The FIDE Presidency

[Larry Bevand]

I respect and appreciate the contributions of both Vlad and Sid to chess in Canada, and it is normal that we will not always see eye to eye.

Since Vlad has taken over the CFC as President, there is no doubt that the CFC is running much more smoothly than in the 5 years or so prior to him becoming President. We have good management and regular services (thank you Bob Gillanders) which the CFC was without for some time...and that is the simple reason that membership is up.

Nobody is perfect and I think bringing forward areas of disagreement on this site is a positive thing.

At the end of the day, I think Sid would agree that the CFC is in a better place today than it was 5 years ago. Hopefully Sid can find a way to continue to make a positive contribution to Chess in Canada and work with the Vlad and the CFC in the future so that we have a win-win situation!

We need both of you on our team!

Larry

[Sid Belzberg]

Sid, you are just being silly. I am busy playing in a tournament (the Canadian Open). The only reason I am posting now is because my opponent from the second round didn't show up. Weave your conspiracy theories. They don't affect me or the bulk of the CFC members. I am an unpaid volunteer doing my best. My administration has been the most open and transparent one in CFC history. We explain our decisions and our reasoning with most rational people able to accept that once decisions are made that it is done.

No theories friend, just facts.

[Vlad Drkulec]

You can tell yourself that to make your situation more palatable but everyone is afraid. If you have no fear you have no humanity.

Hmm ... explains a lot.

http://casefoundation.org/wp-content...work_Nov15.pdf

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death. Leonardo da Vinci

A certain swordsman in his declining years said the following: In one's life. there are levels in the pursuit of study. In the lowest level, a person studies but nothing comes of it, and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless. In the middle level he is still useless but is aware of his own insufficiencies and can also see the insufficiencies of others. In a higher level he has pride concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth. In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing. These are the levels in general;. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiencies and never in his whole life thinks that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end. It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, "I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself." Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending. Yamamoto Tsunetomo

[Paul Bonham]

Originally posted by Leonardo da Vinci
I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death. Leonardo da Vinci

Originally posted by Yamamoto Tsunetomo
A certain swordsman in his declining years said the following: In one's life. there are levels in the pursuit of study. In the lowest level, a person studies but nothing comes of it, and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless. In the middle level he is still useless but is aware of his own insufficiencies and can also see the insufficiencies of others. In a higher level he has pride concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth. In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing. These are the levels in general;. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiencies and never in his whole life thinks that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end. It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, "I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself." Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending. Yamamoto Tsunetomo

[/B]

Charles Manson could have used those quotes to justify everything he did. (Can't use Hitler or I'd be accused of proving Godwin's Law).

It is so laughable to see Drkulec taking the high road against Nigel Short, knowing what I know about Drkulec.

Sid, you are doing something which is of no use. Drkulec himself preaches against that, and then he makes sure anyone who disagrees with him will be themselves doing that... by refusing to budge an inch from his (now puritanical) dogma. So much for that "advancing daily" crap, which requires that one actually look inward with an open mind once in a while....

One good thing to see is finally to see Larry Bevand actually take a position on something. He, like Gillanders, feels that anyone who increases membership of and increases services offered by the CFC is tto be desired as CFC President. This despite the fact that Larry and Bob both know full well the immorality that lies within Vlad Drkulec.

[Ken MacDonald]

charles manson could have used those quotes to justify everything he did. (can't use hitler or i'd be accused of proving godwin's law).

It is so laughable to see drkulec taking the high road against nigel short, knowing what i know about drkulec.

Sid, you are doing something which is of no use. Drkulec himself preaches against that, and then he makes sure anyone who disagrees with him will be themselves doing that... By refusing to budge an inch from his (now puritanical) dogma. So much for that "advancing daily" crap, which requires that one actually look inward with an open mind once in a while....

One good thing to see is finally to see larry bevand actually take a position on something. He, like gillanders, feels that anyone who increases membership of and increases services offered by the cfc is tto be desired as cfc president. This despite the fact that larry and bob both know full well the immorality that lies within vlad drkulec.

yyyaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!

[Vlad Drkulec]

yyyaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!

