Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Response

[Steve Douglas]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

The posts on this thread indicate that:

1) FIDE has very serious ethical problems, which don't seem to be improving; this should be absolutely no surprise to anyone who has followed international chess during the past 40 years;

2) many Canadians who contribute to chess development have concerns with how past episodes have been handled by CFC leadership; I put myself in that category, with good reason;

3) Mr. Belzberg, who has contributed enormously to Canadian chess development and growth (many important events simply wouldn't have happened to the same degree of success but for his involvement) has significant issues with the current president of the CFC, Mr. Drkulec, and has chosen to withhold potential future sponsorship because of this.

I would urge Mr. Belzberg and Mr. Drkulec to meet face-to-face, as soon as possible, to discuss their differences, with aim towards mutual reconciliation.

The fact is that Mr. Drkulec has made important progress since becoming CFC president. Yes, there is much more to do. But very few things in chess would please me more than to see Mr. Belzberg once more involved in Canadian chess in a major way! :)

Cheers,
Frank Dixon
Kingston

Hi Frank

1. It is no surprise to anyone that FIDE has ethical problems. This is not new.

2. I don't see how failures of past CFC administrations are relevant to the current one, particularly when you refrain from specifics.

3. While Mr. Belzberg's contributions in the past have been substantial, to the best of my knowledge they were done through his company and he has made no significant contribution, personally or otherwise, since around 2008. What leads you to believe he presently has any sort of direct meaningful sponsorship to offer?

4. I too believe it would be a good idea for Mr. Belzberg and Mr. Drkulec should sit down face-to-face and spare us all the petty squabbles here on ChessSquawk, but this issue seems to be very personal for Mr. Belzberg (and the motivations have little or nothing to do with sponsorship). It also seems to be becoming personal for Mr. Drkulec.

Steve

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Thank you for posting the contents of your link Sid. I read it in 2014, as did probably every FIDE Delegate and chess pundit in the world. Deputy President Markopoulos went on record stating that neither FIDE nor Kirsan could be shareholders for obvious reasons. Malcolm Pein's comments are even older. I would not be surprised if Kirsan tried to obtain an equity stake in Agon and the Presidential Board stopped it. The matter was also discussed at the Congress in Tromso.

As for the WCC match happening in USA, your guess is as good as mine (they are the same!). FIDE has its challenges, not so unlike Garry. The FIDE calendar is more robust than ever and GMs have never had more opportunities than they have today. With any luck we will have anew President in 2018 and FIDE will continue to move forward.

Deputy President Markopoulos went on record stating that neither FIDE nor Kirsan could be shareholders for obvious reasons.

All well and good but I would hazard to guess that few in The US Treasury Dept believe a word that Markopoulos has to say. In fact many in the chess world have reservations about his credibility.The signed contract appears to refute what Markopoulos has to say. If as you theorize that the presidential board put a stop to it, do you think the US department of The Treasury will not consider what other shenanigans has Kirsan pulled off that went undetected? Like it or not Kirsan is and remains toxic to FIDE. The point of showing an article from 2014 was to illustrate that with AGON's continued involvement to this day it is unlikely that US Treasury will buy the story of FIDE 's powerless president in the form of Kirsan. I am sure that even you figured out that was my point.
By the way what would you expect Markopoulos to say??? He was a beneficiary to this contract to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now this very same guy takes over Kirsan's power's??? Who do you think you are kidding?
Certainly not the United States Department of the Treasury!

[Hal Bond]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Thank you for posting the contents of your link Sid. I read it in 2014, as did probably every FIDE Delegate and chess pundit in the world. Deputy President Markopoulos went on record stating that neither FIDE nor Kirsan could be shareholders for obvious reasons. Malcolm Pein's comments are even older. I would not be surprised if Kirsan tried to obtain an equity stake in Agon and the Presidential Board stopped it. The matter was also discussed at the Congress in Tromso.

As for the WCC match happening in USA, your guess is as good as mine (they are the same!). FIDE has its challenges, not so unlike Garry. The FIDE calendar is more robust than ever and GMs have never had more opportunities than they have today. With any luck we will have anew President in 2018 and FIDE will continue to move forward.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

The Confederacy of Dunces that is the US Treasury Department

People should be aware that the odious US Treasury Department is chock-a-block with fundamentalist ideologues, disinterested in the truth, looking for the latest "Hitler of the Month" [i.e., anyone who criticizes or stands up to the predatory US foreign policy] , and their ideological warfare against Russia, and its President in particular, is entirely predictable. And mostly worthless. So when our inestimable Sid quotes these idiots, he's discrediting any claims that he might make.


Putin's Secret Wealth, blah blah

How bad is Treasury?

