Consultation on the upcoming ECU and FIDE elections

[Angus French]

From: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/meetings ... andidates/

The Board accepted an invitation from Garry Kasparov to discuss his candidacy to be the next FIDE President. Five Board members and the FIDE Delegate attended the December meeting, kindly hosted by the London Classic, where Garry had spoken at the 1st London Chess and Education Conference (link). The Board has now issued formal invitations to each of the FIDE and ECU presidential candidates to visit London (potentially with members of their tickets) to discuss their respective candidacies in order to better inform the ECF’s votes. All Council and Board members, as well as the FIDE Delegate, are invited to attend the first formal meeting:

• Guest: Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU Presidential Candidate
• When: Saturday 8th February, 3:00-5:00pm
• Where: Central London, venue near Embankment Station
• RSVP required for interested ECF Council members: Email the ECF Office by Friday 7th February
• Questions: Consultation for questions to the candidate is available in a new ECF consultation area, here

For those who cannot attend Saturday afternoon, an informal dinner is also arranged. Other national federations and any member of the ECF Council or Board are invited to an informal dinner Friday night. Numbers are limited. Dinner RSVP by Thursday.

[Angus French]

Er... maybe that should have gone in the International News section. Not sure.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Er... maybe that should have gone in the International News section. Not sure.

I won't move it, nor would I have moved it had you posted it there.

[benedgell]

Plenty of notice for this one.

[David Sedgwick]

Er... maybe that should have gone in the International News section. Not sure.

The important thing is that you posted it quickly. All credit to you for so doing.

Plenty of notice for this one.

Quite so.

I've known since Monday 13th January that Zurab Ashmaiparashvili was going to be in London on Saturday 8th February and since Thursday 23rd January that there would be a meeting with him supposedly open to ECF Council members.

[John McKenna]

Is "supposedly open to..." meant to imply - closed to all bar a pre-selected cosy few, I wonder.
Anyway, Ben E. is better off out of it - between courses he might be chosen to go a few rounds - 3 falls or 1 submission - with the guest of honour.

[Roger de Coverly]

Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU Presidential Candidate

No doubt it's all the fault of biased Western media, but let's run down some incidents in his career.

His rating was boosted by the reporting of results from a Bosnian tournament about which there was doubt as to whether it took place at all, or in a form qualifying for rating. Games claimed to have been played in this tournament were later published. It was suggested these revealed some Kasparov novelties from an earlier period as Kasparov's second.

He was allowed a touch move blunder check take back by one of his opponents in a European Championship.

He got into a fight with Spanish security guards at the closing ceremony of the Calvia Olympiad.

He objected to the appointment of excess Vice Presidents at the 2010 Congress, and his Federation joined with Kasparov and the ECF for the action in CAS.

(edit) I had forgotten about his Ethics case against Nigel Short, until reminded by another thread. (/edit)

He was a FIDE Vice President himself for a number of years, as well as a top GM.

[Mick Norris]

Would Zurab be better or worse than Silvio?

[Jonathan Rogers]

As I said before, I am astonished that our President's affiliation with Zurab has not been the subject of more adverse cOmment and if you judge a person by the company he keeps then ... well, you would not be a member of the ECF Council, for a start.

What are we to make of Paulson's threat to take Nigel to the FIDE Ethics Committee - given that the last person to do this to Nigel was Zurab himself, and the court laughed it out, imposing no sanction on Nigel?

Incidentally, I still find this to be one of Nigel's funnier quotes, made shortly after that decision in 2007, when Zurab was still a VP of FIDE:


"INDIAN INTERVIEWER: What can be done to remove this malady? [within FIDE]

NS: They could start by removing some personnel: the head-butting, move-retracting, tournament-rigging, Zurab Azmaiparashvili for instance. He is a disgrace to the organisation. But never let it be said that he is a dunderhead."

[Matthew Turner]

We seem to have a rather tangled web of connections

Paulson runs with Azmai

Paulson squares off against Short

Azmai and Short bring court action against FIDE for GK

I am not sure it is terribly clear whose side anyone will end up on.