The lack of insight,... he doesn't understand that qualitatively he is making the same error as Godwin's law. I must commend the proprietor for removing such libelous posts before I even complain about them. If you don't have fan boys you probably haven't been making many waves. For now he is my Ahab and I am his Moby Dick.

By the way the only thing Bonham knows about me is that I won our game so many years ago. At the risk of providing some education to my enemies and encouraging my detractors to stop engaging in useless actions his strategy of claiming to know something about me is a good one if you are dealing with a neurotic or paranoid personality. I don't really care what people know about me. There is not much that is hidden for strategic reasons. What you see is what you get. Every line of attack gives me more insight into his personality, sadly. Its not a pretty sight.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

How much was the CFC promised again if it would endorse a candidate publicly?

[Wayne Komer]

The FIDE Presidency

July 9, 2018

From the official FIDE site:

2018 2nd quarter Presidential Board meeting
Monday, 09 July 2018
Bucharest


The 2018 2nd Quarter Presidential Board has started under the auspices of the Romanian Chess Federation in the Marshal Garden Hotel in Bucharest, Romania on 9th of July 2018.

.
.
.

FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos thanked the Mayor (of Bucharest) and the Romanian Chess Federation for the excellent organisation of the Presidential Board Meeting and then advised the Presidential Board of what had happened since the Presidential Board in Minsk.

One of the Candidates for the position of the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich attended the Presidential Board meeting and delivered a speech to the PB members.

http://fide.com/component/content/ar...d-meeting.html

++++++++++

Nigel Short in a tweet today:

It was very fair of Makro to invite all the 2018 FIDE Presidential Candidates to address the Board meeting in Bucharest. I am still checking my inbox, but I must have mislaid my invitation somewhere.

[Sid Belzberg]

I respect and appreciate the contributions of both Vlad and Sid to chess in Canada, and it is normal that we will not always see eye to eye.

Since Vlad has taken over the CFC as President, there is no doubt that the CFC is running much more smoothly than in the 5 years or so prior to him becoming President. We have good management and regular services (thank you Bob Gillanders) which the CFC was without for some time...and that is the simple reason that membership is up.

Nobody is perfect and I think bringing forward areas of disagreement on this site is a positive thing.

At the end of the day, I think Sid would agree that the CFC is in a better place today than it was 5 years ago. Hopefully Sid can find a way to continue to make a positive contribution to Chess in Canada and work with the Vlad and the CFC in the future so that we have a win-win situation!

We need both of you on our team!

Larry

Hi Larry,
When the CFC will support a chess environment that attracts normal western sponsorship I will be delighted to work together with Vlad or anyone else. I have always been positive about Vlad's administrative skills. and have said that more then once on this board. Vlad himself has made the point more then once that who run's FIDE is of little consequence to the CFC's daily operations.
Therefore the "Win Win" is to support my efforts in having a international chess sporting organization that we can all be proud of.
Even if the FIDE candidate does not win I am sure that I could bring significant sponsorship to Canada. I am very forgiving of mistakes. The key is to admit when one is made and not repeat the mistake again

[Paul Bonham]

...I will be delighted to work together with Vlad or anyone else.... I am very forgiving of mistakes. The key is to admit when one is made and not repeat the mistake again

Character flaw. You have to recognize when someone is an immovable object. You and Gary would be better off working AROUND the status quo, rather than trying to buy your way into it. But given that it is chess you are dealing with -- not exactly fertile ground for investment of any kind -- you have to have something really good to add. The Millionaire Chess Open proved that money alone won't do it. And that Universal Chess Rating thing was no good either.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Hi Larry,
When the CFC will support a chess environment that attracts normal western sponsorship I will be delighted to work together with Vlad or anyone else. I have always been positive about Vlad's administrative skills. and have said that more then once on this board. Vlad himself has made the point more then once that who run's FIDE is of little consequence to the CFC's daily operations.
Therefore the "Win Win" is to support my efforts in having a international chess sporting organization that we can all be proud of.
Even if the FIDE candidate does not win I am sure that I could bring significant sponsorship to Canada. I am very forgiving of mistakes. The key is to admit when one is made and not repeat the mistake again

Thank you for the kind words.

