Martin Regan wrote:For what it’s worth, I had expected to be supporting AP in this election – as it seemed to me to be a cultural clash; a choice between a successful entrepreneur, with a tendency toward charisma, exaggeration and bull**** ,like most of the breed - a breed which, in passing, tends to achieve things - or a quiet philatelist, bumbling along meaning no harm.
On that level it really is a no-brainer.
But the question of AP’s relationship with the FIDE leadership will simply not go away . It is, as I have often argued, a moral question. What type of man would offer help or aid to such a leadership?
Having AP as President would be a good thing. Having a President who thinks the FIDE leadership is OK, would be repugnant.
Unless and until AP makes clear his distaste of the FIDE leadership, I am a hugely reluctant supporter of the stamp collector
Martin,
I posted this today. Does this not adequately address your question?
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For better or for worse, the EC Forum is currently the only forum for understanding the moods and concerns of an important part of the chess community. I have been reading it assiduously in the past weeks and there is an issue that seems to me to be exercising the commentators that I’d like to address now leading up to the Elections on Saturday: my views on the next FIDE Presidential Election. I want directly to address the concerns of the many contributors to the Forum who will not be at the AGM. And, as I only will have five minutes for a presentation and questions during the election phase of tomorrow’s AGM, posting it here will free time for more pertinent questions.
FIDE vs. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
I have said that it is important to separate our position vis-a-vis the current President of FIDE and FIDE the institution/organization itself. I would recommend that as a member of FIDE the ECF engage and attempt to influence FIDE on issues that the ECF feels are important either ‘interestedly’ as they relate to English chess or ‘disinterestedly’ as they relate to matters of principle and reputation on a larger worldwide stage. Of course, the ECF could decide against this path as on any other issue.
Paulson (possible President of ECF) vs. Paulson (Owner of AGON) vs. Paulson (Private Individual)
As to the current President of FIDE, my position vis-a-vis him may be divided into three angles of view: my position were I to be elected as President of the ECF, my position as the owner of a business with FIDE as the principal counter-party, and my position as a private individual. As the President of the organization with only a symbolic voice I would reflect the views of that organization, whatever they might be, in a frank and unambiguous manner. Similarly, the FIDE Delegate with a material vote would always vote to represent his best understanding of the views of the ECF.
As a businessman via AGON, my relationship is with FIDE the permanent institution and not with its transient leader. (This is why my fear of Kasparov reviewing the contract were he to be elected President is a red herring and also why to date I have tried to be agnostic vis-a-vis FIDE politics.) The AGON contract was negotiated with FIDE with no intervention from the President. The FIDE side of the ‘interface’ which is designed to make day-to-day decisions regarding the relationship is made up of Nigel Freeman and Georgios Makropoulos.
As a private individual, I have repeatedly stated my views on the matter. I feel that it is time for Kirsan to go for many reasons. The most clear and unequivocal is that he and his apparat have been around too long and it is always good to introduce new blood into an organization. The stories of the assassination of a journalist, meetings with murderous tyrants, meetings with chess-playing aliens, have all cast disrepute onto chess and FIDE and made him easy to demonise. Fortunately, Kirsan can also lay claim to many ambassadorial achievements in spreading competitive chess and chess in schools around the world and organizational achievements in creating within FIDE an efficient bureaucratic system for dealing with complex issues affecting chess the game and chess the sport. But, I state unambiguously, its time for a change.
The only step I cannot make is a whole-hearted endorsement of Garry Kasparov at this time. There are several reasons: (a) I don’t believe he is a leader of men but rather oppositional, confrontational and ultimately a bully; (b) although his political wrath against the current FIDE administration is genuine and heartfelt, I suspect that he may be his own first priority; (c) he will stand for election using many of the same unsavory tactics as his opponent even though even by his own account, he’ll likely lose (Wouldn’t it be better to run a clean campaign with a clean ticket and lose? That’s a ticket I’d join shoulder by shoulder with Garry!); (d) by spending many millions in an attempt to win the election he will be taking money away from the pool of benevolent funding available for chess and spending it on a quixotic adventure (much as he forced $millions which otherwise would have gone to chess to be spent in the two failed lawsuits against FIDE).
Therefore, I have repeatedly stated that although my natural position would be to support abstention on principle, I will recuse myself from all discussions and voting in the Board, if I am elected, on the subject of voting in the FIDE election. (Nigel Short, the Candidate for FIDE Delegate, has made the point that in an election you vote for the best, not necessarily the good. It is a valid point, though not unarguable.) Further, I will recuse myself on any other subject that the NEDs feel presents a conflict of interest between the duties of an ECF President and an individual engaged in business around chess.