English Chess Forum

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:26 pm

Jon Tait wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:53 pm

He's mentioned briefly in this document...

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/ ... NAL710.pdf

Good find.

Yes.

I think Kevin Spraggett is somewhat overestimating the reach of this forum.

Link (if you dare)
http://www.spraggettonchess.com/monday-coffee-33/

This I found a bit odd at first, but there is a lot of sense behind it. One of the prevailing beliefs over on the English Chess Forum for example, is that ‘none of the above’ is a fairly large minority this time around as opposed to previous FIDE elections. All of Short, Makro and Kirsan have numerous ‘natural’ detractors.

The first round of voting will likely see this as the predominant sentiment, the reasoning goes. When Short is eliminated (and assuming Makro is still hanging in) then the predominant sentiment loses its edge and … turns into sympathy for Kirsan’s long and generous reign as president since 1995.

The poll is just expressing the views of the readership of the forum, predominately English players and organisers, one presumes. It's normal in ECF elections to have "None of the Above" as a candidate and that candidate has been victorious on at least two or three occasions. Memorably it vetoed Malcolm Pein on his first attempt to become an ECF non-Exec director and it dismissed Phil Ehr from his CEO post before he moved on to bigger electorates as a candidate to become a member of the US Congress.

I don't think any inferences can be drawn as how the FIDE electorate would vote, even if one or two are suspected of reading the forum.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:05 pm

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:26 pm

Good find.

Yes.

courtesy of Macauley Peterson on Twitter

Lekan Adeyemi, the Nigeria Chess Federation president, the first name announced on Nigel's ticket.

The excellent "New in Chess" , 2018 4, gives Nigel Short two pages on "Why am I running for FIDE President" which concludes with " federations can choose either 1) Kirsan-the man who has brought FIDE to the brink of oblivion 2} Makro-the Kirsan continuity candidate 3)me".

Am I alone in thinking the whole article seemed short on positive reasons for supporting Nigel? What are the positive reasons? Is the Makro description reasonable? Would it be best for the ECF to abstain?

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:49 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:34 pm

So are we suggesting he's not an improvement on Kirsan?!

I'm not sure what metrics might be used for assessing kleptocrats - weight of bullion? proportion of GDP? suitcases of cash? Prof Adrian Siegel will be able to guide Dr Aguinaldo Jaime in handling insolent questions from Nigel Short on the matter, while receiving in return ample guidance on international money transfers. Team Makro is starting to come together in the best FIDE tradition

@Roger: 2010; February 4th

According to Malcolm Pein, Dr Aguinaldo Jaime is no longer on Makro's ticket.

IanCalvert wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:19 pm

The excellent "New in Chess" , 2018 4, gives Nigel Short two pages on "Why am I running for FIDE President" which concludes with " federations can choose either 1) Kirsan-the man who has brought FIDE to the brink of oblivion 2} Makro-the Kirsan continuity candidate 3)me".

Am I alone in thinking the whole article seemed short on positive reasons for supporting Nigel? What are the positive reasons? Is the Makro description reasonable? Would it be best for the ECF to abstain?

I also thought the piece was short of positive messages (and long on insults).

IanCalvert wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 12, 2018 2:19 pm

Am I alone in thinking the whole article seemed short on positive reasons for supporting Nigel?

Angus French wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:18 pm

I also thought the piece was short of positive messages

I don't think 'accentuating the positive' is going to feature that prominently in this campaign. Let's not forget that Prof Aidrian Siegel, FIDE Treasurer & Makro slate-member, kicked it off with insults against Nigel Short for daring to ask pertinent questions. Short has now kicked back against Makro. Both have already slagged off Kirsan. I guess we'll have to look to Kirsan for that missing 'positivity', maybe when he announces a $50 billion fund for global chess development

LawrenceCooper wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:52 am

Lekan Adeyemi, the Nigeria Chess Federation president, the first name announced on Nigel's ticket.

Also Paul Spiller, President of the Oceania Chess Confederation, from New Zealand

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Fri May 11, 2018 3:28 pm

Possibly not the best use of a person's time to fret about Nigel abolishing the stalemate rule when Nigel has promised to abolish so much more, starting with that tottering pile of secrecy, incompetence and self-reproducing bureaucracy called FIDE. He's called for the dismissal of the entire Kirsan-era Nomenklatura and a reorganisation of the FIDE Apparat. He deserves to win a landslide. If players voted, he would

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 11, 2018 9:37 pm

Yet further proof, if any were needed, that even the best chessplayers are not fit to be allowed out alone. Quite simply, they don't know enough, don't read enough, don't think enough beyond their esoteric competence. Sutor, ne ultra crepidam iudicaret

Are you referring to Nigel or David, Justin? Maybe both?

(Oh, best chess players, OK, that makes it obvious...)

And for the classically challenged (most of us): Sutor, ne ultra crepidam.

"Sutor, ne ultra crepidam iudicaret"

I doubt that there is any such quotation. The grammar looks wrong. "Sutor", since it is followed by the comma, seems to be vocative, whereas the verb is in the third person. (I won't ask about the tense of "iudicaret").

There is such a quotation, but there is no comma after the sutor which is a nominative. I won't comment on the tense of iudicarel.

A translation (slightly more accurate than Roger's) might be "Cobblers can only talk cobblers", or more literally and formally "Shoemakers should stick to making judgements only on sandals"

The origin is Pliny (Elder) who tells a story of a cobbler who noticed that a sandal was misdrawn in a painting (or maybe it was a scupture) and remonstrated with the artist, who promptly corrected the mistake. Encouraged by this the shoemaker went on to make further criticisms and was rewarded with the above quotation.

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:31 pm

"Sutor, ne ultra crepidam iudicaret" I doubt that there is any such quotation

I'm pretty sure you're right. It's a 'compound' quotation, assembled (not entirely by me!) from several vaguely attributable sources in which neither 'sutor' nor 'iudicaret' always feature, and where 'supra' often substitutes for 'ultra'. The version provided allows (I intended) the easiest transfer of meaning: 'Cobbler/shoemaker (Sutor), don't judge (ne iudicaret) beyond your shoes (ultra crepidam)'. The comma is my error. I take the grammatical point there

Hazlitt used the phrase "ultracrepidarianism". There's also a proverb, let the cobbler stick to his last.