I too would like an international chess sporting organization that we can all be proud of and one where if a Canadian grandmaster is having the world cup of his life he will not be accosted moments before his game regardless of whether he is deemed to be sartorially deficient and in violation of unstated rules. Nigel appears at times a very likeable individual prone say things that are very indelicate and occasionally quite objectionable. It does not appear to me that he can win and it also appears to me based on his just received email to federations that he too is not expecting to win but instead is planning to play the role of king maker and aim to extract some improved conditions for FIDE from one of the other two candidates.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Athens, 10 July 2018


To: All National Chess Federations, members of FIDE


Dear chess friends,


It is high time to make a fundamental change in FIDE: to move from being an opaque, sanction-pressed pariah to becoming an open, properly-governed organisation that is respected the world over.
Successful international sporting bodies attract many millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars of commercial sponsorship. That money is then distributed to the federations to promote the game. While it is unlikely that chess will ever attain the popularity of, say, football, it requires no great leap of the imagination to understand that such a beneficent business model is perfectly possible for FIDE too. After all, chess is played throughout the globe, by hundreds of millions of people, and is widely regarded as being the ultimate mind- sport. It has been proven in literally hundreds of scientific studies, over the past 45 years, to have great educational value. It is also perfect adapted for the Internet age. Many of the brightest and most successful entrepreneurs enjoy it. To name just a few examples, Sir Richard Branson, of Virgin, regularly praises chess in articles and tweets, while two of the wealthiest men on the planet - Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg - have even played against the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. Yet do their companies sponsor the game? Alas, not. While it would be wrong to exaggerate the ease with which commercial tie-ups can be made, the enormous potential is clearly there – one that can utterly transform the game we know. Despite decades in office, the Ilyumzhinov/Makropoulos administration has abjectly failed to tap such rich resources. Change will not occur unless federations vote for it.
FIDE is run in almost exactly the opposite way to how it should be. Due to the incompetence and poor reputation of the current administration, commercial sponsorship accounts for a pitifully small percentage of revenues. Rather than the governing body supporting the federations - as it should - federations support the governing body. Anything that can be taxed, is taxed. There are taxes on titles for playing, arbiting, organising and training. The tax on rated games – which milks the active federations and cripples the poorer ones - guarantees that chess fails to reach anywhere near its full potential. This has got to stop, and will be one of the first priorities during my presidency.


2

A FRESH APPROACH: CLEAN HANDS FOR FIDE!
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has quite literally brought FIDE to the brink of extinction. When he was placed on the US Treasury Department Sanctions list in 2015, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before FIDE encountered serious financial trouble. Sure enough, in April 2018, UBS closed FIDE’s bank accounts. No less than 18 banks refused even to meet with FIDE, and those that did refused its custom. Without the approval of the General Assembly, the Makropolous administration secretively transferred the entire assets of our organisation elsewhere, and then remained silent about it for as long as possible. Only after constant public questioning by myself did they finally, after two weeks, divulge what they had done with it – a most unsatisfactory and expensive arrangement with trust funds and a fiduciary account in Hong Kong. Absurdly, the FIDE Treasurer treated these questions of immense public importance as an attack on his personal integrity.
Ilyumzhinov has now been replaced as presidential candidate by Arkady Dvorkovich. Alas, given his vastly more important and prestigious recent jobs as Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and organiser of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it is hard to envisage him as being anything other than a hands-off leader, should he be elected. Worryingly, he has appointed Kirsan as a key advisor, which suggests that, for the Kremlin, control is more important than reform.
How does the other candidate, Georgios Makropoulos, view the Kirsan era? In a letter to a Canadian soft-porn website earlier this year he said:
“I was always supporting Kirsan until the beginning of 2017 as his contributions to FIDE, and chess in general, was enormous”
Yes, that is the same Kirsan who announced a World Championship Match in Saddam Hussein’s Baghdad; who signed a document awarding himself a 51% share of Agon (which holds the commercial rights to almost all the important FIDE events) who spent hundreds of thousands of euros of FIDE money – OUR money – on his personal travel every year; who promised a $500,000 Africa Fund and delivered not one cent; who outrageously lied to the General Assembly in Tromso 2014 by promising to transfer $20 million to FIDE but gave nothing; the same Kirsan who has tarnished the name of the organisation and brought FIDE to the edge of oblivion.
It is obvious that one cannot expect meaningful reform from Makropoulos, who has served as Kirsan’s loyal lieutenant for 22 years. Had he wanted to, he would have done it by now. And yet FIDE badly needs constitutional changes, such as presidential term limits – which were vetoed by Makropoulos in 2010. Proxies – the system by which federations exchange their votes for favours granted – should be abolished immediately. The Electoral Commission must be made entirely independent to avoid endemic bias. Delegates should be members of the federations they represent (and be allowed to choose only one federation). No longer should we be treated to such farcical undemocratic spectacles of an Algerian representing Comoros, or a Greek - the Solomon Islands.

