Which Candidate Should the ECF Support in the FIDE Presidential Election? (Take 2)

[JustinHorton]

Everybody off to CAS? Surely not.

[NickFaulks]

It suggests that Balgabaev has tried to bribe Arab federations."

It's a bit late for that, since it would appear that their votes were secured some time ago.

Makropoulos Letter to Arab Chess Federation 24.7.18.png (302.43 KiB) Viewed 1335 times

The reference to QC just means that following the latest changes to our regulations you cannot get a direct GM title unless your rating has reached 2300, IM 2200 etc.

[Richard Bates]

The reference to QC just means that following the latest changes to our regulations you cannot get a direct GM title unless your rating has reached 2300, IM 2200 etc.

Out of interest, if a minimum rating is going to be introduced for direct titles, why should it do anything other than align with the usual minimum rating? I can understand a single tournament result replacing the usual requirement for 3 norms, but why should the rating requirement (if it is to exist) be set at a different level?

[NickFaulks]

Out of interest, if a minimum rating is going to be introduced for direct titles, why should it do anything other than align with the usual minimum rating?

There never used to be any minimum rating at all attached to these titles, and it was a huge fight to get to where we are now. If Makro wins, it would not surprise me if one of the first actions of the new QC were to reverse the change.

[Alex Holowczak]

Nigel:

"Exciting Development Commission meeting this morning. At some point the atmosphere became mutinous when it became pretty clear that no one - not even the FIDE Treasurer - knew exactly how the large budget had been spent."

I'm sure Dr Siegel will respond shortly in his usual calm manner...

The meeting of the Development Commission was the unexpected location of the first ever meeting between Nigel Short and Adrian Siegel. They shook hands and Short invited Siegel to vote for him.

They locked horns again in the Verification Commission meeting later that day. They seemed to find some common ground on the issue of Agon's non-payments.

[Chris Rice]

Managing Director of the Russian Chess Federation, Mark Gluhovsky, posted a blog with an analysis of FIDE's chess budget over the years 2009-2018. The basic conclusion seems to be that FIDE spent 85% of the money it received on itself.

Regarding the "flyers" issue, Makro says:

We filed a Police Report about the EXPO incident as our increasingly nervous rivals are turning into sore losers. As we have demonstrated on multiple occasions, FIDEForward does not tolerate neither "dream purchases" nor threats, violence and hooliganism."

[David Sedgwick]

Out of interest, if a minimum rating is going to be introduced for direct titles, why should it do anything other than align with the usual minimum rating? I can understand a single tournament result replacing the usual requirement for 3 norms, but why should the rating requirement (if it is to exist) be set at a different level?

There never used to be any minimum rating at all attached to these titles, and it was a huge fight to get to where we are now. If Makro wins, it would not surprise me if one of the first actions of the new QC were to reverse the change.

It was a compromise which I suggested. The Qualification Commission wished to scrap these titles altogether; the Development Commission wished to keep things as they were.

[Chris Rice]

Head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, in a message shown at Dvorkovich's party tonight.

"There are many synergies between FIFA and FIDE and maybe, why not, we could think about, in the future, cooperating in certain areas."

Jonathan Tisdall with some keen observations on the flyers incident:

"I was really puzzled by Makro people saying they were glad it had been captured on film when it starts with minutes of Makro Jr. trying to prevent journalism on the grounds it isn't journalism. Then suddenly they're happy to have a witness. Skeptical that the lesson is learned..."

Here's the incident on video again with the journalist from chess.com being harassed at the start and then invited by the same person to carry on filming a few moments later.

Nigel is really giving FIDE a hard time over the financials. This is something he really does well:

"From the FIDE Verification Commission:
The subsequent events note #6 in the audited financial statement says that as of June 28 there were no events or transactions of note since 12-31-17. Does having your bank shut down not rate a mention?"

[Chris Rice]

Not long to go now and the final list of who can vote and who is holding the proxies has been published by FIDE. 185 federations in total but Antigua, Haita not entitled to vote as provisional members, Bulgaria temporarily excluded and Serbia banned from voting following the EC case. 93 is the magic number for the Candidates to reach on the first round.

[NickFaulks]

Antigua, Haita not entitled to vote as provisional embers

In Antigua's case that is quite proper, but the Haiti case is yet another outrage. At the Constitutional Commission meeting It was explained by the Chairman that Haiti has been a full member for decades but their President recently died without leaving proper succession planning in place. The officials who took up his mantle needed to fill out some forms and were somehow tricked into applying for provisional membership, meaning that they lost their vote.

When this came to light they took their case to Electoral Commission, of which he is ex officio Chairman, and he personally felt it was rock solid, but that group is packed with appointees of Makro allies so that was the end of Haiti.

[JustinHorton]

Nigel is really giving FIDE a hard time over the financials. This is something he really does well

It is a shame that he never did quite so well when it came to the financial irregularities of his friends in English chess, including the period when he was an officeholder.

[Chris Rice]

Nigel is really giving FIDE a hard time over the financials. This is something he really does well

It is a shame that he never did quite so well when it came to the financial irregularities of his friends in English chess, including the period when he was an officeholder.

Perhaps he has learnt from his earlier experiences? Nigel:

"FIDE does not use internationally accepted accounting standards (IFRS) in its financial statements. Is this because FIDE has never heard of them, or because it suits some other purpose not to? Why, for example, is there no cash flow statement?"

[JustinHorton]

Perhaps he has learnt from his earlier experiences?

A more plausible view is that one set of experiences involve his opponents and another set involved his friends.

[Alex Holowczak]

Nigel is really giving FIDE a hard time over the financials. This is something he really does well

It is a shame that he never did quite so well when it came to the financial irregularities of his friends in English chess, including the period when he was an officeholder.

Nigel made some of the points he is tweeting about during the Verification Commission meeting. I think the main reason he is able to make these points is that he is getting good information from Allen Priest, who is the President of the United States Chess Federation. Priest has a Masters in Accounting, which I know because he mentioned it twice in 10 minutes when asking a question about precisely which year the provisions for bad debts covered, and there was a disagreement between him and the VC Chairman.

[NickFaulks]

Perhaps he has learnt from his earlier experiences? Nigel:

Nigel swung a lot of wild punches, some below the belt, but the odd one did get home.

Personally I have no problem with the presentation of the FIDE accounts. IFRS or otherwise, accounts are nearly always opaque and with FIDE's you can at least ask the Treasurer a question and get an answer. The incumbent is a lot more reasonable in discussion than his written outbursts would suggest and if he is unhappy about something himself he is willing to say that.