It is the same tired old game that they have been using for years. They used it to slander the African leaders. It was a famous exchange about corruption between Mike Wallace and Minister Louis Farrakhan only about a few years ago. They also use it to demonize what I call “the Hitler of the month club”- the latest person who is bad in the eyes of the West. In other words, someone who stands up and actually dares to criticize or push back against what the West is doing in its ongoing completely corrupt campaign on which they’ve spent $6 trillion to destabilize all the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. If that is not corruption – I don’t know what is.

RT: Do you think Treasury official Adam Szubin would be making such allegations without approval from the White House?

DPW: … He was named and he appeared in public. This is coming directly from the State Department and the CIA and the administration of President Obama whose backers spent a billion dollars to put him where he is or the US Treasury which lost $2 trillion in its Pentagon budget in 2001. It is laughable. And you have a former president Jimmy Carter who once come out and say: “There is really no such thing as democracy in the US because the elections at the federal level are so completely corrupted and are so awash in money.” They don’t care, they want to spread rumors and demonize. They want you to focus on this, chase the yacht, chase this…

Treasury, and the neo-cons that dominate US foreign policy [this includes Kasparov], have led the US to a point where they are the laughing stock of the world, where millions of refugees are fleeing the failed states that they helped to create, where untold millions are dead, and so on, and these idiots are all blithely oblivious to the harm that they do in the world. Well, not quite. It's very profitable for military businesses - which are the interests, more or less, that they represent.

Kasparov in an important role in any political body would not be bad. It would be a disaster. Again, the fact that noisy and bellicose efforts continue to be made just show how powerful and malevolent these interests are.

Anyway, carry on. A good, healthy skepticism about the US Treasury Department, and its unending idiotic claims, can go a long way towards restoring balance in an otherwise rabid discussion.

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

I was able to open the link, after negotiating a warning or two.

Kind-of old news, isn't it? 2014.

Yes, except, AGON continues to be a very relevant partner with FIDE. Here is an article about AGON and FIDE only a few weks ago . AGON recently insisted that the FIDE word championship will be held in the USA. If I can see problems with this (Kirsan's potential involvement as cited in the "old news"] I am quite sure the USA Department of The Treasury will. This will only get worst when the EU and Canada adapt the same sanctions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...mpionship_2016

[John Coleman]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

I was able to open the link, after negotiating a warning or two.

Kind-of old news, isn't it? 2014.

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Balance of article from above

Implications
If indeed the document obtained by Chess.com proves to be accurate and does represent the true relations between FIDE and Agon and what have been the operating procedures, this would suggest a serious conflict of interest. And since it was signed by both Mr Ilyumzhinov and Mr Paulson, at least at a certain point the two intended to go and work with an agreement that involves making money from World Championship cycle events via an off-shore company in Jersey. Agon would receive large sums of money from Grand Prixs, World Cups, Candidates Tournaments and World Championship matches, and its beneficiaries would all be connected to FIDE itself. As the majority share holder, Mr Ilyumzhunov would be using the crown jewels of chess to his own benefit.

The document obtained by Chess.com seems to answer several questions raised in the past. To start, it seems clear now why FIDE still hasn't terminated its contract with Agon yet, despite not receiving the half a million deposit fee. At the second-quarter Presidential Board meeting, held in Baku, Azerbaijan on 4-7 May 2013, the question was asked that to do with this Agon debt. There and then, it was Mr. Makropoulos who proposed to authorize the FIDE President “to take the personal decision as to whether to terminate the contract with Agon.” The proposal was accepted.

The document also seems to explain a statement by Andrew Paulson from an interview with ChessVibes in March 2013. Back then Mr Paulson said that FIDE's Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Borg “[had] been an employee of Agon since January 2012.” Soon after the publication of the interview Mr Paulson, on behalf of Mr Borg, requested to correct “employee” to "advisor”. As it turns out, Mr Borg has been working for Agon as a “contractor for event management”.
On Wesnesday night Chess.com asked Mr Makropoulos about the signatures on the agreement; Mr Paulson was sent a copy of the email. At the time of publishing this article, neither one has responded to this question.

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Hal, I find it hard to believe that the link works for everyone except you. I have copied and pasted the entire article below for your edification. FIDE is a non profit organization so "clawing back an investment" does not make any sense. Andrew Paulson not being involved in AGON is of no relevance. The article claims that it appears that Kirsan controls AGON as per the signed contract and that transactions not disclosed as related party transactions in the FIDE financials went on between AGON and FIDE. Basically undisclosed related party transactions are illegal in a public company and even more so in a non profit organization.

