Staunton Memorial Dinner

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
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Paul Littlewood
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Paul Littlewood » Tue Sep 14, 2010 6:30 pm

Brilliant !

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:04 am

I agree with Sean, Mike and Paul - fantastic!
"Kevin was the arbiter and was very patient. " Nick Grey

Matthew Turner
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Matthew Turner » Wed Sep 15, 2010 11:15 am

It seems to me that the big winner to come out of the Dinner was the British Championship. £7000 will go a long way to getting the top players to participate and it seems that there was a great opportunity to 'network' so there is a reasonable prospect of further sponsors coming forward. As previous posters have said we all need to be extremely grateful to CJ for this. Setting something like this up from scratch must be a knightmare - I'm sure it will be easier next year :D
I am a little surprised that the Dinner didn't raise more for Karpov. The Chessbase report talks about 100 millionaires and 3 billionaires being present (anyone knows who these were?) and £30,000 being raised. Given the scale and scope of Karpov's campaign I imagine £4216.07 is not going to go too far (think of the legal fees).

cjdemooi
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by cjdemooi » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:07 pm

Well, there were a lot of deductions (inc. hotels and travel for some players and delegates) so this was eaten into quickly! I naturally prefer not to comment on the individual wealth of certain guests.

Angus French
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Angus French » Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:10 pm

Matthew Turner wrote:It seems to me that the big winner to come out of the Dinner was the British Championship. £7000 will go a long way to getting the top players to participate and it seems that there was a great opportunity to 'network' so there is a reasonable prospect of further sponsors coming forward. As previous posters have said we all need to be extremely grateful to CJ for this. Setting something like this up from scratch must be a knightmare - I'm sure it will be easier next year :D
I am a little surprised that the Dinner didn't raise more for Karpov. The Chessbase report talks about 100 millionaires and 3 billionaires being present (anyone knows who these were?) and £30,000 being raised. Given the scale and scope of Karpov's campaign I imagine £4216.07 is not going to go too far (think of the legal fees).
Several points:
1. I commend CJ for his unstinting promotion of English chess.
2. I don't get the need for Raymond Keene's involvement.
3. I don't think £7,000 for the British Championship will go far. (Maybe I recall incorrectly, but hasn't the first prize for 2011 been increased from £5,000 to £10,000 - if this is correct, how much will be left to contribute towards players' expenses; and, what about subsequent championships?)
4. "the guest list included over 100 millionaires and 3 billionaires". What a ridiculous statement. Millionaires of what and who counted and why is it relevant?

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:24 am

Angus French wrote:Several points:
1. I commend CJ for his unstinting promotion of English chess.
Agreed. Organising something like this is hard work and it sounds like it went very well.
Angus French wrote:4. "the guest list included over 100 millionaires and 3 billionaires". What a ridiculous statement. Millionaires of what and who counted and why is it relevant?
I agree it is a bit silly. It is a very nice soundbite, but then the obvious question is "who were the billionaires?" (Millionaires are two a penny these days!). Rather than soundbites like this, it would be quite nice to have a fuller report on who was there and what their connection with chess is (e.g. chess collector is one group I saw mentioned). The reports I've seen so far mention some names, but I'm sure more names could be added.

The names I've seen so far (I'm not including reporters such as John Saunders and Steve Giddins):

Anatoly Karpov (former world chess champion)
Garry Kasparov (former world chess champion)
Nigel Short (leading British GM)
Luke McShane (leading British GM)
CJ de Mooi (event organiser and ECF President)
Carol Vorderman (presented C4 coverage of 1993 WCC)
Sir Tim Rice (composer of CHESS the musical)
Barry Martin (artist, including chess art)
Jon Crumiller (chess collector)
Rajko Vujatovic (chess-boxing promoter)
Jon Speelman (British GM)
Terry Chapman (various previous roles and sponsorship, e.g. Grand Prix sponsorship)
Mickey Adams (leading British GM)
Allan Beardsworth (various previous roles and sponsorship, e.g. former Olympiad captain)
David Norwood (presumed present, Darwin Strategic sponsorship and British GM)
Ali Mortazavi (presumed present, Darwin Strategic sponsorship and British IM)
Ray Keene (British GM)
Adam Raoof (British chess player and organiser and one of the ECF Directors)

