Tweet
CFC and FIDE election FAQ
It occurred to me that much of the discussion on chesstalk with respect to the FIDE election is a colossal waste of time with the proponents of Gary Kasparov repeatedly making the same baseless charges and claims to which I respond and which they then repeat. I really don’t have time to be spending so much time with emotionally immature people running on the same hamster wheel so I thought that I would post this FAQ which will hopefully contain all of their claims and accusations and I will deal with them once and for all. I can update this FAQ if anything new comes up or if it is found to contain any factual errors.
The Chess Federation of Canada is supporting Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for FIDE president. Aside from being a nice guy he has been a significant contributor to chess around the world and has been a steady hand in guiding FIDE through some occasionally turbulent waters. I am told that he does not draw a salary and he often dips into his own pockets to support chess projects in FIDE.
Q. Why is the CFC supporting Vladimir Putin?
The CFC is not supporting Vladimir Putin. Putin is not running in the FIDE election. I can understand why Garry Kasparov would like to run against Vladimir Putin as this might increase his chances of winning the FIDE election. Vladimir Putin is a popular politician in Russia regularly winning re-election by large margins. He is supported by most of the Russian population. The CFC shall defer to the Canadian government on questions of politics and foreign policy and support the Canadian government’s position with regard to the situation in Crimea.
Q. Why is the CFC supporting a thug and a murderer? (Sid Belzberg)
“Nigel insinuating Kirsan having a hand in the murder of a journalist, a lie long ago debunked but conveniently ‘forgotten’ as the FIDE election looms.” – GM Kevin Spraggett
• “Chess is a kind of human activity which has room for manifestations of both intellect and the competitive spirit. But this is a bloodless competition. FIDE’s motto is Gens una sumus. And personally, I approve of only one kind of battles – the ones that take place over a board with 64 squares.” - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
It is the belief of the CFC and the Russian authorities under Boris Yeltsin who investigated this thoroughly at the time that it happened that Kirsan had nothing to do with the murder of any journalist. There has been no credible information that contradicts this view despite repeated claims by Kasparov loyalists.
Any claim that Kirsan is a thug is simply a lie and an extraordinary claim which does not stand up to the scrutiny of any casual observer. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and his campaign and supporters have treated the CFC and its executive with respect at all times. The same cannot be said of the Garry Kasparov supporters.
Q. Isn’t the Canadian Government displeased with the CFC over the decision to support Kirsan?
As a result of a vice.com article and claims by Kasparov supporters I have contacted the Canadian government and specifically the foreign affairs minister’s spokesperson quoted in the article and he indicated that they are not displeased with the Chess Federation of Canada (CFC). The government of Canada does not provide any support for Canadian chess beyond providing a small tax break for chess and other cultural activities.
Q. Who is Sasha Starr?
I have no idea. He hasn’t been involved in chess organization before. I do know that he has a temper based on observation of his online behaviour and based on an embarrassing display he put on at an Olympiad. Sasha selectively leaks confidential information from the discussions on the governors forum. Somehow this qualifies him to run for CFC president.
Q. Didn’t a majority of the CFC governors support Kirsan?
Of the 24 governors who voted in a straw poll 12 indicated we should vote for Kirsan, 8 indicated we should vote for Garry and 4 voted that we should abstain. Many governors did not vote or engage in the 22 pages of discussion on the governors forum indicating that the FIDE election is not a high priority for everyone.
Q. Did the executive vote to support Kirsan?
Yes the executive voted 5-0 with two abstentions to support Kirsan. The executive or directors of the CFC are the ones who are charged with making decisions on the FIDE election.
Q. Did you refuse to speak to Kasparov’s representatives?
No, I did not refuse to speak to Kasparov’s representatives. On Canada Day, I got an email response to a eight day old email that I had sent to Robert Hamilton asking me to provide my private unlisted number for a conversation after supper. I spent that time with relatives and swimming.
Q. Who is Vladimir Drkulec
I am an organizer, chess player and chess teacher from the Windsor area. I have played chess since the 1970s with my first CFC tournament being the Ontario High School Chess Championship around 1973. I taught finance at the undergraduate university level for five and a half years in the early 1990s and have spent most of my working life in IT related positions or technical sales and support either as an employee or a consultant. I still do IT work occasionally but do not actively solicit jobs though I probably will start doing so again Real Soon Now if I can stop fighting with the Kasparov people long enough to make some phone calls.
As far as education, I have an MBA with undergrad degrees in business and psychology. I also have an electrical electronic technology diploma.
I am a big reader of both chess books and books on other topics. I have something like 1200 chess books and probably at least five times that number of non-chess related books (though I haven’t counted the latter and may be understating by a factor of two or more).
Q. Why should GK be rewarded with the top position in FIDE after all of his attempts to destroy it?
I couldn't figure that one out myself.
Q. If GK's has such easy access to corporate wealth and sponsors, why could he not find the money for his own match with Shirov?
You got me.
His match with Ponomariov, pursuant to the Prague (reunification) agreement also failed to land sponsorship. This created the bottleneck in the World Championship cycle which will finally be cleared up in November of this year. The million dollar election lawsuit of 2010, which FIDE won, cost all member Federations.
All of this might be forgiven if GK was a changed man, but his campaign suggests otherwise.
Q. You are a liar. You are scum. You are_________(fill in blank).
Whatever. An insult is a gift that you can refuse to accept. Keep your gift.
Q. Gary insulted the chair of the IOC and urged a boycott of sponsors and sports coverage. Do you think this is wise given efforts to have chess included in the Olympic winter games?
I don't think that this was wise but if you show a picture of Putin to Garry its like waving a red flag at a bull.
