Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

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Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Poll ended at Tue May 08, 2018 10:47 pm

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
1
2%
Georgios Makropoulos
8
14%
Nigel Short
33
59%
None of the Above
14
25%
 
Total votes: 56

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed May 23, 2018 10:30 pm

Carl Hibbard wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 8:24 pm
Mick Norris wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 12:17 pm
The poll on here is who should the ECF support, and my view is that None of the above is appropriate as none of the 3 candidates is suitable; I think an equally valid view if you do think 1 or more candidate is suitable, is that the ECF shouldn't support anyone publicly, as they will be choosing between Nigel & Malcolm, and a public support of either isn't desirable
I don't see that happening.
Which might be a shame.
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Chris Rice
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Chris Rice » Fri May 25, 2018 1:12 am

David Robertson wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 9:24 pm
Overruled. Overruled. By pluckily he stuck in there. Ah yes, such integrity. Such dedication to financial probity that he stuck it out. A real FIDE trooper! Frankly, an empty crisp packet could do a better job as Treasurer
After the latest letter from the FIDE Treasurer dated 24 May 2018 I am persuaded by David's view above. The financial questions tweeted by Nigel Short are again perfectly reasonable and are simply an attempt to drill down and find the chronological order of things and who agreed what, when and where. If the transfer of funds has been done correctly, meetings minuted noting when decisions were made, then the answers should be routine. Given the significance of moving all of FIDE's funds in such a manner I can see no reason why the Treasurer has to respond with such insults rather than just answering what was asked. His attitude is that he should be above reproach and that we should trust him at his word. Different kind of scale and circumstances of course but not being forceful enough with questioning and blindly trusting people did lead to some major financial scandals eg Barings, Madoff etc and one would have expected a Treasurer in a global organisation to be able to conduct himself better than this.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by JustinHorton » Fri May 25, 2018 7:15 am

We are urged to pursue "a clean-up of this organisation".
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Matthew Turner
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Matthew Turner » Fri May 25, 2018 8:40 am

To return to the question of the thread, in normal circumstances surely the answer would be quite easy.
Vote for Nigel in Round 1 and then Makro in Round 2 if it gets that far. That sends a signal that you want to see a more transparent organisation, but your vote counts.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri May 25, 2018 10:22 am

JustinHorton (quoting The Spectator) wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 7:15 am
to pursue "a clean-up of this organisation".
It's suggested that
to encourage the ECF to summon up their courage. Contact ECF President Dominic Lawson and International Director Malcolm Pein to express your support
I would imagine a sympathetic hearing from the former and a hostile one from the latter. But was the Spectator writer aware that before Nigel's announcement the FIDE Delegate was attempting to jump on a Makro ticket and presumably trying to take the ECF's vote with him?

NickFaulks
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by NickFaulks » Fri May 25, 2018 10:59 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 10:22 am
I would imagine a sympathetic hearing from the former
I would find that very surprising.
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Angus French
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Angus French » Fri May 25, 2018 11:01 am

Chris Rice wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 1:12 am
David Robertson wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 9:24 pm
Overruled. Overruled. By pluckily he stuck in there. Ah yes, such integrity. Such dedication to financial probity that he stuck it out. A real FIDE trooper! Frankly, an empty crisp packet could do a better job as Treasurer
After the latest letter from the FIDE Treasurer dated 24 May 2018 I am persuaded by David's view above. The financial questions tweeted by Nigel Short are again perfectly reasonable and are simply an attempt to drill down and find the chronological order of things and who agreed what, when and where. If the transfer of funds has been done correctly, meetings minuted noting when decisions were made, then the answers should be routine. Given the significance of moving all of FIDE's funds in such a manner I can see no reason why the Treasurer has to respond with such insults rather than just answering what was asked. His attitude is that he should be above reproach and that we should trust him at his word. Different kind of scale and circumstances of course but not being forceful enough with questioning and blindly trusting people did lead to some major financial scandals eg Barings, Madoff etc and one would have expected a Treasurer in a global organisation to be able to conduct himself better than this.
FIDE's assets are small - at the end of 2016 they stood at 1,149,945 Euros, not "millions". We know that FIDE's lawyers carried out due diligence on the trust organisations. I don't think there's any big issue here. Of greater concern might be FIDE's ability to receive and make payments in the short term (until banking services are resumed). I would guess that Dr Siegel views Short as an irritating twit on a fishing expedition. I would further guess that Short's campaign won't have gone down well with members of the General Assembly (those who vote in FIDE elections).

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Jon Tait
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Jon Tait » Fri May 25, 2018 2:36 pm

I voted for "None of the Above", but on further reflection... if Boris Johnson can be Foreign Secretary, Nigel Short can be FIDE President. I doubt we'll look much more ridiculous than we already do.
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Chris Rice
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Chris Rice » Sat May 26, 2018 2:10 pm

Leonard supporting Nigel with a piece in the Guardian. What struck me though was: "Makropoulos’s No 2 will be Malcolm Pein, the English Chess Federation’s international director". Is this definite then? I had thought his current position was that he didn't want to be disturbed on anything until after the Champions League final tonight. I checked his twitter feed but didn't see anything recent. Not a complete waste of time though as I thought this post was quite funny.

NickFaulks
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by NickFaulks » Sat May 26, 2018 2:33 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
Sat May 26, 2018 2:10 pm
Leonard supporting Nigel with a piece in the Guardian.
Leonard may well support Nigel, but that cannot be gleaned from this article.
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Chris Rice
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Chris Rice » Sat May 26, 2018 3:03 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Sat May 26, 2018 2:33 pm
Chris Rice wrote:
Sat May 26, 2018 2:10 pm
Leonard supporting Nigel with a piece in the Guardian.
Leonard may well support Nigel, but that cannot be gleaned from this article.
Fair comment.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed May 30, 2018 9:18 pm

The latest is that FIDE, or perhaps just the anti-Kirsan faction, are trying to set the Ethics Commission loose on Kirsan.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... ssion.html

NickFaulks
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by NickFaulks » Wed May 30, 2018 11:02 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Wed May 30, 2018 9:18 pm
The latest is that FIDE, or perhaps just the anti-Kirsan faction, are trying to set the Ethics Commission loose on Kirsan.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... ssion.html
There is obviously plenty of material to present to Ethics, but I sometimes wish Makro would let it go. It looks too much like kicking a man when when he is down.
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Brian Towers
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Re: Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election?

Post by Brian Towers » Thu May 31, 2018 10:51 am

NickFaulks wrote:
Wed May 30, 2018 11:02 pm
It looks too much like kicking a man when when he is down.
Spoken like a true English gentleman!
You wouldn't last long in a sporting competition with an Aussie. They understand that when your opponent is down is the time to kick them the hardest to make sure they don't get up again.

Seriously, Kirsan is standing for president. You can't be down and standing at the same time.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

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