The battle for ECU Presidential elections begins

[Chris Rice]

This probably deserves its own thread. Chessdom have started the ball rolling with an article on the two tickets involved.

Who is who in the ECU race?

Danailov / Sakotic

Silvio Danailov, President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation and the European Chess Union, is going to run for one more term in office. No changes on his team are announced so far and Danailov will be relying on right hand, Vladimir Sakotic, President of the Montenegro Chess Federation. The duo is backed by the FIDE presidential candidate Garry Kasparov, making it one of the pillars of the FIDE presidential bid.

Silvio Danailov achieved great success by getting the Chess in Schools program endorsed by the European Parliament with the Written Declaration 50/2011. He also opened a travel agency associated with the ECU, as part of the business plan he wanted to introduce in ECU.

In an interview for chess-news.ru Silvio Danailov stated that he “accepts criticism only on one topic”, however, there are certainly multiple questions that he has to answer to before the ECU elections: what happened to the business model of ECU, why PR and marketing activities were absent during the four years, why was the promised budget increase to more than 1 million/year not achieved, etc. All summarized in Silvio Danailov’s own words at his election speech in 2010

(http://www.chessdom.com/news-2010/danailov-ecu)

If I am elected a president, I will concentrate on introducing business models in managing and financing of the union and will back them up with professional PR and marketing activities [...] We should animate famous personalities, politicians and media in our struggle to have the European chess union budget significantly higher than the actual one and in any case not less than one million euro per year. [...] I have started my campaign with a slogan „I know…“ With these two words I wanted to send you a message that I do not ask you to believe my empty promises.

Azmaiparashvili / Paulson

Zurab Azmaiparashvili announced his candidacy for ECU President at a gala dinner in Warsaw last November. He first hinted the possibility during the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki and later repeated the intention in an interview with Chessdom. Right next to him will be the President of the English Chess Federation Andrew Paulson.

It is interesting to note that Zurab Azmaiparashvili has also been very close to Garry Kasparov. In the 90′s Azmaiparashvili coached Kasparov for several years. Garry was also the guest of honor at Zurab’s 50th birthday anniversary (photo by Chessbase here and here). Just a few years ago the Georgian Chess Federation (together with the ECF) were taking a series of legal actions against FIDE.

Despite previous history, both Azmaiparashvili and Paulson branded themselves as independent political body. Azmaiparashvili noted in his speech, “I am not going to use ECU as a political tool to contest or criticize FIDE. It is not a secret that to a certain extent FIDE elections will probably interfere with our elections too. However, in case of my presidency, I will do my best to cooperate with FIDE regardless of the outcome of its elections.” With an open letter, Andrew Paulson also denied any official support of Kirsan Ilymzhinov.

The program of Azmaiparashvili and Paulson is very ambitious. Zurab’s main promise is based on a 100,000 euro sponsor, a European Grand Prix competition, and bringing back the offices to the center of Europe. More details have been promised to emerge in the coming months.

ECU and FIDE Presidential elections watch at Chessdom

This preview of the Presidential Elections battle for ECU and the preview about the FIDE Elections 2014 mark the beginning of the elections watch at Chessdom.com. Every week you will be getting updates on the important race. In pursuit of an objective and unbiased coverage of the elections, the candidates and their teams will be given the opportunity to express and share their views on the pages of Chessdom.

http://www.chessdom.com/the-battle-for- ... ns-begins/

[Roger de Coverly]

Right next to him will be the President of the English Chess Federation Andrew Paulson.

With there being a plausible chance of the running mate becoming an ex-President, what happens then?

[David Sedgwick]

Right next to him will be the President of the English Chess Federation Andrew Paulson.

With there being a plausible chance of the running mate becoming an ex-President, what happens then?

The short answer is that nothing changes. Andrew Paulson would still be eligible to stand and any ECU member can nominate him.

[Nigel Short]

As a general rule, candidates without the backing of their federations are a liability. There are exceptions, of course - GK is not likely to have the support of Russia in the FIDE Presidential Election, but that is just one vote out of 170. If Council decides to remove AP - which seems by far the most probable result - Paulson, who unlike Garry, lacks any sort of international appeal -will just be dead weight on Azmai's ticket. I wouldn't be surprised to see him jettisoned altogether.

[Chris Rice]

From the Chessdom and Susan Polgar's sites. Something just crashed into Danailov's fan......

Scandal in Montenegro Chess Federation forces Sakotic to resign Feb 26, 2014

After many months of turmoil in the Montenegro Chess Federation, Vladimir Sakotic resigned from the post of MCF President Monday. The crisis started during the European Youth Chess Championships which were held in Budva, Montenegro last September.

Top Montenegro chess clubs and players issued an open letter stating that:

“The purpose of this letter is an attempt to inform the public about a reasonable suspicion that the Championships are misused to provide financial benefit for NGO “Potez” from Niksic and NGO “Centar za razvoj šaha” from Belgrade, both being front for the incumbent Montenegro Chess Federation President Vladimir Sakotic.”

Sakotic is also Executive Director of European Chess Union.

