Yes. This. The document makes no mention of legal sanctions, but for some reason we can't get the idea of legal sanctions out of our heads. The argument that "if FIDE could make any rules it wanted, the Agon case wouldn't have gone to court" is nonsense. Agon went to court to try to enforce a legal right (a legal right which they didn't have, and no-one is suggesting otherwise). But FIDE is not trying to assert any legal rights in this document!Ian Thompson wrote: ↑Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:39 pm|I agree FIDE can't enforce rules that apply to everybody, but it can make up whatever rules it likes for its members (assuming it can get its members to agree to the necessary rule changes). So banning someone from playing chess is not possible, but banning them from playing in FIDE organised events, FIDE rated events, or anything else with which FIDE has some involvement is possible.
I don't know why this is difficult to grasp. Let's say FIDE gave me a 1 year ban from chess for hiding the Pocket Guide to Endgames in the toilet. I'm not breaking any law by doing that. FIDE's case against me isn't based on the Helpful Publications (Hidden in Toilets) Act 2004. It's based on the rules that they're entitled to make up because they're the governing body.