Interview with ECF President CJ de Mooi

[John Philpott]

Jonathan Rogers wrote

Unless I missed something, all we saw a couple of weeks ago was the list of Board members wishing to run again. I don't think we know how many other non-Board members are standing.

Jonathan - you missed something! A list of candidates who have been duly nominated is being maintained on the ECF website at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... tions2.doc, having first been uploaded on 10 August.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Andrew I admire you for doing it and thus have not made any comment about the process.

one question I have, does the fact the interview was done indicate that your association fully supports CJ for re-election? Or is it simply you acting as an individual?
Thanks.

Ernie, I think the best analogy would be that a leader of a major political party may write an article or give an interview to one of the major newspapers; it doesn't necessarily follow that the paper concerned will endorse his party at the next election.

Or put more bluntly, as a member of the YCA committee if we do fully support CJ it's news to me.

[Roger de Coverly]

Or put more bluntly, as a member of the YCA committee if we do fully support CJ it's news to me.

Is it not more about establishing the Yorkshire website as somewhere worth visiting for content? The competitions seem to have attracted something of a global audience.

Where to stand on controversial issues is a problem for every league or county association. To what extent do you leave your Council member to exercise their own judgement and to what extent do you expect them to refer matters back to the committee or AGM for guidance?

At the 2009 contested elections, there was a perception that voting for de Mooi and Nigel was a vote against the "establishment". I'm not sure how it looks in 2012. Arguably both running to media contacts at Sheffield and the secret CAS action bring the ECF into disrepute.

[Andrew Bak]

Andrew I admire you for doing it and thus have not made any comment about the process.

one question I have, does the fact the interview was done indicate that your association fully supports CJ for re-election? Or is it simply you acting as an individual?
Thanks.

Ernie, I think the best analogy would be that a leader of a major political party may write an article or give an interview to one of the major newspapers; it doesn't necessarily follow that the paper concerned will endorse his party at the next election.

Or put more bluntly, as a member of the YCA committee if we do fully support CJ it's news to me.

The decision to carry out the interview was a decision taken solely by me and does not reflect any official view or otherwise of the YCA on CJ's presidency. I am not even a member of the committee of the YCA.

Moreover as I stated earlier, the idea of doing the interview was merely so that it might be interesting to hear CJ's thoughts on chess matters - not to endorse or oppose anything that might happen at the elections.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Or put more bluntly, as a member of the YCA committee if we do fully support CJ it's news to me.

Is it not more about establishing the Yorkshire website as somewhere worth visiting for content? The competitions seem to have attracted something of a global audience.

Where to stand on controversial issues is a problem for every league or county association. To what extent do you leave your Council member to exercise their own judgement and to what extent do you expect them to refer matters back to the committee or AGM for guidance?

At the 2009 contested elections, there was a perception that voting for de Mooi and Nigel was a vote against the "establishment". I'm not sure how it looks in 2012. Arguably both running to media contacts at Sheffield and the secret CAS action bring the ECF into disrepute.

That's correct and I should have perhaps added that to my post - the YCA website is mainly for chess articles and features (I'm sure Ihor Lewyk, the YCA President, won't mind me saying that he is extremely proud of the work Andrew Bak and Matthew Webb have done). It doesn't have much to do with the politics of the Association.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

the YCA website is mainly for chess articles and features (I'm sure Ihor Lewyk, the YCA President, won't mind me saying that he is extremely proud of the work Andrew Bak and Matthew Webb have done). It doesn't have much to do with the politics of the Association.

Which is all fair enough, but remember what happened to this forum when politics got involved! FWIW, I think the CjdM interview and the fantasy chess competition have massively raised the profile of the YCA website, and those running it (i.e. those responsible for finding new content) are going to be hard pressed to match that. Though making sure that more interviews are done would be a good start. Just do take some of the advice (shorter interviews, and consider a transcript).

On a more general note, I'm wondering whether interviews or talks/speeches that are not transcribed or published (i.e. audio only) last longer in the 'historical record' than those that are published in a printed format? This thought was prompted in part by reading in the Evening Standard about a collection of Winston Churchill records recently discovered on gramophone discs, some of which he had made no notes for and so these might be the only remaining record. Ditto for several types of medical and scientific awards where the awardee makes a speech, which is sometimes published and sometimes not (though what is published can be different to what was said).

[Jonathan Rogers]

Jonathan Rogers wrote

Unless I missed something, all we saw a couple of weeks ago was the list of Board members wishing to run again. I don't think we know how many other non-Board members are standing.

Jonathan - you missed something! A list of candidates who have been duly nominated is being maintained on the ECF website at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... tions2.doc, having first been uploaded on 10 August.

Aha, thanks for the link. When do nominations close? I guess I had hoped to learn that more candidates had come foward over the last few weeks. We still have no prospective CEO, Director of Finance or Director of International (inter alia). Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that we only have one non-exec member - ie, you can't even get people to join the Board on the basis that they don't have to do anything in particular. That CJ is the only person to face a challenge (even Nigel Short seems safe) says a lot, both about CJ and about the general apathy.

