CFC presidential campaign

[Pargat Perrer]

I don't agree with the idea that the CFC and the president/board don't make life changing decisions unless you subscribe to the idea that chess is a totally superfluous activity. Obviously we wouldn't put so much time and effort into it if we believed that. One story that I tell when people ask me about the benefits of chess is the example of the under 14 girls from the CYCC in 2013 in Ottawa. The girl that finished first became a world champion within a little over a year later. She also went on to become a women's grandmaster, a writer and a student at the one of the top universities in Canada the University of Toronto who does commentary online and authored two DVDs for Chessbase. She was Ottawa's own Qiyu Zhu.

Qiyu would not have been able to go to the world youth chess championship in South Africa had we not made an exception to send her. ………………..

So you are taking personal credit for the success outside of chess that this girl has had? Are you saying she could not have had that success without your personal actions? She would not have had that success if she hadn't been able to go to the tournament you mention?

Looks like no one needs to massage YOUR ego.

[Tony Li]

I have been a good ambassador and salesman for chess in Canada. I am a very capable organizer and also a good team player when I am not in a leadership role on some project. I have a proven record of getting things done. I am not afraid of rolling up my sleeves and doing the work required when faced with overwhelming tasks. Begin the journey with a single step and break down the task into the steps that need to be taken to accomplish what you need to accomplish.

Thanks for your hard work and good luck with your campaign.

What are your thoughts on the CFC rating system, and the effect of underrated players when OTB reopens in 2021?

[Vlad Drkulec]

For those with reading comprehension issues the point of the story is that children who play chess learn to solve problems and master skills. They become the heroes and heroines of their own hero's journey. They start on that road to mastery and achieve successes and gain new powers which they can take with them when they return back to the ordinary world. Once you take that road and commit to being better tomorrow than you are today you can apply it to every area of your life with some discipline.The role of the CFC, the executive, chess coaches, organizers, club executives is to act as guides to facilitate that hero's journey. The hero or heroine is the author of their own destiny. We merely provide assistance on the way and usually are killed off in the second act of the movie but the magic talisman or the nuggets of wisdom that we provided sometimes speed the hero or heroine on their journey.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Thanks for your hard work and good luck with your campaign.

What are your thoughts on the CFC rating system, and the effect of underrated players when OTB reopens in 2021?

Thank you. I think the current system does work for people both adults and children who are rapidly improving. If you play a lot you can gain hundreds of points over the course of a year.

I like the floors that they have in the USCF. I have never hit my floor there but I do vary widely in my tournament performance depending on the time control and whether I can have access to healthy food during the tournament. I have dropped down into the A range in Canada several times but I usually manage to raise my rating back up again at least into the expert range. I don't mind donating rating points to rising juniors as I usually get them back later.

In my last online event I blundered in the two games I lost, my opponent blundered in one of the games I won and I won a struggle in the second game I won. My chess.com rating suffered more than my CFC quick rating because one of the kids was 2200 CFC but had an online rating of 1500 and a CFC quick rating of 2100.

Rating is not that important to me aside from those times when I would like to qualify for a tournament like the Canadian Closed or a higher section in the Canadian Open. I was actually happy a few years ago at a Canadian Open in Quebec when some of the other participants objected to me being in a lower section with my former high rating of 2200 or so. They bumped me up to a higher section for free and I gained rating points without trying.

Underrated players definitely cost players rating points but it is a temporary loss. You gain them back the next time you play. The best way to gain lots of rating points is to play lots of games.

[Brad Thomson]

Turning your crank was never high on my many "to do" lists.

This may be the funniest single line I have ever read on Chesstalk. Bravo!!

[Vlad Drkulec]

This may be the funniest single line I have ever read on Chesstalk. Bravo!!

Some people just tee up the obvious shot and its hard to resist taking it. There is no shortage of comedy in the life of a chess organizer.

Mr. Brown is just Mr. Brown. His views are earnestly held. Perrer or Bonham whatever his screen name, is sadly just a troll. Someday he will understand the futility of his path. Hopefully, he will have time to make corrections.

[Erik Malmsten]

While some of Vlad's political/religious/conspiracy opinions make me puke, I have to respect the hours of work he has put into his Presidency. He has a great background as a master player and chess teacher. A previous President was a master and relatively wealthy but didn't have the time. It is a difficult job having to listen with all the governors, most of whom don't put in Vlad's hours of work. There has been treaties with FQE and Chess 'n Math. And Vlad has made a break through of networking with non-chess organizations - bravo!

Putin has been in office too long. Democrazy requires a change of government every 8 years. But can the CFC afford to lose such a skilled worker?