3

A FRESH APPROACH: CLEAN HANDS FOR FIDE!

The IOC code should be observed and FIDE statutes must be upheld – not routinely flouted, as they are now. Tournaments, or matches, must never be awarded to any country that fails to enforce our own regulations. The abuse of rewarding of political supporters with jobs while opponents are punished by exclusion must end. The Agon contract must be terminated immediately.
Only my team - Lukasz Turlej (Poland), Lekan Adeyemi (Nigeria), Paul Spiller (New Zealand), Ruth Haring (United States) and Panu Laine (Finland) - has the dedication, vision and energy to bring about these changes. We will restore integrity to the organisation, without which it is impossible to attract major sponsors, or even open a bank account.
On the campaign so far I have often heard the refrain “We like your ideas, Nigel, but what, realistically, are your chances? Why should you succeed where Kasparov, Karpov and Kok have failed?” The answer to that is very simple: the electoral arithmetic is completely different in a three-horse race. No single candidate is expected to win on the first round of voting. In that scenario, if I do as “badly” as Kasparov, Karpov or Kok, I will hold the balance of power. Far from being a wasted vote, a vote for my team will, in fact, increase in value because neither of the other candidates will win without our support. This will ensure that our policies prevail and at least some of the above vital reforms are made.
Vote for change. Vote #cleanhands4fide

Sincerely yours

Nigel Short,
Grandmaster, former World Championship Finalist,
2018 FIDE Presidential Candidate

As mentioned in my previous post here is the letter Nigel just sent to the various chess federations including the CFC.

[Sid Belzberg]

Thank you for the kind words.

I too would like an international chess sporting organization that we can all be proud of and one where if a Canadian grandmaster is having the world cup of his life he will not be accosted moments before his game regardless of whether he is deemed to be sartorially deficient and in violation of unstated rules. Nigel appears at times a very likeable individual prone say things that are very indelicate and occasionally quite objectionable. It does not appear to me that he can win and it also appears to me based on his just received email to federations that he too is not expecting to win but instead is planning to play the role of king maker and aim to extract some improved conditions for FIDE from one of the other two candidates.

Yes, the point is that even for Nigel to have the ability to influence improved FIDE conditions every vote is important including the CFC's. So,it's your move chief!

[Vlad Drkulec]

Yes, the point is that even for Nigel to have the ability to influence improved FIDE conditions every vote is important including the CFC's. So,it's your move chief!

It is our move and we await further developments. Currently of the three candidates we are only talking directly to Mr. Makropoulos. I suspect that will change soon.

[Wayne Komer]

The FIDE Presidency

July 13, 2018

Tweet from Nigel Short today:

Kirsan has at last been suspended from office, years, if not decades, too late. As expected from "Makro-FIDE", the details have been declared "strictly confidential" because , of course, removing the president could not possibly be of public interest.
http://www.fide.com/images/stories/N..._President.pdf …

That text:

FIDE ETHICS COMMISSION

The Ethics Commission (hereafter called the ETH), sitting in the following composition -
Chairman: Mr. Francois Strydom Members: Mr. Ion Serban Dobronauteanu Mr. Rajesh Hari Joshi Mr. Pedro Dominguez during the meeting held in Zurich, Switzerland on 23 and 24 June 2018, and subsequent e-mail deliberations, made the following –

DECISION

ETHICS CASE n. 2/2018 – Alleged misconduct by the FIDE President following his inclusion in the OFAC Sanctions list

1. The ETH notes the contents of the report of complaint (“the complaint”) received on 18 May 2018 from Deputy-President Mr. Georgios Makropoulos, as authorised by the FIDE Presidential Board (“the Complainant”), against the FIDE President Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (“the Respondent”) on the basis of art. 2.2.3, 2.2.10 and 2.2.11 of the FIDE Code of Ethics.