The letter concluded with – “The funds are spilling into private pockets in an impertinent manner in front of the public eyes. We call on the state authorities to investigate our suspicions and to prevent any illegal acts.”

An Extraordinary MCF General Assembly was called on 24th October 2013. The financial report was accepted, but the report of Supervisory Board [which also examined EUR Youth] caused huge controversy. One Supervisor claimed that his signature was forged, while another stated that he is not standing behind the report. All three Supervisors resigned and it was decided that an independent audit should examine the accounts.

In the days after the Assembly, three members of nine in the MCF Board resigned (Grandmasters Nebojsa Nikcevic and Nikola Djukic, and Antun Vih), head of the “Chess in Schools” project Radmila Milosevic and rating administrator Veselin Balsic also resigned.

Despite the numerous demands, the documents, contracts and money flow between the Montenegro Chess Federation, European Chess Union, NGO Potez, Hotel Budvanska Rivijera, NGO Centar za razvoj saha, and sponsors (Mtel and others) were never made public.

On 28th January the legal representative of six chess clubs from the Premier League requested release of the documentation according to the Montenegro law [The Federation is a public institution like government agencies etc]. The deadline was 15 days.

The next step would be further legal actions to void the supposedly illegal contracts between MCF and NGO Potez and to press criminal charges against officials who abused their position.

The demand was reinforced by the initiative from 11 chess clubs to hold an Extraordinary General Assembly with agenda containing discussion on relevant contracts and detailed financial reports.

The MCF Board had a meeting on 20th February and stated that the Federation is not bound by the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, but it decided to release the contracts between MCF and NGO Potez. The files are now available on the MCF website.

President Sakotic said that the crisis in the Federation is deep and offered his resignation to the Board. The Board unanimously refused. However, on 24th February Sakotic officially resigned from the post of Montenegro Chess Federation President.

Lazar Akovic was appointed as acting President until the next General Assembly.

According to a source from Montenegro, the police are checking the Federation archive.

The relations and contracts between the European Chess Union, NGO Potez and NGO Centar za razvoj saha, all subjects being connected with Sakotic, are not disclosed.

The developments around the European Youth Championships in Budva will definitely have an impact on the ECU Presidential race.

[John McKenna]

Balkan scandals - all very revealing. Thanks to Chris Rice for bringing it, and so many other things, to our attention here. Will Nigel and Garry begin to distance themselves from Silvio now. Or will they turn a blind eye and hope it blows over. Thanks, again, to Chris for all his sterling work. He deserves a prize for investigative reporting.All I can offer is to buy him a drink if we meet again. (I played in Chris' South London Rapidplay series, and was sorry they had to end.)

[Angus French]

John, I wonder if you are thinking of Chris Dunworth (re the South London Rapidplay series)?

The alleged financial scandal which Vladimir Sakotic seems to be at the centre of has been known about for some time. A certain Chris Rice brought the Forum's attention to it last October: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 90#p124891.

Does Sakotic have the full support of Nigel Short?

[Chris Rice]

John, I wonder if you are thinking of Chris Dunworth (re the South London Rapidplay series)?

Hi Angus - John did mean me, I ran a few rapidplays (four I think altogether) at Lewisham chess club in Catford and one in Hither Green in the 1990s. Cherniaev and Gormally won most of the loot as I recall.

[Nigel Short]

That's a very interesting post, Chris Rice. Thank you. I will be watching those developments with interest.

No, Angus French. That is a willful misrepresentation of my views. I ask you to withdraw your remark.

[Angus French]

John, I wonder if you are thinking of Chris Dunworth (re the South London Rapidplay series)?

Hi Angus - John did mean me, I ran a few rapidplays (four I think altogether) at Lewisham chess club in Catford and one in Hither Green in the 1990s. Cherniaev and Gormally won most of the loot as I recall.

Thanks Chris, I stand corrected.

[Angus French]

That's a very interesting post, Chris Rice. Thank you. I will be watching those developments with interest.

No, Angus French. That is willful misrepresentation of my views. I ask you to withdraw your remark.

Nigel, I've not made any representation. I've merely asked you a question... I've also pointed out that the alleged scandal has been know about since last October. Have you heard nothing of it previously?

[John McKenna]

Nigel, as I see it Angus asked a pertinent question. You could ask him to withdraw his question or answer it with a simple yes/no.
Edit: I also see what Angus has said and that he has asked another question!?

[Nigel Short]

That is thoroughly disingenuous of you, Angus French. When you say "no doubt" you are alleging something. Don't talk crap.

No, I was not aware of these rumours previously. Perhaps I should have been, but that is another matter...

And for your information, I have never stood on a pro-Danailov platform.

Ah, I see he has now edited out the "no doubt" comment.

[John McKenna]

The whole matter of the ECU is a dubious one, at least to me.

[John McKenna]

Re: my post above - I believe I read, for example, that Zurab Azmaiparashvili wishes, if he wins, to move the ECU offices to Western Europe. Given that his running mate is still Andrew Paulson could that mean to London? Should AP be.thrown overboard - Nigel has remarked that he thinks this may happen - could said offices be removed to deepest Georgia?