FIDE urges the Canadian gov to speed up

[Vlad Drkulec]

I will be doing an interview with the CBC today. Five days until the drop dead date.This situation can only be salvaged by an act of will by the government. In the neighbourhood of sixty emails yesterday and seventeen today.Countless text messages and WhatsApp messages and phone calls. People on social media are looking to assign blame. There might be time for that much later but my view is that everyone is doing their best. We don't need to accept the idea that this needs to fail because you didn't do something you should have seen on some government website six months ago. The world does not move in six month cycles and we don't have time to scour obscure web pages.

Are we or are we not a destination for major events? A Canadian, Isai Scheinberg, is footing the bill for this. The only question is whether we will see this event take place in Toronto or Spain.

There is no point in holding back. There is no next week here.

[Ian Findlay]

Vlad,

Glad you are on top of this!

It has been a decades old problem...

Larry

I agree, but it seems like the problem is getting worse, especially with Canada's relationship with India. I posted the story on my FB page. I think we all need to try to apply pressure to the government. I think it is an outrage. Keep up the good work Vlad and Patricia!!

[Salim Belcadi]

Toronto Star followed up on the story: Russian, Indian players awaiting visas for chess tournament (thestar.com)

[Neil Frarey]

Hi Neil, I'm not working with the CFC or Immigration Canada. I'm just a patzer rated barely above 1000 after the latest tournament. :-D I know somebody working for the government whom I asked last night about this and they gave me some comments. I'm learning that Vlad pulled all the strings available to him and hoping for the best. I agree that this is not the time to point fingers. We can do a "root cause analysis" when this is done and over. I wish Vlad and the team all the best in this.

I aspire to be rated above 1000 these days, ha!

Thanks for posting your concerns!!

Vlady's got this!!


.

[Bob Armstrong]

I am much more inclined, at this early stage, to wonder about government efficiency, than CFC efficiency.

Good luck to Vlad and the CFC governing team........

A very old, and from a long time ago, Chinese philosopher once said (We'll ignore the scientific vulnerability for the moment): "The sun always rises!"

Let's keep hoping to generate that rabbit!

Bob A

[Larry Bevand]

Vlad,

Glad you are on top of this!

It has been a decades old problem...

Larry

[Vlad Drkulec]

Now someone will need to pull a rabit from the hat.

We are working on it.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

From this experience FIDE can strike out that chess teaches planning.

Now someone will need to pull a rabit from the hat.

[Steffen Roller]

Hi Steff, why didn't you folks know about this complication from the get go???

Did not the Chess Federation of Canada make this visa complication clear to you from the start of your efforts???

Hi Neil, I'm not working with the CFC or Immigration Canada. I'm just a patzer rated barely above 1000 after the latest tournament. :-D I know somebody working for the government whom I asked last night about this and they gave me some comments. I'm learning that Vlad pulled all the strings available to him and hoping for the best. I agree that this is not the time to point fingers. We can do a "root cause analysis" when this is done and over. I wish Vlad and the team all the best in this.

[Salim Belcadi]

CP24: If not resolved, visa issues could cause prestigious chess tournament in Toronto to be moved to Spain | CP24.com

[Erik Malmsten]

Thank you Vlad for all your hard work. I'm glad that you have been working with Gary Gladstone.

[Vlad Drkulec]

One key point to note is that not one person has been refused entry. Two visas for individuals from India have reached the next stage. There is hope still.

To work now. We need to launch all our forces as there really is no next week. The Candidates tournament in Toronto lives or dies by the actions or inactions of the next six days.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Hi John (and Neil). It's not clear at this point (to me at least) who is responsible for what. The CFC is the host federation (or whatever terminology they're using) but that doesn't mean necessarily that the CFC has been directly involved in the myriad of details involved in setting up an event like this. There are also organizers &/or sponsors involved, FIDE reps like arbiters, and of course FIDE itself, etc. Don't be too quick to point a finger at the CFC. AND - just my personal viewpoint - based on Vlad's track record, if he had been directly involved in the decision making for this event then everything would be running smoothly.

Thank you Peter for that vote of confidence. I did bring up the visa issue early on. The CFC is not the principal in all this. We are just doing our best to support this event. I have probably written sixty letters plus or minus a few to the visa authorities on behalf of the players, trainers, relatives of the players, FIDE officials and anyone else that FIDE has put in front of me. Gary Gladstone has been extremely helpful in getting this in front of his contacts in the government and in Parliament.

Patricia Gamliel despite being extremely busy has been helping us navigate this unfortunate situation. Getting a capable person like her on our board of directors is probably one of the smartest things that I and the voting members of the CFC have done in my time as president of the CFC.

I had an interview with Bell Media last night around 11 pm. I had an additional followup from the Toronto Star.on the article that Salim linked to earlier in the thread. The goal is to make this something that the government sees as important, something it can solve and something that they want to solve.

I am not interested in pointing fingers and saying what could have been handled better. Between now and Friday, I am interested in solving these problems which will only happen if there is the political will in our government to solve these problems. I don't have time to argue with uninformed people who will tell me that I should have done this or that. I already did this or that or suggested to the people in charge what the issues would be and here we are, those are the issues. We recognize the historical significance of this tournament and the tragedy for Canadian Chess and Canada if this has to be moved to Spain.

Further, FIDE did not threaten us. They told us clearly what the situation is. Their first responsibility is to see that the Candidates tournament takes place. They can't do it in Canada with the real threat that only a few of the players will be allowed into Canada to play. There is no Candidates tournament without the candidates (players). I have nothing but respect for everyone at FIDE that I have been dealing with on this issue. They don't want to have to organize in three weeks on another continent what we haven't been able to accomplish here.

Everyone can call me all kinds of names after Friday. I probably won't notice. If you are not part of the solution to these vexing situations, I really don't have time for you. On the current situation my conscience is totally clear as I have at every step done everything in my power to help this tournament take place in Toronto. I am not in charge. I am a resourceful person. We will see if that can have an impact on this situation.

[Erik Malmsten]

Peter,

Perhaps it was FIDE's responsibility to hire Canadian immigration lawyers to make the applications. Vlad stated that fide threatened the local committee with cancellation if all the visas don't get through and mentioned that the local committee started late, 5 months before the event.

I do know that the local committee is involved in organized side events during the tournament and is recruiting volunteers. I don't know the role of the poker sponsor, or the Chessbrahs who recently had a successful event with chess.com. The problem does make the Canadian bureaucracy and the CFC look bad, while we approve a world soccer event.

[Peter McKillop]

.... The CFC should have used their relationship with Sports Canada to hire a professional company with experience in international competitions, the fees of $100,000 to be paid by the poker sponsor. ......

So, Erik, are you saying that you KNOW FOR A FACT that the CFC is (supposed to be) playing a MAJOR role in the key organizational decisions with respect to this tournament?? That would surprise me greatly. If this tournament was being held in a country with a huge chess presence and decades of experience in organizing important international events then, yes, I could see the host federation having a significant role. But for a small, basically insignificant federation like Canada's, I would have expected the primary functions would be a brief welcome speech at the opening banquet and a brief farewell speech at the closing banquet. Why would FIDE leave major organizational details for one of their fixture events in the hands of a small, inexperienced federation?