2. The ETH notes its ruling of 11 June 2018, issued by the Chairman of the ETH, that the proceedings concerning this matter and the contents of the case file are declared to be strictly confidential.

3. The ETH notes the contents of the Respondent’s answering statement of 15 June 2018, the Complainant’s replying statement of 19 June 2018 and the Respondent’s replying statement of 22 June 2018.

4. The ETH notes the oral proceedings which took place at Zurich on 23 June 2018 during which the ETH was addressed by counsel acting for the Complainant and the Respondent respectively.

5. The ETH notes the recusal of its member Mr. Willy Iclicki and its secretary Dr Elli Sperdokli from any participation in the discussion or decision of this matter on the basis of a conflict of interest.

6. The ETH confirms that a quorum is established by the presence and participation of the remaining four (4) of its voting members.

7. The ETH rules that the complaint is admissible on the basis that:

7.1 The true complainant is the FIDE Presidential Board, an organ of FIDE with locus standi to submit a report to the ETH in representing the general interest of FIDE. Mr. Makropoulos, duly authorised,
acted as nominal complainant on behalf of the Presidential Board;

7.2 The ETH has jurisdiction over the Respondent as FIDE official and the Respondent is subject to the FIDE Code of Ethics;

7.3 The report discloses a prima facie case of misconduct requiring the Respondent to be put on his defence;

7.4 The proceedings are not politically inspired and do not constitute an abuse of process.

8. The ETH notes that the Respondent was included in the OFAC Sanctions list on 25 November 2015 and remains on the list till today.

9. The ETH finds that on numerous occasions during the period March 2017 until April 2018, and whilst on the OFAC sanctions list, Mr. Ilyumzhinov acted in a manner incompatible with his duty to put the interests of FIDE above his own personal interests and in defiance of valid decisions of the FIDE Presidential Board by inter alia seeking to exercise powers which had been delegated to the FIDE Deputy-President, seeking to discredit members of the FIDE Presidential Board, making untrue or provocative public statements and refusing to resign following the closure of FIDE’s bank accounts, and in so doing created confusion and instability within FIDE and further inflicted serious reputational, operational and financial harm upon FIDE and brought FIDE and the game of chess into disrepute.

10.The ETH records that the details of the ETH’s findings appear from the confidential Motivation (78 pages) which is released to the Complainant and the Respondent simultaneous herewith.

11.Upon due consideration of all the statements filed and arguments advanced:

11.1 The ETH unanimously decides that Mr Ilyumzhinov is guilty of the violation of art. 2.2.3, 2.2.10 and 2.2.11 of the FIDE Code of Ethics.

11.2 The ETH holds (all members agreeing) that Mr Ilyumzhinov must receive recognition, as a strong mitigating circumstance, of the outstanding service to FIDE and the chess community over a period of 22 years, as well as his decision to put FIDE first by his decision not to partake in the 2018 FIDE Presidential elections given the fact that his name still remains on the OFAC Sanctions list.

11.3 The ETH decides by majority vote that, in the circumstances, Mr Ilyumzhinov is sanctioned with a temporary exclusion from holding any of the positions listed in Chapter 3.1(a) – (l) of the FIDE Statutes for a period of 18 months from date hereof, of which a period of 12 months are suspended for a period of 2 years (“the period of suspension”) on condition that Mr Ilyumzhinov does not make himself guilty during the period of suspension of any conduct which causes harm to the interests and reputation of FIDE as organisation, its organs, officials, organisers, sponsors and events.

11.4 For the sake of clarity, the ETH notes that the immediately effective suspension is one of 6 months, commencing on 13 July 2018 and ending on 12 January 2019.

12. The ETH requests the FIDE Secretariat to communicate this decision to Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Mr. Georgios Makropoulos and other members of the FIDE Presidential Board, and to publish it on the FIDE website.

DATED ON THIS THE 12th DAY OF JULY 2018

F P Strydom
_______________________
CHAIRMAN

FIDE ETHICS COMMISSION