More on Kovalyov...

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Turkey for Thanksgiving

Even if they are technicalities, in a reasonable court the judge would grant a delay in the hearing to give the defendant time to obtain such a signed document. Even 72 hours would have been more than enough time.

I don't think either Hal or I took the October 2nd deadline or the demand to fly Anton to Turkey seriously as it was simply impossible even before this most recent issue of Turkish visas when travelling from the U.S. If the permission slip was the key issue then it would have been done. It was not the key issue. At this point it is just an excuse they are using to kick the can down the road. Presumably we could get that permission signed and reactivate our request but they would then shut it down because Anton (understandably) does not trust the process and doesn't want to participate. Hal will exhaust all the possibilities in Turkey and at that point we will have some decisions to make if we are not happy with the result of those efforts.

[Garland Best]

Re: Turkey for Thanksgiving

Even if they are technicalities, in a reasonable court the judge would grant a delay in the hearing to give the defendant time to obtain such a signed document. Even 72 hours would have been more than enough time.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Turkey for Thanksgiving

Link to Anton's Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/anton.koval...10351083998619

Some interesting points in there - including Anton's assertion that he DID give permission to the CFC to represent his interests and received no paperwork about it.

The paperwork never got done because of the ethics committee requests which I believed asked for some kind of notarized permission coupled with a somewhat ridiculous timeline. We received their request on Thursday September 28th and we were being asked to organize everything for Monday October 2nd. I think we were focused on getting them to accept a Skype interview rather than having Anton fly to Turkey. Hal was busy with last minute details before flying to Turkey himself. I was away that weekend playing in a tournament and the email arrived during a self imposed disconnection from internet distractions aside from scheduled lessons and also a decision to get eight hours sleep in each of the days leading up to the tournament. I will probably do the same thing for future tournaments as my play was much better than my usual recent play.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Turkey for Thanksgiving

Link to Anton's Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/anton.koval...10351083998619

Some interesting points in there - including Anton's assertion that he DID give permission to the CFC to represent his interests and received no paperwork about it.

(I decided not to paste the text of his post here since I do not have permission to do so and anyone who is interested can look at it on FB;
I am not a big fan of FB but there it is and I hope it does not require a FB login to read the post.)

There's a copy/paste of the post on the previous page.

It's only a technicality, but the EC requires that a person defends himself during the hearing. So even with an agreement with the CFC, the defense was invalid right from the start. Again, this is just a bunch stupid technicalities, but the FIDE could simply point to its handbook and dismiss the CFC.

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Turkey for Thanksgiving

Link to Anton's Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/anton.koval...10351083998619

Some interesting points in there - including Anton's assertion that he DID give permission to the CFC to represent his interests and received no paperwork about it.

(I decided not to paste the text of his post here since I do not have permission to do so and anyone who is interested can look at it on FB;
I am not a big fan of FB but there it is and I hope it does not require a FB login to read the post.)

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Turkey for Thanksgiving

I do believe that the Ethics Commission is independent and they were eager to deal with this matter promptly and fairly.

PLEASE STOP INSULTING THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE READERS HERE ON CHESS TALK!




Here is a quote from Kevin Spraggett's blog...
" 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.” – Anton Kovalyov

From Anton’s FACEBOOK earlier today, breaking his silence and accurately framing the Fide Ethics Committee’s continuously incestuous behaviour in the most easily understood context.

When was the last time a FIDE arbiter, operating on behalf of FIDE, was duly punished by FIDE for his abuses? Or a FIDE organizer? Or a FIDE delegate? I don’t remember, but maybe that is because the answer is ‘Never.‘…"




Here is another quote from Spraggett's blog that nicely sums up the Ethics comittee's actions
"In a decision that most spectators would conclude anti-climatic and bizarre at the very least, the FIDE Ethics Committee (EC) today has washed its hands of the matter and has refused to proceed independently of Anton Kovalyov and punish Azmaiparashvili for his behaviour in Tbilisi last month. Anton’s FaceBook statements were deemed ‘hearsay’. Further, the EC insisted upon a ‘truthful’ statement from Anton. And in person.

Anton has refused to play any political game with Azmai’s FIDE cronies, and has told the CFC that he does not believe that the EC is capable of acting in good faith. He will not appear before the EC. Nor will he be seeking to recover his prize money.

The EC also refused to acknowlege any legitimate role for the Canadian Chess Federation (CFC) in either representing Kovalyov or in representing its own self interests. This inspite of the EC regulations explicitly allowing for such action from interested national federations.

This reader is additionally perplexed by the EC’s attitude, especially since video is available where Azmaiparashvili admits to using abusive and derogatory language. Any court of law in the world would consider this as damning enough evidence in and of itself.

Infact, Anton’s original statement on FaceBook is fully verified by Azmaiparashvili’s video cameo appearances on ChessBaseIndia. The EC, insisting upon additional ‘proof’ and/or alluding to some formal privilege to ask direct, in-person questions to Anton, (who would have to pay thousands of dollars to meet this request) does itself a great dis-service and has forfeited its credibility and objectivity in eyes of many."


This is the same committee that banned Garry Kasparov on allegations of corruption(his "crime" was a public and fully disclosed agreement for the Kasparov Chess Foundation to donate $500,000 for chess in Asia) whilst turning a blind eye to Kirsan's corruption that enjoys no limits.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

In the wonderful world of the Big Picture, Azmaiparashvili has done far more damage to the public image of chess than Anton Kovalyov could ever manage with his Bermuda shorts. Really... how silly was it to see a man dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt trying to take the moral high ground on the so-called "dress code?" And wasn't there video of ZA wearing shorts... at the same Tbilisi World Cup? Shameful hypocrisy. As Huckleberry Finn famously said about the Widow Douglas, "But that was different, because she done it herself."

