Emergency Board Meeting - Draft Minutes

[Carl Hibbard]

A vote of no confidence followed by one of confidence?

[John Philpott]

Roger de Coverly wrote

Will the April Council meeting be given an opportunity to voice opinions on who the ECF should vote for in Tromso?

Yes.

[JustinHorton]

For that matter, why the ECF Board have chosen to support a particular platform at the ECU Elections headed by a character many of us, if given a vote, would rank well below "none of the above".

To which of the two platforms fitting that description do you refer?

[AustinElliott]

Appeared about an hour ago on the @Times_Chess Twitter feed:

Andrew Paulson Resigned today as ECF President. Will now seek Election as European Chess Union Deputy President with ECF agreement.

[AustinElliott]

Thanks, John. Fascinating.

One of those statements that, to borrow a well-worn phrase, raises more questions than it answers.

[Paul Dargan]

Quote from penguin's twitter feed.
"Andrew Paulson Resigned today as ECF President. Will now seek Election as European Chess Union Deputy President with ECF agreement."

Good luck, etc.

Paul

[Mick Norris]

The following Board statement appeared on the ECF website half an hour ago:

The English Chess Federation Board resolved nem con on 7 March 2014 to amicably settle an internal matter.

The Board has today accepted the resignation of Andrew Paulson as President. The Board gratefully recognises Andrew Paulson’s contributions to English chess, from his organising of the FIDE Grand Prix and Candidates Tournaments in London to his untiring service since his election as President. Further, the Board nominates Andrew Paulson for the position of Deputy President of the European Chess Union and looks forward to a close and constructive collaboration between the ECU and the ECF. The Board recommends that the ECF Council at its April meeting approves a Motion to give Andrew Paulson standing during the ECU General Assembly election meeting in Tromsø in August by designating him as the official ECF Delegate at that meeting.

John

What happens next? Do the Board appoint a new President? Will the EGM still be held? Will ECF Council get to vote on a new President?

[JustinHorton]

[Paul McKeown]

Farcical.

[Colm Daly]

It can get so confusing, who has confidence in the Paulsen defense anymore. The Paulson defense seems no more robust after all. I think we will have to see how the endgame plays out.

[Roger de Coverly]

It reads as a stitch up of Nigel by the Directors. In return for going quietly, AP gets the ECF's support for the Zurab ticket and by kicking out Nigel from the Tromso meetings, gets to exercise the ECF's vote in favour of Kirsan. This fulfils one of the reasons he stood for ECF President in the first place, or so the conspiracy theorists will be able to say with some justification.

The voting membership gets to rule on who represents the ECF in Tromso. Other than by instructing the Delegate to not vote for the Zurab ticket, can they remove support for the Vice Presidential nomination?

[John Philpott]

Mick Norris wrote

What happens next? Do the Board appoint a new President? Will the EGM still be held? Will ECF Council get to vote on a new President?

What I hope happens next is that everybody draws a deep breath and we start to see a return to something resembling business as usual. Under Article 57 the Board has the power to appoint a Director to fill a casual vacancy: I am not currently aware of any name as being in the frame as a potential new President.

There had been two schools of thought as to whether there should be a separate EGM on 12 April or simply a longer than usual Finance Council meeting with some non-routine items of business. Any possibility of an EGM now falls away, although the Finance Council meeting will need to discuss the ECU elections and vote on the motion indicated by the Board statement.

[Angus French]

It reads as a stitch up of Nigel by the Directors. In return for going quietly, AP gets the ECF's support for the Zurab ticket and by kicking out Nigel from the Tromso meetings, gets to exercise the ECF's vote in favour of Kirsan. This fulfils one of the reasons he stood for ECF President in the first place, or so the conspiracy theorists will be able to say with some justification.

The voting membership gets to rule on who represents the ECF in Tromso. Other than by instructing the Delegate to not vote for the Zurab ticket, can they remove support for the Vice Presidential nomination?

Where does it say - or imply - that Andrew Paulson "gets to exercise the ECF's vote in favour of Kirsan"?

[Roger de Coverly]

although the Finance Council meeting will need to discuss the ECU elections and vote on the motion indicated by the Board statement.

The Board recommends that the ECF Council at its April meeting approves a Motion to give Andrew Paulson standing during the ECU General Assembly election meeting in Tromsø in August by designating him as the official ECF Delegate at that meeting.

Is that tantamount to a motion to remove Nigel from post as FIDE delegate, given that it is public knowledge that AP and Nigel are not in agreement as regards ECF policy towards FIDE and ECU elections?

[Angus French]

What I hope happens next is that everybody draws a deep breath and we start to see a return to something resembling business as usual.

I'm afraid I think it's going to take far more than today's announcement and the drawing of deep breaths.