What just happened?!

[Nick Murphy]

Hi guys,

I haven't visited the forum in quite some time, and I see that there has been a whole lot going on!

Has anyone got a link to an (objective, if possible) report of what happened with Andrew Paulson, Nigel Short etc - as it seems I have a lot to catch up on!

[Jonathan Rogers]

Hard to link to an objective report since so many important facts are unknown; so your choice is between relatively uninformative factual accounts, and thoughtful - and thoughtless - pieces which depend on common sense inferences which may not be always correct.

So there might not be a short cut on this one. I have forgotten who it was in the 1990s who dipped his toe in the waters of chess politics and then withdrew, saying he would prefer the transparency and integrity to be found in the world of heavyweight boxing, but whoever it was may have had a point!

[Adam Raoof]

Is it the 1st April yet?

[Nick Murphy]

Haha - fair point. Though is there any report that will at least give me some idea what's happened?!

[Angus French]

Nick, if you want to catch up, you're setting yourself what I think is probably quite a difficult task! You could try reading the minutes of the last three Board Meetings (http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/) and then... well, I'm not sure where it's best to go, there's been so much discussion and there are so many media reports... I suppose you could look at the posts made by Andrew Paulson and Nigel Short on this Forum... It is being argued that the bust up was not so much between Andrew Paulson and Nigel Short as between Andrew Paulson and the majority of the Board.

[Colin S Crouch]

I can sympathise with all this.

I have only just read about the Toiletgate affair in the 2006 World Championship match between Topalov and Kramnik. My excuse is that I was suffering from a stroke just recently, and could not be bothered in trying to catch up with chess politics.

The Paulson question is perhaps as simple, or as complicated, as you would want. Don't spend days worrying about it.

[Roger de Coverly]

Though is there any report that will at least give me some idea what's happened?!

Headline is that Andrew Paulson has resigned so that the ECF doesn't currently have a President. Internal differences appears to be the official line. As to what these were, you have to read between the lines in the Board minutes.

Beyond that, AP is looking for the ECF to support him as a Vice-President of the European Chess Union. This is to be approved or otherwise at the April meeting of the voting membership bearing in mind it requires endorsing a whole slate of candidates, the Presidential candidate being considered by Nigel Short as totally unacceptable. The proposal goes on to replace Nigel with AP for the duration of the ECU meetings.

The ECF Board are, subject to confirmation, indicating that it will support Kasparov in the FIDE elections.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Hi guys,

I haven't visited the forum in quite some time, and I see that there has been a whole lot going on!

Has anyone got a link to an (objective, if possible) report of what happened with Andrew Paulson, Nigel Short etc - as it seems I have a lot to catch up on!

Some of the chess news sites have reported about the whole story, pick the site you trust better.

For example, this sequence of articles from chessvibes seems to cover the whole saga (with respect to objectivity it really depends on which side you are ).
http://www.chessvibes.com/andrew-paulso ... federation
http://www.chessvibes.com/leaked-agreem ... f-interest
http://www.chessvibes.com/andrew-paulso ... federation
http://www.chessvibes.com/andrew-paulso ... -president

Chessbase, Chessdom have probably similar reports.

[Ray Sayers]

Life is too short...

[Peter D Williams]

It will all go away once you elect me as your new ECF president

Right time for some Whitesnake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leo45yEkino

[Nick Murphy]

Hi guys,

I haven't visited the forum in quite some time, and I see that there has been a whole lot going on!

Has anyone got a link to an (objective, if possible) report of what happened with Andrew Paulson, Nigel Short etc - as it seems I have a lot to catch up on!

Some of the chess news sites have reported about the whole story, pick the site you trust better.

For example, this sequence of articles from chessvibes seems to cover the whole saga (with respect to objectivity it really depends on which side you are ).
http://www.chessvibes.com/andrew-paulso ... federation
http://www.chessvibes.com/leaked-agreem ... f-interest
http://www.chessvibes.com/andrew-paulso ... federation
http://www.chessvibes.com/andrew-paulso ... -president

Chessbase, Chessdom have probably similar reports.

That was the sort of thing I was looking for. Thanks.