TOTAL has a partnership with FIDE...Alberta, time to knock on doors :)

[Erik Malmsten]

I guess because we chess players are all saints helping others and saving the world, we don't want to tarnish our reputation by getting money from profitable companies (whether casinos, cigarettes, alcohol, banks, mining, oil etc), corrupt dictatorships, or from our own governments. Make our masters earn their own money to pay for their monk lifestyle.

[Vlad Drkulec]

There's something some mayor said about tests of moral purity. He didn't really mean it. It was a scripted line. Some of the rubes fell for it. If Total wants to sponsor the women's world championship or any other chess event, I would say more power to them. Its not like murderous regimes haven't sponsored chess tournaments. I think the imaginary sins of Total and Tata pale before those of some sponsors.

[Bob Armstrong]

Complicitness is still complicitness........even if it is accepted by the majority.

Though the majority has the most votes, and can impose their morality, wrong is still wrong - the majority is often wrong........it is eventually discovered, and views change, and we evolutionarily move forward.

It would be forward moving to boycott ALL fossil fuel companies who extract, transport and sell...... in all ways practical - I need gas for my car - yup - can't boycott.

But I can divest those companies from my investments (which I am now doing, though the replacement stocks may yield me lower returns for the present).

Bob A

[Vlad Drkulec]

Complicitness is still complicitness........even if it is accepted by the majority.

Most don't buy into that interpretation of reality.

[Victor Plotkin]

Somebody has a problem with oil/gas/metallurgy companies. Yes, ecology is very important nowadays.

Somebody has a problem with Facebook and other IT companies. Yes, privacy is very important.

Somebody has a problem with Russian companies. Yes, every big company in Russia is somehow connected with the evil Putin regime.

Somebody has a problem with Chinese companies because of violation of human rights in China.

Somebody has a problem with Israeli companies .... for many different reasons.

At the end we will remain without any potential sponsor.

[Bob Armstrong]

Victor - your list of problems in the world is most accurate.......and for many reasons you don't even list...........and there are many more negative issues in current human life.

In 2020 - it can be seen as cause for despair OR a challenge with which the planetary population must deal.

No sponsor is better for chess than complicit sponsorship....... there are good companies in this world of ours.......it takes work to get to them and lobby them......unless CFC has volunteers to help in this, Bob G has no time for it - he maintains course........and it takes his work hours (This from a former 5-year voting member/governor). There were few CFC members willing to volunteer in my time (We had trouble finding governors); it would seem the status quo maintains.

The issue seems to be located in the membership, IMHO. This is why it is considered by some as NECESSARY to be complicit.

This is a different issue than whether sport should transcend politics - should Alireza be unable to continue to represent Iran in future.....maybe all the way, one day, to the Champion's Challenger?

Bob A

[Vlad Drkulec]

No sponsor is better for chess than complicit sponsorship.......

Complicit in what? Allowing humanity to survive? I do understand that most environmentalists are hypocrites and very rarely articulate their real agenda which is for everyone else to cut back and die off. Meanwhile Bernie and Al Gore and Trudeau will maintain their lifestyle of travelling with multiple private jets and/or maintaining multiple homes that have carbon footprints of an entire neighborhood.

In any case, with respect to sponsorship, we only have time for the low hanging fruit which is not the oil companies or any other companies but communities whose interest is in attracting chess organizers to locate tournaments in their communities.

[Neil Frarey]

First as someone who farms and needs oil and gas to make fertilizer and and fuel so we can grow food I get a little tired of people throwing the petroleum industry under the bus. Everyone wants fresh food and heat and no one wants oil companies. But that is not my point, I wanted to comment on the accidents. In these situations they go after the deepest pockets, whether this is fair or not that is how they enforce the rules. I don’t think you can assume that Total is responsible, only that they had the deepest pockets. I have worked on drilling rigs (never offshore though) and if we make a colossal mistake the oil company gets blamed regardless of whose fault it is. I certainly wouldn’t turn away their money or support for a chess event.

The disaster was not my point. Disasters happen everyday. The point is HOW that disaster was managed by Total's persistent denial ... of responsibility.

And yes, you can safely assume that they were responsible. They were found guilty of negligence. And, according to reports Total profits that year were somewhere around 12 Billion Euros...

https://www.reuters.com/article/envi...00375220080116

As a responsible corporate citizen, and knowing their negligence which led to the death of thousands and thousands of marine life ... and ... the impact of their negligence on those hard working men and women all along those 400+ kms of coastline ... you just might rightly assume that they would simply own up to being negligent. And then reach out to France and ask what could they do to help repair the damage caused ... right?

