An Open Letter to CJ De Mooi

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Chris

That is what the forum is for.
Speaking up and putting across a point of view.

In my view CJ is OK.
A lot of good things have happened in Chess since he came onboard.
Even the t-shirt nonsene.

I don't care what anybody says: There is no such thing as bad publicity.
How many people are now aware that such a thing as the ECF exists and
has as it's president a minor celeb.

Some claim that CJ is uing his post to further outside of chess issues.
Who cares as long as Chess gets some kind of benefit.

Alex and Lara know that 100% of the British Chess playing public know
they are not bigots and there was a massive misunderstanding.

But things were said, things were written, action was taken.
The two camps are still talking which is a good sign.

[Paul Cooksey]

There is no such thing as bad publicity.

I disagree, but Geoff doesn't care! The rest of his post I do agree with though.

One more point in response to Chris. Even if CJ is a bad President and Council should vote him out, he still deserves to be treated fairly and on the facts. Of course, exactly what the facts are and how they should be interpreted is in dispute.

[Jonathan Bryant]

I don't care what anybody says: There is no such thing as bad publicity.

I think Gary Glitter would beg to differ.

[Alex McFarlane]

There has been no reply yet from CJ De Mooi to the request for a meeting.
Regrettably I have had an email which makes me think that it is extremely unlikely that Mr De Mooi will reply. I really hope that I am wrong and will wait a bit longer before doing anything else.

In light of the other news which has broken it may well be necessary for the members to call an EGM on various issues.

I post this with a sense of regret and resignation for the chances of resolution.

[Krishna Shiatis]

There has been no reply yet from CJ De Mooi to the request for a meeting.
Regrettably I have had an email which makes me think that it is extremely unlikely that Mr De Mooi will reply. I really hope that I am wrong and will wait a bit longer before doing anything else.

In light of the other news which has broken it may well be necessary for the members to call an EGM on various issues.

I post this with a sense of regret and resignation for the chances of resolution.

Alex, do not give up, just wait a little longer.

CJ, if you are there and reading this, what harm can a face-to-face meeting do?

It can not make things worse and it may make things better. I listened to an interview which you did recently on the radio where you talked passionately about chess and how much you care about it. You said that you were at one time one of the most active chess players on the circuit. You said how proud you were to become the President of the ECF. You are now in a position where everyone looks up to you. You have done so much for the ECF in front of and behind the scenes. These are the times when a leader shows his true strengths. I am sure that you are working behind the scenes to do what you can. Please just talk to Alex/his intermediary and end this now. The longer it continues, the harder it becomes to fix things. Anything is possible, if you are willing.

If you talk now, at least you have tried your best.

[Joey Stewart]

So what is it that Keene has done that people feel has made progress?

[Alex McFarlane]

He has retweeted a link to my open letter.

He also offered to shake hands with Lara but without offering an apology. One ECF senior official thought this was a great offer to clear Lara's name. I pointed out that such a photo without the apology was more likely to be seen as Lara saying it was OK to make such allegations and she accepted them!!!

But in fairness to Mr Keene he is showing some willingness to communicate on the matter.

[Carl Hibbard]

In light of the other news which has broken it may well be necessary for the members to call an EGM on various issues.

What "other" news

[Jonathan Rogers]

See in "ECF Matters" an account of a decision by the Board which they (and its President, who doubtless instigated it) remarkably thought it best not to tell anyone at the recent AGM. Clue: we learnt about it instead from Kirsan.

[Sean Hewitt]

See in "ECF Matters" an account of a decision by the Board which they (and its President, who doubtless instigated it) remarkably thought it best not to tell anyone at the recent AGM. Clue: we learnt about it instead from Kirsan.

If this decision was taken in advance of the AGM (and it rather looks like it was) then it seems to me that a number of directors and the FIDE delegate need to explain why it was not mentioned in their respective AGM reports.

[Mike Gunn]

>>>He [Ray Keene] also offered to shake hands with Lara but without offering an apology.<<<

Just to give the full picture: he also offered to issue a statement saying that he does not regard Lara as homophobic.

[Andy Howie]

>>>He [Ray Keene] also offered to shake hands with Lara but without offering an apology.<<<

Just to give the full picture: he also offered to issue a statement saying that he does not regard Lara as homophobic.

So does that mean than that he thinks she is bigoted then seeing as he accused her of that as well?

[Roger de Coverly]

See in "ECF Matters" an account of a decision by the Board which they (and its President, who doubtless instigated it) remarkably thought it best not to tell anyone at the recent AGM. Clue: we learnt about it instead from Kirsan.

The sequence of events does appear to be

ECF Board meeting/discussion which agreed to take legal action against FIDE ( this is confirmed officially unofficially or unofficially officially by Jack)
ECF AGM
FIDE Congress
ECF Board meeting ( the recent one that appointed/dismissed managers)

So unless there was an meeting which was not a Board meeting after the AGM but before the FIDE Congress, the news that the ECF had sponsorship to take legal action against FIDE was available at the AGM but not announced.

Of course it might be that the legal action decision was taken months ago and has only become generally known because FIDE recorded it in publicly published minutes.

It may well be that Council in particular and the English Chess community in general would fully support legal action against FIDE on the Vice-Presidents issue. It's difficult to know unless you actually disclose it.

[Sean Hewitt]

It may well be that Council in particular and the English Chess community in general would fully support legal action against FIDE on the Vice-Presidents issue. It's difficult to know unless you actually disclose it.

Quite.

[Andy Howie]

I was going to ask if we knew for certain that it was the ECF that were involved and not the Welsh as well as it was GB in the minutes but I got an apology this morning from FIDE for using GB when Chess Scotland were not involved.

They did confirm to me it was the ECF.