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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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I do think this was an " opportunity of a lifetime ", but probably not for the same reasons as you think.
FWIW. I tried to persuade Vlad D. and Hal B. to vote for Garry K. in the previous FIDE Presidential election. That was not because I thought GK would be a better leader of FIDE than Kirsan. Who could possibly believe that optimistic nonsense??? AFAIK, 100% of the evidence shows that GK is incapable of working with anyone who doesn't always agree with him. (e.g. see: FIDE World Championships; see: ACP). In this respect, GK is exactly like the current FIDE autocrats: paying lip-service to democracy only so long as it agrees with his own preferences.
Rather, IMO, and as I said to Vlad D. and Hal B., a vote for GK would have been a vote for the implosion of FIDE.
I believed that you were correct in that analysis. We only differed on the desirability of that outcome.
In response, they both said that it was better to vote for KI and try to change FIDE "from the inside".
Now, we will see... In the next few days -- during the Ethics Commission meeting at the FIDE general assembly -- we will see whether the current FIDE administration will opt for their standard 16th century Rule-by-Authority model, or whether they will (temporarily?) bow to a 20th Century Rule-by-Law.
Personally, I am hoping to be surprised... maybe Kirsan's Buddhist abhorrence for (Zurab's) lack of self-control will over-ride FIDE's seemingly insatiable desire for sponsorship money.
OTOH, I am by nature pessimistic, and so I expect FIDE will do nothing significant to curb the chess world's Zurabs of their unchecked power.
The FIDE decision was entirely predictable. Anton is a brilliant chessplayer but he has a lot of growing up to do. Quitting in the face of bullying is not adult behaviour and refusing to work with the CFC in making his case is simply childish. Too bad. He will go down in the annals of the World Cup not as the player who knocked out the former world champion but as a bad joke.
Were either the CFC or Anton himself aware that he would have to appear in person - and that a unnominated proxy was not acceptable?
What a complete embarrassment!
All FIDE needed to do was cite the requirements for the submission of a formal complaint to simply brush off such an important Canadian and International matter.
Why didn't Drkulec & Co. simply request the requirements needed ... BEFORE ... they submitted the Chess Federation of Canada's formal complaint? Huh???
BLUNDER!
But hey, it's not all that surprising the CFC just got schooled ...again.
The FIDE decision was entirely predictable. Anton is a brilliant chessplayer but he has a lot of growing up to do. Quitting in the face of bullying is not adult behaviour and refusing to work with the CFC in making his case is simply childish. Too bad. He will go down in the annals of the World Cup not as the player who knocked out the former world champion but as a bad joke.
I am not sure I would go quite that far; Anton certainly did not help his own case and I guess we can say HE got what HE wished for (apparently). Failing to authorize the CFC to act on his behalf and refusing to at least video conference meant he had no case. Whatever he was trying to prove is gone with the wind. Ironically, for a chess GM he showed remarkable inability to see that coming... or maybe he just doesn't care (I hope that is not the case). Did I read somewhere that he is on a chess scholarship (while studying computer science?) ... if that is the case, he likely has commitments to the University and perhaps that is enough for him?
I am in Antalya for the Congress and attended the Ethics Committee meeting. The outcome is not a surprise.
This has been a frustrating experience to be sure. When Ethics told me they wanted to conduct an oral hearing at the Congress I requested that Anton be allowed to testify via skype. They agreed but Anton declined. In my conversations with Anton it is clear that he is still wounded by the incident. There was a likelihood that he could be cross examined by Z.A. or his legal representative and Anton was concerned that he would not be able to remain civil. He thanked me and the CFC for trying to help. I do believe that the Ethics Commission is independent and they were eager to deal with this matter promptly and fairly.
I am cautiously optimistic that improvements will flow from this fiasco. The Central Board of Commissions was the first meeting of the Congress and the Kovalyov incident was front and centre for 90% of it. There was a clear consensus that the incident highlighted a number of deficiencies in FIDE's tournament management practices and that upgrades are necessary. I reminded them that whatever dress/conduct codes are put in place, it is critical that the players know who the enforcers are and what to expect. We shall see.
