FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

[Vlad Drkulec]

Any thoughts on this?

[Gordon Ritchie]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

I would like to see the views of those, like you and Hal, who are following more closely the politics of FIDE. Obviously, it is an organization in deep trouble---not unlike most international sports organizations from the Olympics on down---and very resistant to reform. The great majority of the delegates are undoubtedly 'on the take' either directly or through their federation or through gross conflicts of interest. My initial instinct is simply to pull the plug but unfortunately that would penalize the up and coming Canadians aspiring to international tournaments and title. What about it, Hal and Vlad?

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Any thoughts on this?

The CFC could probably find widespread worldwide support for the First Quadrennial Canadian Chess Olympiad both within the worldwide chess community and at various levels of corporate and governmental sponsorship. Canada has a great reputation and the chess world sympathizes with Canada at this juncture. The world is sick of FIDE and would welcome a major non FIDE international gathering, where western sponsorship and a First World western venue would be a welcome change.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

I would like to see the views of those, like you and Hal, who are following more closely the politics of FIDE. Obviously, it is an organization in deep trouble---not unlike most international sports organizations from the Olympics on down---and very resistant to reform. The great majority of the delegates are undoubtedly 'on the take' either directly or through their federation or through gross conflicts of interest. My initial instinct is simply to pull the plug but unfortunately that would penalize the up and coming Canadians aspiring to international tournaments and title. What about it, Hal and Vlad?

My initial inclination is also not to attend especially if we were to be subjected to the spectacle of Zurab A. in shorts or jeans and a tee shirt lecturing us on proper attire. You are right that this would punish Canadians who might want to attend. Whether the FIDE ethics commission believes we have standing or not ZA's actions really negatively impacted the forward momentum that we were experiencing thanks to the last Olympiad and Anton's first two rounds at the World Cup. There are external situations which might require that we hold our noses and attend. At this point, I am angry and frustrated.

Hal may be travelling from Turkey and if he is still there his internet has been spotty so his input might have to wait.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

The CFC could probably find widespread worldwide support for the First Quadrennial Canadian Chess Olympiad both within the worldwide chess community and at various levels of corporate and governmental sponsorship. Canada has a great reputation and the chess world sympathizes with Canada at this juncture. The world is sick of FIDE and would welcome a major non FIDE international gathering, where western sponsorship and a First World western venue would be a welcome change.

Unfortunately it is not clear to me that we are getting much sympathy from the rest of the world though your idea is intriguing. Its probably the only way we can get an Olympiad like event in Canada.

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Unfortunately it is not clear to me that we are getting much sympathy from the rest of the world though your idea is intriguing. Its probably the only way we can get an Olympiad like event in Canada.

The ACP very sympathetic in addition to the USCF and that is just for starters. This would be the type of an event that Rex Sinquefeld et al would find interesting.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Before anything out of the ordinary is considered - we must ask the opinion of the (potential) players, since they are the primary parties involved. It would be embarrassing to be part of a boycott by very few teams.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Before anything out of the ordinary is considered - we must ask the opinion of the (potential) players, since they are the primary parties involved. It would be embarrassing to be part of a boycott by very few teams.

Quoted for truth.

A boycott would probably end up with only Canada not attending, which would be quite embarassing AND detrimental to the guys who actually want to play.

If GM Kovalyov doesn't want to play chess anymore, it's his problem.

[John Upper]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Any thoughts on this?

Unfortunately, I have a few...

My initial inclination is also not to attend... At this point, I am angry and frustrated.

Agreed, on both.

Before anything out of the ordinary is considered - we must ask the opinion of the (potential) players, since they are the primary parties involved.

I am curious about their opinions too.

AFAIK, none of them has publically stated what they think about the significance of Zurab's insults and threats to Anton.
So, remarkably, we have to ask for their opinions.
Maybe we should pose the question as a hypothetical: if an organizer badgered, insulted, and threatened you a few minutes before one of your games, would you play in one of his events in the future?

Is anyone else curious about what their answers will be to this question?

It would be embarrassing to be part of a boycott by very few teams.