It occurred to me that much of the discussion on chesstalk with respect to the FIDE election is a colossal waste of time with the proponents of Gary Kasparov repeatedly making the same baseless charges and claims to which I respond and which they then repeat. I really don’t have time to be spending so much time with emotionally immature people running on the same hamster wheel so I thought that I would post this FAQ which will hopefully contain all of their claims and accusations and I will deal with them once and for all. I can update this FAQ if anything new comes up or if it is found to contain any factual errors.
The Chess Federation of Canada is supporting Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for FIDE president. Aside from being a nice guy he has been a significant contributor to chess around the world and has been a steady hand in guiding FIDE through some occasionally turbulent waters. I am told that he does not draw a salary and he often dips into his own pockets to support chess projects in FIDE.
Q. Why is the CFC supporting Vladimir Putin?
The CFC is not supporting Vladimir Putin. Putin is not running in the FIDE election. I can understand why Garry Kasparov would like to run against Vladimir Putin as this might increase his chances of winning the FIDE election. Vladimir Putin is a popular politician in Russia regularly winning re-election by large margins. He is supported by most of the Russian population. The CFC shall defer to the Canadian government on questions of politics and foreign policy and support the Canadian government’s position with regard to the situation in Crimea.
Q. Why is the CFC supporting a thug and a murderer? (Sid Belzberg)
“Nigel insinuating Kirsan having a hand in the murder of a journalist, a lie long ago debunked but conveniently ‘forgotten’ as the FIDE election looms.” – GM Kevin Spraggett
• “Chess is a kind of human activity which has room for manifestations of both intellect and the competitive spirit. But this is a bloodless competition. FIDE’s motto is Gens una sumus. And personally, I approve of only one kind of battles – the ones that take place over a board with 64 squares.” - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
It is the belief of the CFC and the Russian authorities under Boris Yeltsin who investigated this thoroughly at the time that it happened that Kirsan had nothing to do with the murder of any journalist. There has been no credible information that contradicts this view despite repeated claims by Kasparov loyalists.
Any claim that Kirsan is a thug is simply a lie and an extraordinary claim which does not stand up to the scrutiny of any casual observer. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and his campaign and supporters have treated the CFC and its executive with respect at all times. The same cannot be said of the Garry Kasparov supporters.
Q. Isn’t the Canadian Government displeased with the CFC over the decision to support Kirsan?
As a result of a vice.com article and claims by Kasparov supporters I have contacted the Canadian government and specifically the foreign affairs minister’s spokesperson quoted in the article and he indicated that they are not displeased with the Chess Federation of Canada (CFC). The government of Canada does not provide any support for Canadian chess beyond providing a small tax break for chess and other cultural activities.
Q. Who is Sasha Starr?
I have no idea. He hasn’t been involved in chess organization before. I do know that he has a temper based on observation of his online behaviour and based on an embarrassing display he put on at an Olympiad. Sasha selectively leaks confidential information from the discussions on the governors forum. Somehow this qualifies him to run for CFC president.
Q. Didn’t a majority of the CFC governors support Kirsan?
Of the 24 governors who voted in a straw poll 12 indicated we should vote for Kirsan, 8 indicated we should vote for Garry and 4 voted that we should abstain. Many governors did not vote or engage in the 22 pages of discussion on the governors forum indicating that the FIDE election is not a high priority for everyone.
Q. Did the executive vote to support Kirsan?
Yes the executive voted 5-0 with two abstentions to support Kirsan. The executive or directors of the CFC are the ones who are charged with making decisions on the FIDE election.
Q. Did you refuse to speak to Kasparov’s representatives?
No, I did not refuse to speak to Kasparov’s representatives. On Canada Day, I got an email response to a eight day old email that I had sent to Robert Hamilton asking me to provide my private unlisted number for a conversation after supper. I spent that time with relatives and swimming.
Q. Who is Vladimir Drkulec
I am an organizer, chess player and chess teacher from the Windsor area. I have played chess since the 1970s with my first CFC tournament being the Ontario High School Chess Championship around 1973. I taught finance at the undergraduate university level for five and a half years in the early 1990s and have spent most of my working life in IT related positions or technical sales and support either as an employee or a consultant. I still do IT work occasionally but do not actively solicit jobs though I probably will start doing so again Real Soon Now if I can stop fighting with the Kasparov people long enough to make some phone calls.
As far as education, I have an MBA with undergrad degrees in business and psychology. I also have an electrical electronic technology diploma.
I am a big reader of both chess books and books on other topics. I have something like 1200 chess books and probably at least five times that number of non-chess related books (though I haven’t counted the latter and may be understating by a factor of two or more).
Q. Why should GK be rewarded with the top position in FIDE after all of his attempts to destroy it?
I couldn't figure that one out myself.
Q. If GK's has such easy access to corporate wealth and sponsors, why could he not find the money for his own match with Shirov?
You got me.
His match with Ponomariov, pursuant to the Prague (reunification) agreement also failed to land sponsorship. This created the bottleneck in the World Championship cycle which will finally be cleared up in November of this year. The million dollar election lawsuit of 2010, which FIDE won, cost all member Federations.
All of this might be forgiven if GK was a changed man, but his campaign suggests otherwise.
Q. You are a liar. You are scum. You are_________(fill in blank).
Whatever. An insult is a gift that you can refuse to accept. Keep your gift.
Q. Gary insulted the chair of the IOC and urged a boycott of sponsors and sports coverage. Do you think this is wise given efforts to have chess included in the Olympic winter games?
I don't think that this was wise but if you show a picture of Putin to Garry its like waving a red flag at a bull.
Comment