I presume other familiar names were there as well. On a whim, I looked up Sir Tim Rice's net worth, and it was around £140 million this year. The most obvious chess connection is CHESS the musical, of course. I won't speculate on the net worth of others on that list! :)

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:50 am

While reading through the Chessbase report, I noticed the following:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6671

"Signed by all the GMs present, the board went for £3,600" (there was also a "Grandmaster at every table"), so it should be possible to name the GMs that were present at the event.

cjdemooi
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by cjdemooi » Fri Sep 17, 2010 6:04 am

Sitting in an airport lounge at present (Siberia here I come) but off the top of my head the other GMs included Jonathan Rowson, Nick Pert, David Howell, Gawain Jones, Stuart Conquest, John Emms and Daniel King.

Matthew Turner
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Matthew Turner » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:33 am

I have seen Karpov described as a billionaire eg.

From a comment by Bobby Fiske?

"It seems clear that Karpov’s wining chances are small, unless he goes on a global road trip, securing votes from all the tiny federations. On the other side, Karpov is a billionaire, while Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is “only” a millionaire. Karpov can afford to fly in his delegates on First Class, rather than Tourist Class."

Can this really be true?

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:53 am

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/07 ... mpion.html
The Dutch magazine, New In Chess, recently reported that Petromir, a Russian energy company, owns a tract of Siberia with 43 trillion cubic meters of natural gas underneath it. What does that fact have to with chess?

The answer is that Petromir is solely owned by one Anatoly Karpov, former chess champion of the world. Karpov is now a wealthy man, worth approximately $2 billion.
The company I work for sells software to Russian petroleum companies. I'm going to find out if Petromir is one of our clients.

andrew martin

Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by andrew martin » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:34 am

So what the heck does he need with all that money?

He could win the FIDE Election right away by offering to pump 100 million into chess worldwide and still have plenty of loose change.

Going to great lengths to raise money for his campaign looks pathetic if these claims are to be believed.

I suppose it's no holds barred in the hype stakes as the election approaches. Ilyumzhinov plans to build a world chess centre in New York worth 10 million....

What next?

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John Saunders
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by John Saunders » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:39 am

I'm gratified to see that Chris Kreuzer has excluded me from the list of suspected millionaires and billionaires. This is quite correct - I am neither. In fact - can anyone lend me a tenner? I'll pay you back on Monday.
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Sean Hewitt

Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Sean Hewitt » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:55 am

John Saunders wrote:I'm gratified to see that Chris Kreuzer has excluded me from the list of suspected millionaires and billionaires. This is quite correct - I am neither. In fact - can anyone lend me a tenner? I'll pay you back on Monday.
Would that be when you've borrowed £20?!

Jonathan Rogers
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:04 am

Certainly Karpov doesn't need anyone's money. I assumed that he was after publicity in coming to London (and perhaps to make it clear to other nations that voting for Karpov might earn them a visit too). As I said at the time, one could be forgiven for not realising that the mainstream journalists were there, though columns in Chessbase and elsewhere in the chess media are presumably still valuable to Karpov.

The event seems to have been a cracking success rather on account of the money pledged to the other causes, assuming that there are further announcements yet to come.

Matthew Turner
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Re: Staunton Memorial Dinner

Post by Matthew Turner » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:18 pm

Two observations spring to my mind

1. Karpov has a very good chance of winning the FIDE presidency

political power and wealth are closely associated in Russia, so if Karpov is genuinely a billionaire then he must have the backing of the political elite (more so the Ilyumzhinov).

2. CJ has done a rather marvellous job with Staunton Dinner. He has effectively got Karpov and Kasparov to headline a fundraising event for the British Championships for four grand + expenses.

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