To some extent I do blame CJ's Presidency for this, and I think that if he goes, more candidates might emerge in future. But there is clearly some apathy which is quite independent of that. I am not sure of the explanation. Some will blame this forum, though it will be mainly those who take the view that volunteers for office should be immune from criticism (you may say that Andrew Farthing was given too hard a time on this forum, but that was because he seemed to have to spend virtually the whole of the last year clearing up the messes created by CJ, so I would say "see above" on that score). It may largely be that people are simply more and more busy these days - eg even if there were no CJ, and if I were happier with ECF politics in general, I couldn't think of standing in the foreseeable future for lack of time.

[Steve Rooney]

you may say that Andrew Farthing was given too hard a time on this forum, but that was because he seemed to have to spend virtually the whole of the last year clearing up the messes created by CJ

Jonathan, I think you are in danger of believing that your obsession is shared by others. I imagine that AF's workload was more focussed on steering through the new membership scheme. The fact that he took the time to engage with people on this forum is greatly to his credit.

I think your final comment about everyone being busy is far more likely to be the reason that no-one has so far put their hat into the CEO ring, than concern about other personalities on the board. We were exceptionally lucky to have someone of AF's calibre prepared to give up all their time for a role which should be a paid position. We really need to get the ECF to a position where it can employ high quality individuals for a small number of key roles. The plethora of unpaid directors and managers isn't really the answer, I support the do-less-and-do-it-better plans mooted a while back by Paul Cooksey.

[Ernie Lazenby]

Andrew Bak said, ' Moreover as I stated earlier, the idea of doing the interview was merely so that it might be interesting to hear CJ's thoughts on chess matters - not to endorse or oppose anything that might happen at the elections'

With the greatest respect Andrew that being so why put the ringing endorsement of CJ on the web site home page. It does convey a clear impression that 'Yorkshire chess Association' thinks CJ is an all round good egg(sorry could not resist the last bit) I dont have a problem if thats so, each to their opinion, but an individuals view must surely be seperated from the collective unless of course they agree.

As an aged cynic I find the timeing of the interview rather fortuitous for CJ.

[Jonathan Rogers]

you may say that Andrew Farthing was given too hard a time on this forum, but that was because he seemed to have to spend virtually the whole of the last year clearing up the messes created by CJ

Jonathan, I think you are in danger of believing that your obsession is shared by others. I imagine that AF's workload was more focussed on steering through the new membership scheme. The fact that he took the time to engage with people on this forum is greatly to his credit.

My "obsession" clearly is shared by many others, though obviously not by everyone.

Over the last year, AF has had to deal with countless mails trying to sort out the dispute between Alex and CJ - perhaps you underestimate the number of board resolutions, the separate number of decisions whether to publish their resolutions, and so on, during which AF had to be the go-between because CJ refused to speak with Alex directly. Then he had to deal with the critical accounting report following Sheffield. Then he had to explain which factors the Board took into account regarding the CAS action - and the influence and activities of CJ, who promised Kasparov the action would go ahead before he spoke with rest of the Board. All of these are obvious matters of public interest and it is ridiculous to say that forum members who asked questions were sniping or distracting him from his strategic work.

I think it is actually very difficult to argue against the suggestion that clearing up CJ's messes greatly distracted AF last year.

You might still be right to suggest that lack of time is the real reason why no one wants to be CEO, but let's see what happens if CJ goes ...

[Ernie Lazenby]

Actually I think its helpfull that there are those who are obsessive about the core issue. It helps to keep reminding people about the mess the Federation has been in during the last 12 months or so. There are those who want to forget it and will continue to do so right up to the AGM, thats life an easy option for them.

[Jonathan Bryant]

There are those who want to forget it and will continue to do so right up to the AGM, thats life an easy option for them.

And during the AGM too, if last year is anything to go by.

[John Philpott]

Jonathan Rogers wrote

When do nominations close?

1.30 pm on Wednesday 5 September, so there is still time for a lot to happen. The list on the website only identifies those who have so far been nominated with sufficient support to feature definitely in the elections. I am aware of one individual who has been nominated but for whom the critical level of support has not yet been achieved: if this is forthcoming, there will be a second contested election. I am also aware of a couple of individuals who have expressed an interest in the Finance Director's position.

[Paolo Casaschi]

The list on the website only identifies those who have so far been nominated with sufficient support to feature definitely in the elections. I am aware of one individual who has been nominated but for whom the critical level of support has not yet been achieved: if this is forthcoming, there will be a second contested election. I am also aware of a couple of individuals who have expressed an interest in the Finance Director's position.

It might be useful to make those names public, someone with the god given power to nominate them might not be aware of the required support.

[Geoff Chandler]

"you just picked the most difficult interviewee of all as your first assignment!"

I think Andrew Bak will find that was one of his easiest.
He just let CJ go and on he went with very little prompting.
A perfect interviewee.

Others (and let us hope there is more...shorter ones) will be like pulling teeth from wriggling child.