Why would it be embarrassing?

As I see it, boycotting Zurab's events is like refusing to go to a big party hosted by a rich belligerent bully who has abused his power against one of your own. That's not something to be embarrassed about. We should be embarrassed if we attend while our best player --- silver medalist on board 2 at the 2016 Olympiad --- stays away from this rich but toxic organizer.

If GM Kovalyov doesn't want to play chess anymore, it's his problem.

This isn't just one of MC's usual snarky remarks, it's a gauntlet.

Mathieu clearly thinks that Zurab's reprehensible behaviour at the World Cup was somehow Anton's fault.

To believe that, you would have to ignore or disbelieve the following two facts:

1. Before Rd.3 at the World Cup, Anton had a reasonable expectation that shorts would be acceptable attire because:

• he had worn them in round 1.1 with no complaint from the Arbiters
• he had worn them in round 1.2 with no complaint from the Arbiters
• he had worn them in round 2.1 with no complaint from the Arbiters
• he had worn them in round 2.2 with no complaint from the Arbiters
• he had worn them at the previous World Cup with no complaint from the Arbiters.

2. Before Rd.3 at the World Cup, Anton had a reasonable expectation that he would not be harassed, insulted and threatened by the tournament organizer a few minutes before a game, because:

Anton has played chess all over the world for years and this has never happened before.

A polite request to anyone who disbelieves these two facts, or thinks they do not justify Anton's withdrawal from the 2017 World Cup or from future FIDE events: please start your own thread.

This would be the type of an event that Rex Sinquefeld et al would find interesting.

Indeed, Rex has been a very generous billionaire; and I think it is also clear he is looking for ways to undermine FIDE (e.g. the alternate rating system they're trying to popularize; holding a major tournament on dates which overlap FIDE's World Championship in NYC).

That said, now that his $$ has given the USA the strongest chess team in the world, do you think he'll spend a lot more to create an alternative to the FIDE Olympiad, or that he will allow a FIDE Olympiad or a FIDE World Championship to go by where his boys don't compete? Maybe in five or ten years?

At the risk of derailing the discussion by what might seem like a red herring, Rex did find a rationalization for voting for Trump, despite the many reasons Rex cited for thinking Trump would be a terrible President.

.................................................

FWIW, I suggest we treat Zurab's chess events, including the 2018 Olympiad, exactly as FIDE does:

a chess-themed festival where money trumps fair play.

We can do this and send a message to FIDE and the rest of the chess world that this is what we think of their Zurab events, by auctioning off seats on the 2018 Olympiad teams to the highest bidders.
The money could go to CFC junior programs, possibly named the "Anton Kovalyov Fund", if that's OK with Anton. Or the "Zurab the Magnificent Fund", if we can enjoy the irony.

I am by nature pessimistic, so I don't expect the CFC to do anything so radical.

But I am optimistic enough to hope that someone will offer a good reason why we shouldn't do this.

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Probably, some chesstalkers will like the idea to send intentionally low-rated team to 2018-Olympiad in Georgia. In my opinion, it's even worse than a simple boycott.

In the modern sport history (since 1896 - the first modern Olympiad) we can find a few relatively successfull boycotts. The most famous - Olympiad 1980 (Moscow) and Olympiad 1984 (Los-Angeles). I called these boycotts "successfull" because they both significantly reduced the value of these sport events. In chess history there is Olympiad-1976 in Haifa, boycotted by communist and arab countries.

While I understand the reasons for each boycott, I beleive it was a huge mistake to do it. Even in 1980, I beleive that J.Carter made a mistake to initiate a boycott of Moscow Olympiad. In my opinion, the only major sport event that must be boycotted was Olympiad-1936 in Berlin. The funny thing is that nobody did it.

Recently, some strong players did not participate in the FIDE World Championship in Tripoli (2004) and in the Women Championship in Tehran (2017). Armenian team didn't play in Baku-2016. All these boycotts had very limited influence and did not significantly reduced the sport value of the events.

Most boycotts had a clear political reason. I don't know any boycott because somebody disliked the organizer.

