Kasparov vs Ilyumzhinov: the FIDE Presidency battle begins

[Carl Hibbard]

How many people are now being pressured not to post here?

[Chris Rice]

Isn't it just? I got asked by Bob Kane to post stuff to the new forum but apart from Nigel Short there isn't much feedback over there.

But why did he ask and should you be taking notice?

Well I guess he asked because he thought a stream of articles might encourage a few people to respond to get the new forum going. I am an ECF member at the end of the day so would like to show a bit of willing although I would have preferred it if you were running it as you have a great forum here and two forums are obviously a bit ridiculous.

It was nice to be asked to contribute which was the reason I did, no pressure was involved to not post on the EC Forum. However, if there continues to be little feedback and discussions then I'll stop wasting my time on the other forum. The AP allegations of him being bribed as ECF President are pretty explosive though so something as controversial as that should be addressed by the new forum I would have thought? Will they attempt to moderate it away? We shall see if RDC's fears are true or not!

[Carl Hibbard]

Fair enough thanks for your thoughts and posts Chris always welcomed.

[Roger de Coverly]

Mr. Paulsen, who is also the head of AGON, a company that organizes the World Chess Championship cycle, told Kommersant that he informed FIDE of what happened to him in May 2014.

May 2014 ? By that stage, AP was no longer ECF President and by virtue of the decision of the April 2014 Council meeting, no longer a representative of the ECF in any shape or form. So it's an attempt to obtain an endorsement from a private individual.

Even assuming it was during his brief presidency, did he disclose the attempt to the ECF Board? If not, why not? Most of his fellow directors and most of the voting membership were willing to see support given to the Kasparov ticket if only because of the ECF's long standing opposition to the current FIDE President remaining in office.

[Michael Farthing]

Most of his fellow directors and most of the voting membership were willing to see support given to the Kasparov ticket if only because of the ECF's long standing opposition to the current FIDE President remaining in office.

This is indeed the worrying part of the whole debate.

I remember the British Government backing Idi Amin because they said Obote was so bad..
I remember the US supporting the Taliban because it was better than a Russian Afghanistan..
We supported the opposition in Libya because Gadaffi was so bad...
More recently we were supporting the Syrian uprising (about which we knew nothing) because Assad is so bad..

All very tempting decisions at the time: all yielding unsatisfactory outcomes.

And when you can see what the alternative is like, greater care should be observed. Does anyone really want Kasparov out of choice?

P.S. The politics is illustratative: I am not going to participate in a flame war about politics, defend or even comment on my observations. They are for illustration only.

[Chris Rice]

Mr. Paulsen, who is also the head of AGON, a company that organizes the World Chess Championship cycle, told Kommersant that he informed FIDE of what happened to him in May 2014.

May 2014 ? By that stage, AP was no longer ECF President and by virtue of the decision of the April 2014 Council meeting, no longer a representative of the ECF in any shape or form. So it's an attempt to obtain an endorsement from a private individual.

Even assuming it was during his brief presidency, did he disclose the attempt to the ECF Board? If not, why not? Most of his fellow directors and most of the voting membership were willing to see support given to the Kasparov ticket if only because of the ECF's long standing opposition to the current FIDE President remaining in office.

My guess is that May 2014 is the date of the submission of a formal complaint by AP to the FIDE Ethics Commission regarding events that happened at a much earlier time when he was ECF President. Otherwise as you say it wouldn't make any sense.

[David Sedgwick]

My guess is that May 2014 is the date of the submission of a formal complaint by AP to the FIDE Ethics Commission regarding events that happened at a much earlier time when he was ECF President. Otherwise as you say it wouldn't make any sense.

I've no doubt that that's correct. To my certain knowledge Paulson was in contact with Aulin-Jansson in January 2014 and it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Danailov had contacted Paulson at about that time. I'd be amazed if Danailov contacted Paulson after the ECF Council Meeting in April 2014.

