ECF officers

[John Philpott]

As the deadline of 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday nears, the nominations for election item on the ECF website has been updated to reflect the state of play at lunchtime today. Particular developments of note are:

1. Chris Majer is standing for re-election as CEO. I understand that he has so far been nominated by six of the seven Constituent Units.

2. Peter Wilson is not standing for re-election as Director of Marketing.

3. There will be a contested election for President, as both C J de Mooi and John Paines have been nominated.

Although it has not yet reached the website, I understand that Mike Adams is standing for re-election as Chairman of the Finance Committee.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Any info to tell us about Mr Paines?

[John Upham]

Any info to tell us about Mr Paines?

Initial research reveals http://mpedia.dan.info/index.php?title=John_Paines

plus

http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/getre ... ef=126285D

plus

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/chess/THE%20 ... EAGUE.HTML

etc

A contested election is a good election. If there is a tie then I propose a "Quiz Off"!

[Roger de Coverly]

A contested election is a good election. If there is a tie then I propose a "Quiz Off"!

or even a five-minute game or two.

Elitist that I am, why shouldn't the ECF have a reasonably decent player as President?

[John Philpott]

Matt Mackenzie wrote

Any info to tell us about Mr Paines?

I assume that John will be providing an election address for circulation with the AGM papers. A few chess-specific facts of which I am aware are that he is a member of the ECF Governance Committee which I happen to chair, the representative member of the Bristol & District Chess League and a Direct Members' representative. He was, if I remember correctly, a member of the BCF Management Board at a time when the Bristol League had representation rights as a large payer of Game Fee.

[Matthew Turner]

I am actually perplexed. Are six of the seven constituent units saying that the Chess for Schools Project is a success? or are they nominating a CEO who isn't good for his word. I hope Chris will make a statement soon, but why bother if everybody is happy at the way things are.

[John Philpott]

The fact that Nigel Short's name does not currently appear on the list of "other nominations" on the website is purely down to a senior moment on the part of the Chairman of the Governance Committee. Nigel has, of course, been well and truly nominated. This oversight will be corrected in the morning.

There are still 13 hours and 24 minutes for further nominations if anybody feels up to the challenge (and can find support from "the requisitionists").

[John Upham]

A contested election is a good election. If there is a tie then I propose a "Quiz Off"!

or even a five-minute game or two.

Elitist that I am, why shouldn't the ECF have a reasonably decent player as President?

A rating is only a scalar quantity with no direction. I wouldn't dare to use someone's OTB rating to infer competency or otherwise as a President. Let us be fair on this.

[Roger de Coverly]

A few chess-specific facts of which I am aware are that he is a member of the ECF Governance Committee which I happen to chair, the representative member of the Bristol & District Chess League and a Direct Members' representative. He was, if I remember correctly, a member of the BCF Management Board at a time when the Bristol League had representation rights as a large payer of Game Fee.

So essentially an establishment nominee but someone that of whom most of the active chess players would say "who?".

I'm sure he's noted for his contributions to chess forums

[John Upham]

I wonder if Mr. Paines would support the appointment of GF Walsh as Chairman? Maybe he is the "safe pair of hands"? Maybe we will not find out until the puff of white smoke climbs up the AGM chimney!

[Roger de Coverly]

Maybe he is the "safe pair of hands"?

He is someone with near-zero national profile as "personality", organizer, arbiter or player. What do the local players (Bristol or WECU) think?

[William Metcalfe]

I can tell you the opinion off the NCCU on the matter of the ceo position.
Chris was left a rather nasty poison chalise to try and cleen up at least he has tried to do something with the project unlike messers walsh and wilson.We also said it was rather foolish off him to make the statement that he made.
But if it came to the point where the ECF had no ceo or it had a ceo there was only 1 logical decision to be made.

My fear maybe ungrounded was this lets say the ecf had no ceo what was there to stop a certain gerard walsh from offering his services i doubt most people here would really want that to happen.

[Peter Rhodes]

From an amateurs point of view (!), it would be nice if officers seeking election had an opportunity to submit an online prospectus indicating where they stand on various issues, how they intend to carry out their agenda, and most importantly, their track record and achievments to date within their chosen field of specialism or career.

With some of the rather extraordinary failures, is it not right to question the ability of a candidate to undertake the role they seek election for ?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Maybe he is the "safe pair of hands"?

He is someone with near-zero national profile as "personality", organizer, arbiter or player. What do the local players (Bristol or WECU) think?

I don't think I know him, and I played in the Bristol League for many years. This doesn't necessarily mean anything about his potential ability as a President, though.

[Paul Buswell]

Any info to tell us about Mr Paines?

I suggest his senior position within British Mensa offers certain synergies; and I remember him as solid and pragmatic. I look forward to seeing the election addresses.

I don't like putting questions via fora, but as I know John Philpott actively reads and posts....

John: will the Agenda and all supporting papers go on the ECF site, or be available on request? My concern as a club chairman is that I want to lobby those who represent us on ECF Council as to how they should vote - I do not expect them to be pro-active in seeking my club's views - and to do this I need the Agenda of course....

PB