Last night Zurab approached me for a chat. He knows he was wrong. He told me that he was already agitated on that day from another incident on the floor between an Arbiter and Security, to which he had been expressly summoned. Whatever. He also confirmed that there is no problem to release Anton's prize money. I told him that regardless of the Ethics ruling I intended to raise the matter again during the Executive Board meeting (the final one of the Congress).
The EB meeting could be spectacular. President Ilyumzhinov has been marginalized due to the US Treasury Board sanctions but he wants to return to full power irrespective of this. The crowd is not sympathetic.
Thanks for your efforts here Hal. You guys did all you could to help Anton in this matter. I hope that Anton can recover from this and continue playing. Any idea on his state of mind regarding playing in the future?
It would be a shame for the chess world and for Canadian chess to lose a player of Anton's stature and ability. I was encouraged by Anton's statements that held out the possibility of playing for Canada again though that was in the context of achieving some measure of justice which may not be possible here.
We have here a situation which is absurd and worthy of a Kafka story.
P.S. I just received official notification of the rejection of our appeal.
Last edited by Vlad Drkulec; Tuesday, 10th October, 2017, 12:00 PM.
1. I did indeed give permission to the Canadian chess federation (CFC) to act on my behalf. I never got any paper to sign from anybody.
2. The EC wanted me to testify in Antalya. This is not an option for me since, as a full time University student that lives on a chess scholarship I have other responsibilities.
3. I exchanged some emails and talked on the phone with Canadian delegate Hal Bond, who was trying to convince me and the EC to do a video conference through skype. The EC accepted but stated that it would be "slightly prejudicial" to me.
I was also informed that I would have to answer questions from Zurab.
I refused participating in this circus for the following reasons:
1. "No witnesses". Actually, there were witnesses but they consisted of people working for FIDE and/or the organization of the tournament. When Zurab approached me there were a few arbiters standing nearby, I remember even one of them turning his head when the first thing that Zurab told me was that I will be "punished by FIDE". I believe this arbiter was Delega himself, who was the same arbiter that "told on me" to Zurab as can be confirmed in the following youtube link :
http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-kovalyov-report none of these witnesses working for FIDE and/or the organization of the tournament choose to back me up. Instead they choose to team up with Zurab, for whatever reason. The report focused on opinions regarding my shorts and a short statement by FIDE photographer Maria Emilianova reluctantly admitting what happened while trying to belittle the incident.
5. Points 2 and 3 have, for obvious reasons, made my despise for FIDE stronger than ever. And I can tell you one thing for sure, if I stand before their FIDE ethics commission I will not keep it civil, because this is simply too much.
I would like to thank the CFC and Mr. Bond for their willingness to help me. I am happy with how they reacted to this situation. This did actually made me proud of playing for Canada and I will keep doing so regardless if justice is served. But I should mention that I will not play a single FIDE event again.
So, to sum it up, I know that I'm not the brightest person, but I feel that I'm not stupid enough to testify against FIDE interests at a FIDE court.
Currently I'm quite busy with my studies, but me and my parents will still try to find other more reasonable recourse to have justice served. Hopefully we will find support from Canadian authorities.
How can he keep playing for Canada (i.e. representing Canada on the international scene)... but without playing a single FIDE event?
And the big R-word, in CAPSLOCK!! Look kid, most of us have been shouted at with words way more insulting than 'gypsy'. Grow a pair, this is not racism.
A rather insensitive post, Mathieu. Do you have any knowledge of the history of discrimantion of the Roma?
I absolutely agree. For Mr Cloutier's edification he might find the link below a good read. If Zurab woud have said you "look like a Jew" or "you look like a black" instead of "you look like a gypsy" no question that even Matthieu would have seen it as racism as he would been more familiar with the history behind such statements.
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