As a country, Georgia has a good reputation. The only bad relationship is probably with Russia, but it's very unlikely that Russia will boycott the Olympiad.

Conclusion: if Canada boycotts the next Olympiad (or sends intentianally low-rated team), we will be alone. Will USCF like us? Maybe, but I don't care about it. Will ACP like it? Of cource, not. Will Kasparov support us? Unlikely, and again I don't care much about it.

I like the idea to ask our top players about the boycott. I hope, I have a good chance to correctly predict their answer.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Most of Africa boycotted the Montreaal Olympics in 1976 to protest the fact that New Zealand went to South Africa to play rugby...and NZ was in the Olympics. I was lucky enough to speak to a couple of the African athletes and they wanted to compete! It was their countries who said no.

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Most of Africa boycotted the Montreaal Olympics in 1976 to protest the fact that New Zealand went to South Africa to play rugby...and NZ was in the Olympics. I was lucky enough to speak to a couple of the African athletes and they wanted to compete! It was their countries who said no.

Thank you Hugh. Another example of "unsuccessful" boycott and a clear political reason for it.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Nobody will give a damn about Canada missing Olympiad. Better send teams with red socks, white shorts, and red t-shirts. Players will need to sign a contract that is an official costume for all rounds :)

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

Most of Africa boycotted the Montreaal Olympics in 1976 to protest the fact that New Zealand went to South Africa to play rugby...and NZ was in the Olympics. I was lucky enough to speak to a couple of the African athletes and they wanted to compete! It was their countries who said no.

What a famous year - 1976 - had two chess Olympiads.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: FIDE and the CFC and the upcoming Olympiad

The "Against Chess Olympiad" of 1976...

From http://www.olimpbase.org/1976x/1976in.html :

"Politics rears its ugly head only too often in international competition and chess has never been exempt. In 1976 the Soviet Government would not allow its country's chess teams to play in Israel and this boycott naturally extended to all the satellite countries. Worse still than the actual boycott was the attempt by Libya to organize a rival event, dubbed the "Against Israel Olympiad" in most of the pre-tournament publicity but called the "Against Chess Olympiad" on the emblem which appears in the programme of the Libyan tournament. None of the world's strong chess countries sent a team to Tripoli.

The Arabs-proper attended a "counter Olympiad" held at exactly the same time as the official FIDE Olympiad in Haifa. But the Arabs were certainly not missed as far as chess ability is concerned! The Tripoli "Olympiad" attracted 38 teams (no communists though, but there were gossips USSR might take part) including some FIDE members, like Portugal, Italy (who were in fact represented by the Palermo Chess Club), Malta, Turkey or the Philippines. The Philippines, Italy and Uruguay were the only nations to have appeared both in Haifa and Tripoli. The Uruguayan team was made up of political dissidents, who happened to be competent chess players, and were escaping from the military dictatorship in their home country. Their first board, Lincoln Maiztegui Casas became one of Uruguay's leading journalists many years later. In order to attract as many nations and players as possible to Libya Colonel Gathafi offered full fares and accommodation to all the teams and captains. Each team had its own car and driver and each team member received $8 a day. It is understandable then that certain smaller developing countries sent their people to Tripoli, but looking at the list of competing players the standard of games was obviously very low (no GMs and just a few IMs). FIDE authorities decided to appoint a commission to investigate the event, with special attention to the future FIDE status of the entries there.

El Salvador were definitely not among the favourites and they were quite surprised to find themselves at the top of the table. The Salvadori led by 17-year-old Boris Pineda took early lead after 4-0 vs Dutch Antilles and 3½-½ vs Morocco and hold the gold medal positions until the end despite of two 1½-2½ defeats. Tunisia with IM Bouaziz at top board easily took second place, perhaps a little bit disappointing for them yet they beat the champions in a direct clash. Pakistan lead by IM Farooqi fought hard to take the bronze. The host nation were awfully disappointed to lie down in 24th place. Uruguay might have done much better hadn't they only lost three matches (12 games) by default due to being late"