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

[JustinHorton]

I mean in all seriousness, good Googling, and people should definitely do this, but I doubt any of us knows the reliability of any of the four stories in the two posts above this one, or the status of the sources which carry them. Still, that's the advantage of contests, each side has an interest in digging up dirt on the other. (Also see for instance Paulsen v Danailov some years back, if people recall.)

[Angus French]

The Makropoulos slate has a new candidate to replace the corrupt and disgraced Dr. Aguinaldo Jaime. Makro's announcement, HERE, offers fulsome praise for Jaime, but alas... Poor old Jaime is stepping aside, he says, "for personal reasons". Yep, that's understood: there are only so many hours in the day for a man to count up his wealth looted from the Angolan people.

Never mind. Step forward Chitalu Chilufya. Who he? Zambia's Minister of Health, and President of the ZCF. And what commends him to Makro; what skill-set does he bring?

You can judge from THIS.

And then there's THIS

And if that isn't enough, there's THIS!!

Nigel Short is already on the case. Let's hope Malcolm Pein is too

Also in Nigel Short's Twitter feed is the announcement that Bessel Kok has joined his campaign as Senior Advisor. Kok ran against Ilyumzhinov for FIDE President in 2006 (and, of course, lost). Then Kok joined forces with Ilyumzhinov to set up Global Chess which appears to have been a precursor to Agon... Just wondering if Kok is a suitable person for Nigel to have in his team given his past association with Ilyumzhinov and given Nigel's positioning as the clean-up-FIDE candidate?

[NickFaulks]

Also in Nigel Short's Twitter feed is the announcement that Bessel Kok has joined his campaign as Senior Advisor.

In 2006 I was briefly enthused with Bessel Kok's intervention, but unfortunately he fell in with the wrong crowd and his campaign became nothing more than a social jaunt. When it was over Kirsan, ever generous in victory, gave him half of the shares in his latest idea, Global Chess, which he later bought back. The project was never of any value and it was hardly as if Bessel needed the money, so it was all very odd.

Twelve years ago Nigel was Bessel's advisor, perhaps Senior Advisor, which contributed to that promising campaign going off the rails. It is not clear to to me that reversing the roles will produce a better result.

[Roger de Coverly]

In 2006 I was briefly enthused with Bessel Kok's intervention, but unfortunately he fell in with the wrong crowd and his campaign became nothing more than a social jaunt.

Isn't the verdict of history that he fought a clean campaign but was overcome by the FIDE establishment's usual support maintained by bribery, nepotism and corruption?

It was a novelty that anyone dared to challenge Kirsan. In his other home territory at the time, challengers took their life into their hands. By 2006, he had already been president for two and seven eights terms. Why wasn't it time for a new face and new approach?

[Carl Hibbard]

My interview with Chessbase https://en.chessbase.com/post/nigel-sho ... ew#discuss

For those of us who sometimes like to listen rather than read, the full interview with Macauley Peterson is available from the Perpetual Chess Podcast here.

Malcolm is episode 79 of the same podcast.

[JustinHorton]

In 2006 I was briefly enthused with Bessel Kok's intervention, but unfortunately he fell in with the wrong crowd and his campaign became nothing more than a social jaunt.

Isn't the verdict of history that he fought a clean campaign but was overcome by the FIDE establishment's usual support maintained by bribery, nepotism and corruption?

Depends who's writing it Rog

[JustinHorton]

Interview with Malcom Pein on Chessbase. I liked this bit:

An example of another reform Pein would like to see is that proxy votes should be limited to one per delegate

[Roger de Coverly]

Interview with Malcom Pein on Chessbase.

I was intrigued by this.

"I have someone who advises me — a veteran of many political campaigns — who gives me lots of advice — good advice — and he’s been proved right every time, and he said, ‘there will be surprises, there will be twists and turns that you haven’t anticipated’.

Do we think he's referring to someone in CSC or the ECF, or perhaps both.

[NickFaulks]

An example of another reform Pein would like to see is that proxy votes should be limited to one per delegate

That is of course the case now, and has been since 2012.

Why are both Nigel and Malcolm banging on about proxies, which are simply not an issue in FIDE? Are they perhaps overly influenced by their ECF background?

[NickFaulks]

Do we think he's referring to someone in CSC or the ECF, or perhaps both.

I fear we do.

[Roger de Coverly]

That is of course the case now, and has been since 2012.

That was one of the reforms instigated by Kasparov after the 2010 election.

Not being governed by UK law enables FIDE to restrict proxy votes. The ECF wouldn't be able to, or at least not without a major reconstruction.

[NickFaulks]

He also finds it distressing that the Ethics Commission is appointed rather than elected. It is of course elected, even if the 2014 elections of Commissions ( like most of that Congress ) were an organisational shambles.

He would like the remit of Verification Commission to be extended ( not clear that he realises it would be an extension ) to allow more timely oversight of FIDE's finances. I agree and have long argued for that but, as so often on the home front, it would be great if the ECF's Finance Committee did its job on a level even approaching that of VC.

[NickFaulks]

duplicate deleted

[David Sedgwick]

I was intrigued by this.

"I have someone who advises me — a veteran of many political campaigns — who gives me lots of advice — good advice — and he’s been proved right every time, and he said, ‘there will be surprises, there will be twists and turns that you haven’t anticipated’.

Do we think he's referring to someone in CSC or the ECF, or perhaps both.

I fear we do.

Whereas I hope we do. Malcolm will get excellent advice on such matters from that source.

[Roger de Coverly]

Malcolm will get excellent advice on such matters from that source.

Thinking back to the 2015 ECF election, the "none of the above" faction was distinctly successful. I don't think the man in question was backing that outcome.

If allowed, you wonder how "none of the above" would fare in a FIDE election.

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-agm-october-2105