Right?

Instead, what did this slick corporate citizen do? They appealed the decision by the French court ...and in lost their appeal.

Chess doesn't need that kind of money.

[Graham Sorgard]

I am not really interested in debating on a chess forum whether or not a company should be liable for the contractors it hires. I will say when I hire a trucking company I don’t feel I should be liable their actions. For example in the Humboldt Broncos tragedy I have not heard it mentioned anywhere that the peat moss company is responsible. You think differently obviously. (Not about the Broncos, about companies being liable for their contractors.)

But I definitely think it wrong to take money away from chess players or events except in the most extreme situation. I would love to tell my daughter there is a prestigious large prize fund event she can aspire to. I especially hate to take opportunity away from a young player who hopes to be a professional. It’s easy to sit at home as a casual player and denounce sponsors of any kind we disagree with but it does actually hurt real players or organizers with real dreams and goals. I was quite involved with Judo in my younger days and trained at the club where the National Team coach of the 1980 team was the sensei. Fifteen years after the fact the boycott was still a sore spot. I suppose it was a principled stand but real athletes who trained there whole lives missed out on the chance of a lifetime because of this. I wouldn’t want to do that to a young talented chess player.

[Neil Frarey]

Rated chess, competitive chess, isn't about the money.

It's all about the winning.

Cruel and unyielding truth for the 'professional' chess player ... it's all about the winning.

Sorry, don't mean to bring you down.

***

I've been written up. I've been written up for many many years for my/our sponsorship and organization of championship chess for over 25+ years ... I only wish it was 'casual'.

Thanks, f''n Caïssa. You f'n bitch. F'k you.

Ha!

Most recent? It's now well over 6 AM here in the EST ... thinking about Banff Open 2020 ... add to that... our fresh new chessventure ... The Chess Pawn dot com ... trying to flesh that out.

Sh't don't stop, G. ... nope.

My point? Competitive chess ... rated chess ... is all about the winning ... not about the $$$.

Us here in Canada ... regards of the dollars ... we survive and thrive!

U2?


peace out.
n.



.

[Peter McKillop]

I am not really interested in debating on a chess forum whether or not a company should be liable for the contractors it hires. I will say when I hire a trucking company I don't feel I should be liable (for) their actions. ...

You certainly should be liable if the product is highly toxic with the potential to cause extensive damage to local/regional ecosystems and economies. I hope the above quote was just an ill-considered remark on your part and not truly reflective of how you look at your responsibilities to your fellow travellers on this planet.

... But I definitely think it wrong to take money away from chess players or events except in the most extreme situation. ...

Care to expand on "the most extreme situation?" How about an organization/country that discriminates against Israelis?

... I was quite involved with Judo in my younger days and trained at the club where the National Team coach of the 1980 team was the sensei. Fifteen years after the fact/ the boycott was still a sore spot. I suppose it was a principled stand but real athletes who trained there whole lives missed out on the chance of a lifetime because of this. I wouldn't want to do that to a young talented chess player.

The 1980 USA-led boycott of the Moscow olympics was a highly hypocritical move by the U.S. given what they did to Vietnam. It definitely was not a principled stand

[Vlad Drkulec]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJ3yeiNjf4

Carbon Dioxide as a driver of global warming is a delusion. So soon we forget the lessons of the Climategate revelations.

[Peter McKillop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJ3yeiNjf4

Carbon Dioxide as a driver of global warming is a delusion. So soon we forget the lessons of the Climategate revelations.

Don't tell us. Tell those idiots at NASA who still think CO2 is an important factor in climate change.

https://climate-nasa-gov.cdn.ampproj...a.gov%2Fcauses

[Peter McKillop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJ3yeiNjf4

Carbon Dioxide as a driver of global warming is a delusion. So soon we forget the lessons of the Climategate revelations.

And while you're clueing in NASA on the CO2 delusion, you also need to clue in these morons at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/why...n-other-gases#

Can you believe it?? A bunch of supposedly highly educated, supposedly highly intelligent people who support the CO2 delusion? Disgusting!!

You have a soap box, Vlad. You're president of a national organization. Write an op-ed or arrange a press conference. Put an end to the CO2 imbeciles!!

[Vlad Drkulec]

People get upset when you show their religious beliefs are nonsense. Gaians doubly so.