Regular visioning is useful. What do we want the CFC to be?
What kind of manger do we want? One who is great at maintaining what we have, or is focussed on growing?
What is the CFC's role beyond providing players to FIDE Championships? How is the CFC helping young players earn FIDE titles? What can the CFC offer titled players to remain active in chess?

Chess organizing is provided by local volunteers. How is the CFC helping them to be better organizers? Helping them to get repeat customers (entrants)?
Chess in schools is a booming endeavour. How is the CFC helping chess teachers get more work, and getting chess teachers and sets to all schools (English and French) across Canada? How is the CFC helping strong juniors to become chess teachers? What training or certification of teachers?

How does the CFC show appreciation of the 2,000 tournament players/paid members? How does the CFC add to their enjoyment of chess?
There are a million online chess players in Canada. What can the CFC offer them?
There are parents looking for organized activities for their kids, do they know about chess and the CFC?
There are seniors who used to play chess in the Fischer era. What can the CFC offer them (e.g. students visiting senior homes to play chess)?
There are new immigrants/refugees who play chess (some with FIDE ratings) but poorly speak English. What can the CFC offer them?
There are a million players across the border in the US? How can we attract them to events in Canada?

[Vlad Drkulec]

Very good post Erik. There is a lot to respond to there and I will probably do it over several posts.

One of the things that I am proudest of is how many of my former students become chess teachers taking on students of their own or even teaching group chess classes. When there were libraries open I used to run into them as they had lessons at the same time that I did. I often shared my beginner material with them and discussed what they should cover in their first few lessons with a new student. I won't embarrass them by naming them but one of my best students was charging $5 per hour to teach those who were not family friends and $0 for those who were. At those rates I was tempted to sign up myself.

With respect to growth, I think we were on a good trajectory before Covid hit. We were at that sweet spot where all of the revenues flowed down to the bottom line and we finally felt comfortable earmarking some money to projects that would not have been possible even a year or two ago. GoMembership was one such initiative to make it easier to manage your own membership and even includes a payment system that provincial associations, clubs and organizers can access.

The other was the Juniors to Masters pilot project where we tried to get some high level instruction for some of Canada's top juniors making ready for the WYCC. This project involved Victoria Doknjas and GM Gergely Szabo who was Razvan Preotu's coach and coaches many of Canada's top juniors along with some of Windsor's top kids as well.Those efforts immediately paid some dividends as attested to in videos and talks given by players like Maili-Jade Ouellet and Svitlana Demchenko. The next project was to be something aimed at the rank and file members but then the bottom fell out. This education role for the CFC was something that was very important in our Strategic Plan so I was happy that we were able to start taking some halting steps in that direction.

Over the years lots of home run type projects were brought to my attention but we had to sadly set them aside because we didn't have the horses (volunteers) to bring them to fruition. Everyone wanted online chess but no one would volunteer to be an admin when we made a deal with FIDE Arena. The deal persisted and the benefits were such that one former Canadian who lived in the U.S. changed his FIDE flag to take advantage of the benefits for a Canadian versus a U.S. member.

One of the most exciting was a higher level of class. Sort of a CMA class but aimed at turning kids into masters. The CFC would hire lots of master and titled players and earn a royalty that was unrealistically high but there was a considerable amount of work that would have to be done through the CFC office. That was before Bob Gillanders and the office was a problem with basic things like billings not getting done. Even today there are problems with getting financials done on a timely basis but I don't blame Bob. He is doing what he can with the resources that he has. We couldn't do it back then without the system collapsing. That program did live on in a different form and became a very strong chess program in the Toronto area which employed some good teachers and continued to run tournaments as recently as March.

To get faster growth you need more infrastructure and volunteers. We have been getting more volunteers but it is still slow going.

[Aris Marghetis]

Interestingly, I have already received interested emails from two European countries about our election!

[Vlad Drkulec]

Interestingly, I have already received interested emails from two European countries about our election!

What is their take on the situation?

[Aris Marghetis]

What is their take on the situation?

They say things like "it looks like fun"

[Vlad Drkulec]

They say things like "it looks like fun"

They have a strange definition of fun.

[Sam Sharpe]

It's healthier for the organization than apathy, for sure.

[Neil Frarey]

What is "French Canadian chess"? Have we ever celebrated English Canadian chess?

You're kidding me, right? You're not aware of Quebec's amazing contribution to Chess in Canada?

WOW!

Where you living at, Hugh? Toronto?

At best ...Drkulec is an ignorant CFC custodian.

I'd say he is 'dutiful', but that would be an egregious exaggeration.


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