Staunton Memorial Dinner

[cjdemooi]

With no disrespect to Mr Cowan above, I'm afraid I've had to settle for Viktor Korchnoi who has agreed to attend

[cjdemooi]

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6499

I've released 25 more tickets but this is positively the last batch as we've taken over the whole of Simpson's as are now at capacity.

There'll also be a press conference at 11am on 8th September if anyone would like to come. However, the players will not be available for personal activities and will only be responding to press and media enquiries.

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=5493#more-5493

[Christopher Kreuzer]

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6499

I've released 25 more tickets but this is positively the last batch as we've taken over the whole of Simpson's as are now at capacity.

There'll also be a press conference at 11am on 8th September if anyone would like to come. However, the players will not be available for personal activities and will only be responding to press and media enquiries.

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=5493#more-5493

I'm still reading through some of the backstory to this, but I've noted in another thread that this press release has five photographs: Karpov, Kasparov, CJ de Mooi, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and a three-eye alien who the mouseover tells me is "Advisor", but appears to be one of the three-eyed alien toys found in Disney/Pixar's Toy Story. Called "Squeeze" apparently:

http://pixar.wikia.com/Squeeze_Toy_Aliens

I realise it *is* a political campaign (and I hope Karpov wins), but it does seem a bit undignified to have that picture up there, and possibly a bit dodgy in other respects as well. I suppose you could claim fair use for political commentary if Pixar objected. (And pedantically, Squeeze is not "yellow-suited").

Thinking on it a bit more, I suppose my real objection to making fun of Ilyumzhinov is that there are other matters that Ilyumzhinov can be opposed on, rather than focusing on that particular aspect of things (which seems to be playing to the media somewhat). It makes the debate seem silly, rather than serious.

Having said that, the event sounds wonderful and I hope it goes well. I look forward to reading about it, and I might try and visit the tournament itself at some point as I've never actually been to Simpsons, though I've read about it many times.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Having said that, the event sounds wonderful and I hope it goes well. I look forward to reading about it, and I might try and visit the tournament itself at some point as I've never actually been to Simpsons, though I've read about it many times.

Hang on. Is there no tournament this year?

http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/01 ... unton.html

I have tried searching for information about this year's tournament, and all I can find is information about this year's dinner and how the sponsor withdrew last year. Does that mean there is no tournament this year and only a dinnner?

[Adam Raoof]

Having said that, the event sounds wonderful and I hope it goes well. I look forward to reading about it, and I might try and visit the tournament itself at some point as I've never actually been to Simpsons, though I've read about it many times.

Hang on. Is there no tournament this year?

http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/01 ... unton.html

I have tried searching for information about this year's tournament, and all I can find is information about this year's dinner and how the sponsor withdrew last year. Does that mean there is no tournament this year and only a dinnner?

No tournament this year, and the dinner is nothing to do with the tournament.

[Alex Holowczak]

Having said that, the event sounds wonderful and I hope it goes well. I look forward to reading about it, and I might try and visit the tournament itself at some point as I've never actually been to Simpsons, though I've read about it many times.

Hang on. Is there no tournament this year?

http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/01 ... unton.html

I have tried searching for information about this year's tournament, and all I can find is information about this year's dinner and how the sponsor withdrew last year. Does that mean there is no tournament this year and only a dinnner?

No tournament this year, and the dinner is nothing to do with the tournament.

Some critics think otherwise, though...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Having said that, the event sounds wonderful and I hope it goes well. I look forward to reading about it, and I might try and visit the tournament itself at some point as I've never actually been to Simpsons, though I've read about it many times.

Hang on. Is there no tournament this year?

http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/01 ... unton.html

I have tried searching for information about this year's tournament, and all I can find is information about this year's dinner and how the sponsor withdrew last year. Does that mean there is no tournament this year and only a dinnner?

No tournament this year, and the dinner is nothing to do with the tournament.

OK, thanks, but both tournament and dinner are associated with/run by the Howard Staunton Society, so there is a sort of connection there? Separate events, but the same society associated with them.

