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

[Alex Holowczak]

The trouble with being a former competitor on "Countdown" is that I notice that "Glen Stark" is an anagram of "Strangle K", which should either worry Kirsan or me...

I was looking for anagrams of Glen Stark a few days ago, but rather than think about it for myself, I took the 21st century approach - I typed it into an anagram checker I found on Google. Having seen the options that resulted from it, I think we can chalk this up as a win for the humans.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I think we can chalk this up as a win for the humans. "

Thanks Alex - I'm grateful the 9 letters "HOLOWCZAK" never turned up on the programme...

[Alex Holowczak]

"I think we can chalk this up as a win for the humans. "

Thanks Alex - I'm grateful the 9 letters "HOLOWCZAK" never turned up on the programme...

Apparently there are three sixes, one of which is "WHACKO". How appropriate.

[NickFaulks]

Whacko Loz

[JustinHorton]

Heh

Arf

[LawrenceCooper]

Whacko Loz

[Chris Rice]

In a letter dated 12 May 2018 the FIDE Treasurer gives more information on where FIDE's money is now being housed and continues to snipe at Nigel Short and invites him to come to Athens to look at the relevant documents.
One thing that concerns me is where the Treasurer responds to Nigel's KYC comments with a statement that he should go to the Compliance Officers of the Trusts where the money is now held. I was expecting to see a statement referencing the due diligence from the person responsible for Compliance matters at FIDE and the fact that no such statement is there leads me to the conclusion that none was undertaken on the Trusts that have been named.
I did a quick check myself and it seems unlikely to me that either Trust would have compliance officers worthy of the name anyway:
Kei Trading Services Ltd (Hong Kong) was incorporated on 4 March 2010 and is a private limited company. No idea who the shareholders are so for "transparency" purposes one would wish to know that.
Arkion SA (Switzeland) is basically a wealth management company. Switzerland is notorious for not being rigorous on money laundering and all they require firms to do is basically self register that they have procedures in place but its very rare this is ever followed up.

It also struck me as odd that UBS allowed FIDE to move the money in the first place and the only chink of light I can see is that perhaps UBS did their own due diligence on the two Trusts concerned before they allowed the transaction to happen. Or perhaps they insisted that FIDE show them the due diligence that had been done before allowing the transaction to go ahead.

[Steven DuCharme]

Alpha-Zero for FIDE president!!

[JustinHorton]

Heh

Arf

Buzan!

Maybe he knows Nigel from his days with the British Olympic Chess Squad.

[Chris Rice]

Peter Doggers article on latest developments.

"Questions remain, such as whether the two trust companies in Switzerland and Hong Kong are reliable, and whether the recent actions of FIDE officials have followed the correct procedures. A more general question is whether FIDE could have avoided the loss of their UBS account, and the legal costs connected to this."

[Roger Lancaster]

I did a quick check myself and it seems unlikely to me that either Trust would have compliance officers worthy of the name anyway.

I'm a little out-of-date on this sort of thing but, where a trust has been set up by a single person/entity for the ultimate benefit of that person/entity, in this case presumably FIDE, I wouldn't see the obvious need for a compliance officer. The need for such an officer would seem more compelling in the case of a trust, or other financial instrument with multiple investors, to ensure equity as between the various investors.

[Chris Rice]

Africa Chess Media interview with Nigel Short. Highlights:

What would you say to people who are concerned that you might lack the necessary business experience?

Nigel Short: It’s quite true that I have never discussed business deals with genocidal dictators. However, I have never had the slightest difficulty opening or keeping bank accounts, and quite frankly I think that already puts me well ahead of the other two.

Are you not worried about splitting or fragmenting the votes?

Nigel Short: People who supported Kirsan in the previous election… a lot of them will vote for Kirsan or Makropolous again. I think Makroplous is currently the front runner. Kirsan is finished in my view. In 2014, Kirsan ran against Garry Kasparov, who is a well-known critic of Putin. This enabled Kirsan to garner support totalling millions of dollars. However, things have changed. Kirsan is not as rich as he claims and he is no longer enjoying the support he is used to. He is much weaker. He barely got the backing of his own federation.

Does this mean that your playing days in chess could be coming to an end?

Nigel Short: In the short term there will obviously be a reduction in the amount of chess that I will personally be able to play. Obviously if I am elected, this will be a very different ball game. This will impact quite significantly on my chess. I am not thinking about this right now. The one thing I can say is that I have played in every single Chess Olympiad since 1984. I don’t know of many other chess players who have similar records. This will be the first time since 1984 that I do not take part in the Chess Olympiad as a player.

[NickFaulks]

The one thing I can say is that I have played in every single Chess Olympiad since 1984.

If you count Calvia 2004 and Tromso 2014.

[JustinHorton]

Africa Chess Media interview with Nigel Short. Highlights:

My highlight was "Thank you, once again Grand master Nigel Short for this incredible opportunity" at the end. Chess journalism at its most searching.

[Mick Norris]

Africa Chess Media interview with Nigel Short. Highlights:

My highlight was "Thank you, once again Grand master Nigel Short for this incredible opportunity" at the end. Chess journalism at its most searching.

As highlighted in the comments

I am afraid that in order to keep good relations, the journalist did not make important follow up questions to Nigel Short. What does he mean “minimum requirements” for federations? My federation is from a very poor country with a civil war every several years, like many African countries. You want to un-recognise federations like ours, whilst the only thing that help us up until now is being related to FIDE .

Confirmation though that Nigel won't be playing in the England team, so wonder if Adams, Howell, Joes, McShane & in particular Sadler are all available