[Roger de Coverly]

As I said before, I am astonished that our President's affiliation with Zurab has not been the subject of more adverse cOmment

How much is known of the Zurab Azmaiparashvili ticket? There are suggestions that AP has to give up Agon because of he is standing as a potential Vice-President, but who are the rest of those standing and what is their public manifesto?

http://www.chessdom.com/zurab-azmaipara ... president/

"chess dunderhead" finds these
http://johnchess.blogspot.co.uk/2007/06 ... heads.html
http://johnchess.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09 ... art-2.html

[NickFaulks]

He was allowed a touch move blunder check take back by one of his opponents in a European Championship.

This from chessgames.com

Malakhov recalled: "Seeing that the rooks were still on the board, he said something like, "Oh, first the exchange, of course." put his bishop back, took my rook, and the game continued. I don't know what should have been done differently in this situation --- in Azmai's place, some might have resigned immediately, and in my place, some would have demanded that he make a move with his bishop but I didn't want to ruin the logical development of the duel, so I didn't object when Azmai made a different move: the mistake was obviously nothing to do with chess! When we signed the score sheets, Azmai suggested to me that we consider the game a draw. After the game I was left with an unpleasant aftertaste, but that was due mainly to may own play."

The usual question is, where were the arbiters? Why is there never one around when needed, and always when not? Malakhov's behaviour was principled, but Azmai's other rivals might have felt aggrieved.

[Chris Rice]

He got into a fight with Spanish security guards at the closing ceremony of the Calvia Olympiad.

Here's the full story. I reported on this in the December 2004 edition of Weekend Chess.

31 October 2004 - Apparently it all started upon arrival at the airport, when Zurab Azmaiparashvili (ZA) spent five hours trying to negotiate an additional room in the hotel for himself. ZA is Vice President of FIDE and a playing participant at the Olympiad and in each of these capacities he should be entitled to a room.

This request was turned down and apparently the mood of the Spanish organisers was soured. A number of other "incidents" apparently led to a further deterioration of relations. Then, at the closing ceremony, things came to a head. At the Casino, where the games and functions were held, there is very tight security. Guards are everywhere and nobody can get in or out without a thorough airport-style security search.

When ZA turned up for the closing ceremony, he and his wife not only had to go through the metal detectors, the guards began to do a hands-on physical search of Marina Azmaiparashvili. To this the Georgian Grandmaster objected vigorously. The two got through, but the security people had him in their sights.

During the ceremony there was a little commotion inside the hall. The Calvia police said he hit them, that ZA had butted a security person in the mouth with his head. While others said he only defended himself when he was constrained by a number of security people. All he did was try to get the attention of the FIDE officials on stage, to correct the errors to the ceremony before the closing ceremony ended. the five or six security personnel, some of them in plain clothes, wrestled ZA to the floor, completely covering him at one stage. He was dragged out of the hall, put into a car and taken to the police station.

FIDE Vice Presidents Georgios Makropoulos and Morten Sand went to the police station and requested to see ZA. The request was denied and they were left standing on the street outside of the police station. Suddenly ZA was led in handcuffs and put into a car, to be taken to another prison. Morten Sand was able to see him and says that he was quite badly injured in the face. When Makropoulos demanded that ZA be examined by a doctor he was told that ZA would be attended by a police medic.

After the incident the Spanish chief organiser Antonio Rami appeared in the press room and told the journalists essentially that ZA had himself to blame for what had taken place. ZA had conducted himself in a way that provoked the ire of the organisers and the security personnel. As the situation stands ZA is being held in the police station of Palmanova, Mallorca. The authorities have 72 hours to charge him, but since Sunday and Monday are bank holidays it will be Tuesday before a judge gets to hear him. By that time all the material witnesses will be back home in their native countries. FIDE is collecting statements from as many as possible and will publish them in due course on their web site.