[cjdemooi]

To avoid any confusion -
The dinner is independent of the ECF, the Staunton Society, FIDE and another other organisation. It is a private event run and organised by me personally so any criticisms, complaints or comments should be directed to me and no-one else.

I have previously stated where the funds raised will be allocated so everybody wins.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

To avoid any confusion -
The dinner is independent of the ECF, the Staunton Society, FIDE and another other organisation. It is a private event run and organised by me personally so any criticisms, complaints or comments should be directed to me and no-one else.

I have previously stated where the funds raised will be allocated so everybody wins.

I *think* I read that somewhere else, but there is such a lot on this forum it is difficult to find the earlier threads sometimes. Is it possible for a link to the previous statement?

I see the Staunton Society are hosting a webpage about the event:

http://howardstaunton.com/staunton2010/ ... lcome.html

I'm not going to get involved in the semantics about whether or not the Staunton Society are involved in the event or not, but the B&W photograph down the bottom caught my eye. Both Garry and Nigel look very young there. Was that photograph taken in 1993?

As I said in my earlier post, hope the event goes well. Here's hoping Nigel beats Garry!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

To avoid any confusion -
The dinner is independent of the ECF, the Staunton Society, FIDE and another other organisation. It is a private event run and organised by me personally so any criticisms, complaints or comments should be directed to me and no-one else.

I have previously stated where the funds raised will be allocated so everybody wins.

I *think* I read that somewhere else, but there is such a lot on this forum it is difficult to find the earlier threads sometimes. Is it possible for a link to the previous statement?

Found it! It was buried in page 19 of 21 in the "What am I doing?" thread:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 188#p31188

Is that the previous statement about allocation of funds?

[David Sedgwick]

To avoid any confusion -
The dinner is independent of the ECF, the Staunton Society, FIDE and another other organisation. It is a private event run and organised by me personally so any criticisms, complaints or comments should be directed to me and no-one else.

I have previously stated where the funds raised will be allocated so everybody wins.

I *think* I read that somewhere else, but there is such a lot on this forum it is difficult to find the earlier threads sometimes. Is it possible for a link to the previous statement?

Found it! It was buried in page 19 of 21 in the "What am I doing?" thread:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 188#p31188

Is that the previous statement about allocation of funds?

I think that CJ was actually referring to his post of 8th July in this thread.

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 7&start=15

[Matthew Turner]

C.J. has previously stated
"1. This event is independent of the ECF...its only main connection is that the President is organising it
2. I have already secured an exclusive sponsorship deal and am hoping to reveal another to help with future British Championships
3. I provided some of the initial funds myself and am handling all the finances personally...these will be available for public scrutiny when the event is over
4. A number of very high profile guests have already confirmed their attendance (guaranteeing maximum media exposure) as well as several guests of a 'financially agreeble persuasion'
5. 50% of all profits will go to the Karpov 2010 campaign, 40% to the British Championships 2011 (I have previously stated those players I have secured), 5% to a chess based charity (suggestions are welcomed) 5% to the ECF (to be used in the manner suggested by the ECF Council)"

I would make a couple of points
1. It is a fact that as an ECF Director, you have to do things outside of the organisation, otherwise they just don't get done!
2. There is still some leeway for the event to pay Ray Keene, or the Staunton Society for organising the event (indeed there may be nothing wrong with this), but I am reassured by C.J.'s commitment to publish accounts afterwards. I sincerely hope that he will stick to this.
3. I think we all agree that this will be a very positive event for British Chess and that C.J. has done a very good job as ECF President. We need to give him our support on this one and I'm sure everythying will work out very positively.

[cjdemooi]

The accounts will be published and no-one is being paid a penny

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Did you change your mind about the eBay auction?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0470676900

[cjdemooi]

The eBay idea wasn't going to work. However, as I've been asked repeatedly to put a pair of tickets up for bidding, I'm going to offer a mini auction on this forum instead!

The lot is 2 tickets for the entire evening, at a starting price of £50. Place your bids below so everyone can see what's going on and the winning bid will be the last received by the end of Wednesday 25th August (with an 11.59pm time stamp on the posting)

5% of all proceeds go to charity and 5% go to Women's chess in the UK so 2 good causes to start with.