They are the type of transactions that would not show up in an audit and are very difficult for auditors to detect. The FIDE under Kirsan's leadershp is no prize and probably was better off going under and starting something new without questionable money given the fragile situation today. It is highly unlikely the US Department of The Treasury would allow exemptions for FIDE with Kirsan as president even with no powers as given the questions surrounding the AGON situation they simply would not trust the veracity of anything FIDE has to say. They would ask "What else is not being disclosed??"

Leaked Agreement Between Ilyumzhinov & Paulson Suggests Conflict of Interest

PeterDoggers on 1/30/14, 3:39 AM.
7

Chess.com has obtained a document that suggests that Agon, Andrew Paulson's company that holds the rights to organize chess events in the World Championship cycle, is secretly run by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov himself. According to the contract, which is signed by both the FIDE President and Mr Paulson, it is Mr Ilyumzhinov who owns 51% of the shares. Both Mr Ilyumzhinov and Mr Paulson deny that the contract is in effect, but according to Malcolm Pein, Mr Paulson “has said on at least two occasions that Kirsan is the majority shareholder.”

Note: Chess.com can neither confirm nor deny that the “logistics” and “operating procedures” listed in the contract below have been in practice for the last couple years. However, it has been confirmed by Andrew Paulson, among other sources, that the documents are valid (meaning they exist). Whereas one source (Mr Pein) told Chess.com that Mr Paulson stated the opposite in at least two conversations, it should be noted that the contract is currently being claimed (by Mr. Paulson among other FIDE representatives) as an “early draft” of the possible agreement between FIDE and Agon - and not something that has been in place.

Agon
About two years ago Andrew Paulson (55), a successful American entrepreneur working in Russia, entered the chess scene. His company Agon obtained the rights to organize, for the next 11 years, all events in the World Championship cycle: Grand Prixs, World Cups, Candidates Tournaments and World Championship matches. It seemed that, even though he had zero experience in chess, he was willing to invest a lot of money in the royal game.

In March 2012 ambitious plans were revealed. A 4-year schedule for two World Championship cycles was announced, with Grand Prix events planned for 2013 to be held in Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin and Paris. “In the future we will be progressing continent by continent, bringing great competitions to the world’s capitals in a regular and predictable schedule,” said Mr Paulson back then.

The first tournament organized by Agon was the first Grand Prix in the 2012-2013 cycle, held in London in September 2012. Mr Paulson was not involved in the next two Grand Prixs, but he did organize the London Candidates’ Tournament in March 2013. After that, the chess world didn't hear much from Agon. The company had no presence at subsequent Grand Prixs, the Tromsø World Cup nor the Chennai World Championship match.

All this seemed to be a money issue. Mr Paulson has stated that he used personal money for the London Grand Prix, while the London Candidates’ were paid by The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). Around that time it became clear that Agon had not paid FIDE the agreed deposit fee of $500,000 which was due for April 2012. Agon still hasn't paid this fee as of today.

Leaked contract
Chess.com obtained scans of a contract, stipulated in Russian, concerning Agon. The undated contract, which mentions a “model for cooperation” between Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Andrew Paulson and which was written on paper with Agon's letterhead, was created in January 2012. And, it has the signatures of both Mr Ilyumzhinov and Mr Paulson.

(Click for bigger view)

The contract (translated into English in this Word doc) mentions Agon's responsibilities:

sell FIDE's sponsor packages;
perform marketing activities for FIDE enterprises concerning the world championship;
organize the running of the world championship cycle events, including the payment of the prize fund and all expenses, in accordance with the contract with FIDE.

It is stated that profits from these activities would be at the disposal of Agon and for distribution to its shareholders by way of dividends. The manager of the company would be Andrew Paulson, who would own 49% of the voting shares, while Kirsan Ilyumzhinov would have control of the board of shareholders and would own 51% of the voting shares. Mr Ilyumzhinov would provide the company with its start-up capital in return for a share of the profits.

Beneficiaries
The contract mentions more beneficiaries. It states that Global Chess, run by FIDE's Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Borg, will be the contractor for running Agon's events. Global Chess would receive about $15,000 for each event, from Agon's budget, in accordance with the contract with FIDE. FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos would be a consultant to Agon, receiving EUR 75,000 in the first year, and EUR 150,000 in each subsequent year of the FIDE contract. Mr Ilyumzhinov's assistant Berik Balgabaev would be consultant to Agon, receiving EUR 36,000 in the first year, and EUR 60,000 in each subsequent year of the FIDE contract. Andrew Paulson himself would be paid EUR 240,000 per year. All of these payments would be increased by 5% in each year after the second.

Audits
The audited accounts for Agon, which is based on the Island of Jersey, are reported only to two external individuals. In the official agreement between Agon and FIDE as published on the FIDE website (in PDF here) it is written that an “Interface” is established to resolve issues. The Interface consists of four members of which two are “Agon members” and two are “FIDE members” - Mr Nigel Freeman and Mr Georgios Makropoulos. There seems to be no external auditing taking place, and the delegates of the 180 federations do not seem to have direct accces to or insight in the funds received by Agon.

