FIDE Delegate Election, Short v Jones

[John Upham]

Personally I think there's a case for voting for somebody who doesn't hide what he's up to from the people who are invited to vote for him.

Here is someone who fits your criteria:

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[Martin Regan]

Sometimes, I simply do not understand chess players.

There is an election between the greatest ever English GM, with a track record of fighting corruption in FIDE, at his own risk, (Ok, he's a bit of a gob sh**e) You put against him a Botswana/ Papua New Guinea FM and FIDE bureaucrat and you think it should be a serious contest??

My only knowledge of Rupert Jones was when I stood for election as CEO with Nigel as my FIDE candidate - Jones choose to speak at the meeting , though he was stepping down as international director, (Nigel was at a tournament) and Jones,elegantly I have to say, ripped into Nigel's personality "I like him but...type of thing" Nigel was duly defeated, Gerry Walsh won. Shortly after being elected, various ECF establishment figures smooched up to me to tell me how I'd got FIDE "all wrong". If memory serves I was offered an all expenses paid trip to Switzerland to see "How the FIDE family works" . I turned it down.

[Gavin Strachan]

Although I thought Nigel's speech when he was elected was a touch ropey, when he came and did the simul at Brentwood he was fantastic in all respects and a great example for English chess.

[Gerard Killoran]

Sometimes, I simply do not understand chess players.

There is an election between the greatest ever English GM, with a track record of fighting corruption in FIDE, at his own risk, (Ok, he's a bit of a gob sh**e) You put against him a Botswana/ Papua New Guinea FM and FIDE bureaucrat and you think it should be a serious contest??

My only knowledge of Rupert Jones was when I stood for election as CEO with Nigel as my FIDE candidate - Jones choose to speak at the meeting , though he was stepping down as international director, (Nigel was at a tournament) and Jones,elegantly I have to say, ripped into Nigel's personality "I like him but...type of thing" Nigel was duly defeated, Gerry Walsh won. Shortly after being elected, various ECF establishment figures smooched up to me to tell me how I'd got FIDE "all wrong". If memory serves I was offered an all expenses paid trip to Switzerland to see "How the FIDE family works" . I turned it down.

Of course it wouldn't be a serious contest if were a chess match, but this is an election for a delegate to an international body. Perhaps you would prefer 'a bit of a gob sh**e' to represent English chess abroad but in an arena where making friends and building alliances is all-important, 'megaphone diplomacy' often secures the opposite results of what was wanted in the first place. However it was more of a case of gob shut when it came to informing the ECF and its members about his disastrous court case.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Andrew, do you actually hold elections for the positions in YCA? One member one vote?

As Peter Shaw said there is rarely a contested election (I vaguely remember one from over ten years ago but may be mistaken) but it is one member, one vote - although they have to be sufficently bothered to attend the AGM in the first place.

[Paul McKeown]

Sometimes, I simply do not understand chess players.

There is an election between the greatest ever English GM, with a track record of fighting corruption in FIDE, at his own risk, (Ok, he's a bit of a gob sh**e) You put against him a Botswana/ Papua New Guinea FM and FIDE bureaucrat and you think it should be a serious contest??

My only knowledge of Rupert Jones was when I stood for election as CEO with Nigel as my FIDE candidate - Jones choose to speak at the meeting , though he was stepping down as international director, (Nigel was at a tournament) and Jones,elegantly I have to say, ripped into Nigel's personality "I like him but...type of thing" Nigel was duly defeated, Gerry Walsh won. Shortly after being elected, various ECF establishment figures smooched up to me to tell me how I'd got FIDE "all wrong". If memory serves I was offered an all expenses paid trip to Switzerland to see "How the FIDE family works" . I turned it down.

Brilliant post, Martin!

Given the nature of FIDE, I think a motor-mouthed gobshite with the hide of a rhinoceros is a basic requirement for the post of FIDE Delegate. Those who complain that NS hid things are way of beam; he made his agenda abundantly clear long before he was elected: to give FIDE's President (a tyrant not shy of political assassination and a barking lunatic to boot) hell. As for Jones. Pffft.

Your recollection of the establishment's blandishments was memorably put.

[JustinHorton]

Those who complain that NS hid things are way of beam; he made his agenda abundantly clear long before he was elected

Unfortunately this is a non-sequitur.

[Paul McKeown]

Non sequitur?

From someone who randomly drops these words into a thread without any attempt to explain his thoughts?

Pardon me, but I'm presently grinning from the incongruity, ear to ear.

Justin, you will have to try better than that. F for effort, F for clarity of expression, U for thesis.

[JustinHorton]

To announce one's general agenda is not to announce one's specific actions, is it?

[Paul McKeown]

No. It isn't. But NS has never been empowered as a plenipotentiary to act in a vacuum.

[Jonathan Rogers]

or, more simply, the fact that he expressed opposition to FIDE before the election does not mean that he did not later hide the part of the ECF in taking a legal action of questionable importance against FIDE which was guaranteed to make us social pariahs.

[Gerard Killoran]

he made his agenda abundantly clear

But not his actions, which is the point.

If enough people want 'a motor-mouthed gobshite with the hide of a rhinoceros' then I suppose that's what you'll get - but I suspect that's all you'll get.

As for Karparov 'coming after' Kirsan. He's tried that and failed. Remember when he did the same with Campomanes, then became his ally?

Take a look at Bareev's account http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/b ... rov-karpov of Karpov and Kasparv's interventions in chess politics. It doesn't make pleasant reading.

[Paul McKeown]

"Kasparov 'coming after' Kirsan" is not something I ever mentioned, but seeing as you have. Kasparov's character, warts and all, is well enough known amongst chess players. As a figurehead he has value, whether in the fight for decency in FIDE's governance, or in Russia's internal struggle for democracy. That being said, he would be a very dangerous character to give actual power to. One might doubt that he has the necessary self-restraint. A better campaigner than leader.

[JustinHorton]

But if the choice between Short and Jones, is the same choice as Kasparov or Ilyumzhinov, it is a very easy decision for me.

Fortunately or otherwise, though, it is not. It is decidedly more complicated.

[JustinHorton]

Kirsan appears to be evil and mad. Literally, without hyperbole.

Really?

Evil I can sort-of go with, though it's kind of a religious concept and not especially helpful. But mad? You might mean the aliens business, but I'm not sure that's madder than many other things believed by otherwise sane chessplayers.