1 November 2004 - ZA was released from jail looking completely beaten up as he came out. He was let out of the Mallorca jail at 14:30 local time today after 40 hours of detention by the Spanish police. The local judge accepted this release after a deposit of 500 euros was paid. He also said that there will be a full hearing of the case at a later date. ZA maintains his position that this was an "unmotivated aggression by the security guards" at the closing ceremony of the 36th Calvia Chess Olympiad.

According to FIDE "his arrest took place on the 30th October 2004 at the chess olympiad closing ceremony as it was coming to an end. A special prize bearing the name of a prominent female Georgian player and former World Chess Champion, Nona Gaprindashvili, was about to be awarded. However, the Master of Ceremonies failed to explain the reason behind the award. ZA, who is a Georgian, tried to notify this to the organisers, who did nothing to correct this terrible mistake.

Despite his clear VIP identification, ZA was severely beaten up by several security guards, according to witnesses. Persons near by, including his wife, Marina, were then themselves beaten up as they attempted to help him. FIDE is very pleased with this release and regrets the aggression for which the organisers of the Calvia Olympiad share full responsibility. FIDE still awaits public apologies from both the Calvia Olympiad organisers and the Spanish Chess Federation, who have both been of no support to FIDE to help the release of ZA."

OK, so what did the Spanish organisers have to say? The only statement I have seen so far seems to have come out before ZA was released. The Organisation Committee of the XXXVI Chess Olympiad and the Spanish Federation stated

"When the closing ceremony was coming to an end, with international, local and regional authorities present on the stage, ZA tried to gain admittance to the stage on several occasions without authorisation. At that moment an agent of the Spanish Police, an elite force that specialises in the security of international events, tried to avoid his admittance to the stage, in accordance with the protocol of the event. ZA without any previous provocation, assaulted the agent with a head butt to his mouth. The aggression caused his arrest, after offering a strong resistance and his subsequent transfer to the police station, to bring him to the judge. As the Police Commander explained to the press, the aggression was witnessed by many eyewitnesses. ZA is at present under arrest, charged with assault and resistance to the authority. From the first moment of ZA's arrest, the whole process is under judicial control, as in any EU country, independent medical and legal assistance are guaranteed. we know that ZA has apologised to the assaulted policeman, recognising his faults. The policeman has suffered injuries that have forced him to take sick leave. Both the organisers and the President of FEDA, Mr Javier Ochoa de Echaguen offered the FIDE executives all sorts of facilities, as well as a list of lawyers for ZA's defence. With regard to the prize giving, the protocol at all times followed the instructions received from FIDE. The Nona Gaprindashvili trophy was given to Russia by the FIDE Honorary President. If there was a protocol error, of which the organisation has found no evidence, in no way can it justify the violence exerted by ZA. therefore the organising committee and the Spanish Federation would like to state our indignation with regard to the surprising FIDE press release and request:

1. The rectification of the lies and distortions, probably caused by the hurry in the transmission of the FIDE press release, adjusting it to what really happened; and

2. Once the responsibilities have been assigned, disciplinary measures must be adopted with regard to such a serious matter, the centre of which was an executive of the highest body of FIDE."

5 November 2004 - pictures of the ZA fracas at the Olympiad start coming through. it seems he has got a lot of sympathy and has been portrayed as the innocent victim in all of this.

[NickFaulks]

I have no doubt that Azmai had provoked the Spanish security force, but he probably also suffered some backwash from the fact that FIDE, most notably the Chief Arbiter, had treated our hosts with inexcusable rudeness throughout the event. The Bermuda Chess Association hosted a small reception at which the Calvia organising team was thanked for putting on a most enjoyable Olympiad, and presented with a flagon of our delegate's famous rum punch - which may or may not have made them feel better.

[Jonathan Bryant]

This from chessgames.com

Malakhov recalled: ....

It's been some years since I read it, but the passage you quote pretty much matches my memory of one that appeared in New in Chess at the time.