i was initially assure in writing by the FIDE rep that he would enthusiastically support Kasparov and then after he returned from Russia after arbitrating from the candidates ( a paid job he got through FIDE) we were met with a complete about face. Only then did the FIDE rep receive an email demanding that he honour is word.

By the way the government interest in this and intervention are very real and one of Kirsans close cronies who nominated him for FIDE is already on the US sanctions iist. Imagine what this will do for chess if Kirsan as a close friend and partner of Putin also ends up on the sanctions list.

You keep returning to the same themes. Kirsan is a Russian citizen. Putin supports chess in Russia. I would expect Kirsan to keep relations friendly with Putin from the point of view of self preservation if nothing else.

I have to go give a chess lesson to one of the kids going to CYCC. I will respond to rest of this later.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: CFC Presidency

I don't admire the way you suck up to someone who supports a man that held the WC in Libya.

I like Vlad better than I like you. That's not sucking up, that's preference. Like you prefer one FIDE candidate to another. I don't see much difference.

What's this really all about? Putin the the Ukraine or that WC in Libya?

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: CFC Presidency

If we lived in an ideal world that is what would happen. Unfortunately we don't. If we relied on lawyers to do the NFP act transition we probably would have been looking at a bill of $50,000 without any assurance that the product would have been acceptable to the governors. I think I would have had to do just as much work on selling the NFP act transition so I don't think that there would have been much of a time savings. The reason the NFP transition succeeded was because I did a very long, painstaking selling process over many meetings while responding to the many objections raised and calmly allaying fears.






I am sure that others will have different interpretations.



No specific offers were discussed but you did say that if Canada nominated and endorsed Gary and he became FIDE president you might become involved in Canadian chess sponsorship again. Perhaps it was a throwaway comment while travelling in or leaving a cab or trying to pay cab fare and you were distracted at times during the call but it didn't seem to me that anything concrete was being offered. I had no knowledge of you beyond what I had seen in the financial pages long ago and long forgotten aside from your name.




You keep returning to the same themes. Kirsan is a Russian citizen. Putin supports chess in Russia. I would expect Kirsan to keep relations friendly with Putin from the point of view of self preservation if nothing else.

I have to go give a chess lesson to one of the kids going to CYCC. I will respond to rest of this later.

The point is that organization can't afford move or expand properly relying solrly on the help of volunteers. Turning away past sponsors does not help alleviate this situation. Well at lesst you sre now acknowledging that Kirsan is very close to Putin.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Despite sniping from the grassy knoll, the caravan of chess will move on.

Vlad, I admire the way you toy with your critics.

Some Honourable Members: "Hear, hear!"

I particularly like the (entirely just) description of the conduct of some of his critics as preferring to snipe from the grassy knoll rather than make positive contributions. It sums up rather well the odious character assassination going on and lends an air of lighthearted mockery of the silliness and time-wasting that's happening. Who says you can't have fun while being surrounded by a confederacy of dunces, a cabal of zealots, a murder of crows, a swarm of angry bumblebees, or a pack of howling and barking dogs?

We all know the caravan of chess will move on. Woof, woof.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: CFC Presidency

The point is that organization can't afford move or expand properly relying solrly on the help of volunteers. Turning away past sponsors does not help alleviate this situation. Well at lesst you sre now acknowledging that Kirsan is very close to Putin.

We are not turning away past sponsors. We are refusing to vote the way you want us to because you sponsored an Olympiad team or two and a Closed ten years ago. You are turning yourself away because we won't do what you demand. We will find other sponsors. The FQE in the last couple of years has spent close to what you spent between the Canadian Closed and Canadian Open which they sponsored. You are the one trying to hold a gun to our head. The first time that I heard any implication that your promises were not conditional were here on chesstalk after the governors were already discussing it.

We do have to rely on volunteers and paying the executive won't help. It will just eat up the foundation money.