Carl Hibbard wrote:David Sedgwick wrote:Chris Wardle wrote:I'm sure all this FIDE/ECU/World Championship stuff is fascinating, but I can't see what difference it makes to chess players in Northumbria and so I make no apologies for my blissful ignorance. Mr. Paulson seems to have a plan to bring more money and organisation to the chess that's actually taking place in England, so I vote we let him get on with it.
Please could I ask you to (re-)read Points xii and xiii of David Openshaw's comments in the draft minutes at the start of the thread.
Also:
x. DO felt undermined by AP even though various discussions were held. DO was
particularly disturbed by the proposed creation of the Anglophone Group and AP’s
dealings with Rupert Jones.
What is
the Anglophone
group?
If you accept that neither of the candidates for President of FIDE is adequate, then you begin to look beyond personalities and get down to work on ideas. How can the ECF take a leadership role in FIDE and keep its hands clean? (And, why would anyone on the Board object to this?!?!?!) There's a Francophone Committee, so why not an Anglophone Committee?
Mission Statement: The ECF seeks to take a more active role in chess play and governance outside of England. Through this Committee, the ECF will engage with and seek to influence FIDE, the ECU, the Commonwealth Chess Association, and the British Isles Coordinating Committee; the resulting positive influence will bring benefits both to English chess and chess in general.
Purpose: This Committee is to be made up of former and current members of FIDE Commissions from anglophone countries. It will be a lobbying organisation both for people and for ideas: it will advocate anglophone candidates to FIDE Commissions and will advocate issues of interest to its members. The Committee would meet regularly at the Commonwealth Chess Tournament, the FIDE General Assembly and/or the Congress meetings.
First Steps: Meet in Lausanne with Chairmen of all the Commissions and identify openings on Commissions to be filled in Tromsø this summer. Establish the procedures required for getting names on lists or getting candidates elected with the FIDE Executive Director.
Second Steps: Committee Members are to propose potential candidates and determine willingness to serve. Establish priorities and begin lobbying for to get them on appropriate Commissions.
Illustrative List of Former and Present Anglophone FIDE Commissioners: David Jarrett, David Anderton, Nigel Freeman, Rupert Jones, Jana Bellin, Jon Speelman, Nick Faulks, Lawrence Cooper, Graham Boxall, Kevin O’Connell, Nigel Short, David Sedgwick, Stewart Reuben, Hal Bond, Shaun Press, Francois Styrdom, Gerry Walsh, Raymond Keene, Steve Doyle, David Levy, Bill Kelleher, Carol Jarecki (British Virgin Isles), Beatriz Marinello, Don Shultz, Walter Brown, Ruth Haring, Michael Khodarkovsky, Allan Herbert (Barbados), Margaret Murphy (US Virgin Islands) and Wilkinson (Jamaica), Dabilani Buthali (Botswana), and many more...
List of FIDE Commissions: Anti-Cheating Commission (ACC), Arbiters' Commission (ARB), Chess in Schools Commission (CIS), Commission for Modernization of FIDE Commission for Women's Chess (WOM), Commission for World Championships & Olympiads (WCO), Commission of Chess Journalists (CCJ), Constitutional Commission (CON), Development Commission (DEV), Electoral Commission (ELE), Events Commission (EVE), Ethics Commission (ETH), Medical Commission (MED), Qualification Commission (QC), Technical Commission (TEC), Rules and Tournament Regulations (RTR), Systems of Pairings and Programs (SPP), Social Action Commission (SAC), Social Projects Commission (SPC), Trainers' Commission (TRG), Verification Commission (VER)
Note: Malcolm Pein, Sean Hewitt and Alex Holowczak, among others, were eager to be put on Commissions under this initiative.