I don't think anyone is denying that.

Those who think I favor Zurab A. and the FIDE ethics committee in this story simply lack basic reading skills.

[Dan Scoones]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

In the wonderful world of the Big Picture, Azmaiparashvili has done far more damage to the public image of chess than Anton Kovalyov could ever manage with his Bermuda shorts. Really... how silly was it to see a man dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt trying to take the moral high ground on the so-called "dress code?" And wasn't there video of ZA wearing shorts... at the same Tbilisi World Cup? Shameful hypocrisy. As Huckleberry Finn famously said about the Widow Douglas, "But that was different, because she done it herself."

[Paul Bonham]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

Coming from a European background it is clear to me that in referring to someone several times with this ethnic slur that at the very least the intent was to insult and disturb Anton. You do this to a Croatian and you are inviting a fist fight. I suspect that this interpretation is not unique to Croatia. Zurab did not use the english word "gypsy", he used the word "cigan" pronounced "tseegun."

This from an admitted sociopath who has used choice words to describe atheists and leftists.... to the point where he should be charged under Canadian hate crime laws. And again, what is happening in Canadian chess circles, from the Noritsyn affair to now this Kovalyov incident, is karma for the fact that CFC voting members such as the joint winners of the CFC "Mr. Congeniality" award, Garland Best and Bob Gillanders, oth allow the CFC to have as its President such a purveyor of hatred as Drkulec. Garland spews soothing Vapo-Rub about how Drkulec and the CFC have done all they can on behalf of Kovalyov (nevermind that Drkulec and the CFC enacted the identical injustice on Noritsyn that FIDE just enacted on Kovalyov). Gillanders writes in support of political revolution from the likes of Bernie Sanders in the U.S., while also tacitly approving Drkulec as CFC President, because after all, it's the CFC that pays Gillanders a salary. Neither of these gentlemen are part of the solution, they are part of the problem, which I'm really sorry to have to say in both cases.

Silence and inaction signal approval and / or apathy.

Kovalyov is living off a chess scholarship at a U.S. college.... and in view of the fact that Kovalyov intends to boycott all FIDE chess events going forward, I am curious whether this affects his scholarship, i.e. do these inter-collegiate matches played in the U.S. have any FIDE connection? Are they FIDE rated?

As to Kovalyov or anyone else using name-calling as justification for dropping out of a prestigious, potentially life-altering event and further dropping out of all FIDE chess, I should remind everyone that in most nations of the world, doing something unlawful against an individual (such as violence, property damage, murder) is NOT JUSTIFIABLE on the basis of being called names. Neither will leniency be granted on those grounds.

The message there is that name-calling is something we all have to learn to live with, no matter how cruel it may be. That doesn't mean that such name-calling is "ok", and in fact should be acted against by LEGAL MEANS only. If Croatians fist-fight over name-calling, it only says how unstable and unhealthily sensitive Croatians are, which might explain a lot about Vlad Drkulec. In the case of Drkulec and the hatred he has posted right here on ChessTalk, there ARE legal means because of Canada's hate crime laws, but it takes someone with a sense of integrity to put those legal means into motion. The CFC lacks such people.

And so for Kovalyov, I would have to think there are 2 possibilities here:

(1) there is some aspect of immaturity there that needs to be addressed, and because he acted against his own best career interests on the basis of name-calling, I suspect that the immaturity POSSIBLY goes deeper perhaps into the realm of real psychological problems. If it is this case, then perhaps it is for the best.... chess doesn't need another Bobby Fischer complete with his sociopathic behavior.

(2) it's also possible that this incident was just a case of "the straw that broke the camel's back". In other words, Kovalyov could have already been fed up with FIDE for other reasons and was primed and ready to walk out of FIDE chess. In that case, he wouldn't have psychological problems at all and in fact from that viewpoint, I would applaud his decision (because I think all chess players should abandon FIDE).

Only Kovalyov himself knows the real story here.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

And, to be fair with Anton and all his fans... chessbase.com is really onto his case:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/haute-c...he-chess-world

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

I'm confused.

That's because you can only think in binary mode... ;)

Black/White, Good/Bad, Enemy/Ally etc...

Most of the time, reality is more subtle. And yes, in some conflictual situations, both parties might have to share part of the blame. Even Anton seems to be aware of that, reading from his statements.

[Neil Frarey]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

Commendation to Anton, Hal and the CFC how they have handled this and four pinnochios for the inbred crowd at FIDE.

Anton ... 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 as a bad joke.

I'm confused.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porajmos

Coming from a European background it is clear to me that in referring to someone several times with this ethnic slur that at the very least the intent was to insult and disturb Anton. You do this to a Croatian and you are inviting a fist fight. I suspect that this interpretation is not unique to Croatia. Zurab did not use the english word "gypsy", he used the word "cigan" pronounced "tseegun."

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

https://www.chess.com/news/view/kova...ics-commission

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: More on Kovalyov...

Mathieu & Zurab ...hand-in-hand.

Go back and read my comments about Zurab.

Zurab and Anton are two different people. One does not define the other. But yeah, if someone criticize Anton, surely he must be friend with Zurab. Binary thinking at its best. You must be friend with GW Bush, right?