Mr Paulson wrote in an email: “The fact that the audits of Agon, a private company, are shown to (only) Makropoulos and Freeman at all is unusual. Companies don't usually show their accounts to anyone other than shareholders and the taxman. However, in this case, under the Agreement, FIDE needs to be able to verify the revenue (because payments to FIDE are based on it) while Agon needs to maintain a reasonable level of confidentiality vis-a-vis its other counter-parties; we solved this issue by allowing representatives of FIDE, bound by confidentiality, to audit our accounts. The contract is publicly available, was approved by the Presidential Board and ratified by the General Assembly of FIDE. This is a non-issue.”

“Draft, never used”
Both Mr Paulson and Mr Ilyumzhinov denied to Chess.com that the contract is in effect. According to Mr Paulson it was cancelled “immediately, the next day or so.” In an email he wrote: “There were several models that we explored over many iterations while establishing the shareholder structure of Agon after the FIDE/Agon contract had been negotiated. I am the sole owner of AGON and the sole shareholder.”

In a later email he added: “To the extent that the Memorandum was a draft, some of the terms were indeed carried forward in some form and some were abandoned. For example, in the end, Agon did engage Global Chess as a general contractor for event management, but for $7,500/month instead of $15,000/event. This restructuring was deemed logical, as there were 6 events in the 2013 schedule. Mr. Makropoulos, on the other hand, rejected out of hand the idea of consultants related in any way to FIDE receiving retainers. And, indeed, under a separate agreement my salary from AGON was agreed to be EUR 240k/year, but I never took it.”

Like Mr Paulson, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos refrained from speaking on the phone. Instead, he replied to Chess.com by copying an email he also sent to other media. On behalf of FIDE and its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Mr Makropoulos wrote: “Before anything else, let me strongly clarify that I was never a consultant of Agon and I have never received even 1 cent from Agon. (...) “It was never in effect because it was just one of the many proposals of Andrew which were rejected. (...) It was understood by all sides that neither FIDE nor Kirsan could be involved as shareholders of Agon and that no FIDE official could be hired by Agon as there is an obvious conflict of interest.”

Malcolm Pein
Although Mr Ilyumzhinov and Mr Paulson both state that their agreemt was “just an early draft”, it was signed by both parties, as can be seen in the image of the scanned document. On top of that, Malcolm Pein, tournament director of the London Chess Classic and Chief Executive of Chess in Schools and Communities, told Chess.com: “Andrew told me on at least on two occasions that Kirsan is the majority shareholder.” The last time was “shortly before the ECF elections”, said Mr Pein. This was in October 2013.

Balance of article below.

[Hal Bond]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

The FIDE President does not draw a salary and Andrew Paulson is no longer involved with Agon. I could not open Sid's link but in principle I would rather see the President on a published salary and prohibited from holding a proprietary stake in the WC Cycle. Campomanes was very adept at "milking, not stealing" from FIDE activities, according to a FIDE insider. Kirsan rescued FIDE from insolvency in the early days, and is possibly trying to claw back some of his investment. I really don't know either way. You won't find evidence of it in the audited accounts.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Thanks to Vlad and Sid for their informative posts.

I take from Vlad's post that Ilyumzhinov does NOT draw a salary from FIDE.

I take from Sid's post that there very well may be a kickback type of scheme involving Andrew Paulson and Ilyumzhinov, around the staging of FIDE tournaments.

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

I think they have doubled his salary to zero dollars per year.

Of course he would not take a salary when all kinds of other clever schemes exist to siphon money out of FIDE, see link below

https://www.chess.com/news/deal-betw...-document-6252

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Does anyone know whether Ilyumzhinov is still receiving his salary for being FIDE President during his suspension? This seems like the kind of information that a Zobal President should have access to. I'd appreciate a complete answer to this question.

I think they have doubled his salary to zero dollars per year.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Does anyone know whether Ilyumzhinov is still receiving his salary for being FIDE President during his suspension? This seems like the kind of information that a Zobal President should have access to. I'd appreciate a complete answer to this question.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

I was thinking the same thing Vlad. Working together with the Kasparov Foundation could be very interesting. If only there were more hours in the day, and/or more people (with thick enough skin) willing to jump in.

Willing to jump in is the key differentiator.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Vlad Drucklec Censor's My Response's to him On The CFC Discussion Boards My Resp

Say Vlad, have you had the chance to check out the Junior Arena? Like could teachers use it to give their students supplementary training between lessons, etc? Thanks.

My understanding is that there is a whole library of lessons and videos that teachers and federation approved instructors and kids can access.