Mr. Paulsen (sic), who is also the head of AGON, a company that organizes the World Chess Championship cycle, told Kommersant that he informed FIDE of what happened to him in May 2014.

I imagine that that should read "Mr. Paulson, who is also the head of AGON, a company that organizes the World Chess Championship cycle, told Kommersant that he informed FIDE in May 2014 of what happened to him."

(The errors are Kommersant's, not Chris's. Edit: Actually not Kommersant, but the Ilyumzhinov website.)

[Roger de Coverly]

My guess is that May 2014 is the date of the submission of a formal complaint by AP to the FIDE Ethics Commission regarding events that happened at a much earlier time when he was ECF President.

The Ethics Commission is notoriously picky as to what it considers a valid complaint. Surely such a complaint should come from the ECF, rather than the official contacted?

[Chris Rice]

My guess is that May 2014 is the date of the submission of a formal complaint by AP to the FIDE Ethics Commission regarding events that happened at a much earlier time when he was ECF President.

The Ethics Commission is notoriously picky as to what it considers a valid complaint. Surely such a complaint should come from the ECF, rather than the official contacted?

The Ethics Commission does have specific criteria and procedures for complaints with clearly defined limits on what they can and can't do as seen from the links below. As I understand it anyone can make a complaint to them but I imagine if a national federation made the complaint then much like an MP complaining to a government department it will magically carry more weight.

http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... w=category

http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/Ethic ... lRules.pdf

http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/Ethic ... elines.pdf

[Roger de Coverly]

The Chess Drum site has the counter from the Kasparov site to the change of Delegate and change of Federation.

http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2014/0 ... -docs-fly/

In the context of the Gabon, the FIDE story is now that the organisation called AGED which had been a member of FIDE since 2007 had changed its name to AGE and then a new organisation also called AGED had been formed.

In the context of Afghanistan, it is noted that the organisation supposedly sacking the previous President has an internet profile no wider than the mystery chessnewsnetwork site, Kirsan's election site and those linking to one or both of these.

Precedent doesn't matter to FIDE, but if it did and this might be relevant in a Court, it is noted that faced with a dispute as to which is the legitimate federation, it sides with the one recognised by the National Olympic Committee. Examples quoted are the Philippines in 2000 and Russia in 1994.

Additionally there's a third case, so far unknown. This concerns the Netherlands Antilles which has ceased to exist as a country or statelet. They are making the case that the successor Federation for the major part of its territory, the island of Curacao, should be treated as a new member and thus denied a vote.

[NickFaulks]

They are making the case that the successor Federation for the major part of its territory, the island of Curacao, should be treated as a new member and thus denied a vote.

Only after a strenuous, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort to obtain that vote.

[Roger de Coverly]

My guess is that May 2014 is the date of the submission of a formal complaint by AP to the FIDE Ethics Commission regarding events that happened at a much earlier time when he was ECF President. Otherwise as you say it wouldn't make any sense.

A slightly more logical scenario is given by this website.
http://itar-tass.com/sport/1319854

which Google translates as

"I received an offer from the European Chess Federation President Silvio Danailov, who actively supports the 13th world champion (Garry Kasparov. - Approx. ITAR-TASS), as well as in a telephone conversation - from Kasparov himself to come to the talks, during which they offered discuss the conditions under which I could afford dirt on the current FIDE president - said the former president of the Chess Federation of England Andrew Paulson. - This compromising note does not exist. I replied that I would be willing to discuss joint projects for the development of chess, but does not that kind of dirty deals. They just do not have enough money to bribe me. "

So he was approached as to whether he would reveal more about the Agon deal, if the translation is to be relied on. Other than that snippet from FIDE's verification report about the amounts owed by Agon to FIDE, the financing of Agon remains a relative mystery.

[Chris Rice]

In the Itar-tass article there is an interesting statement above the quote you give which runs:

"In light of the numerous allegations of corruption related to the election of the FIDE President in 2014, I consider it my duty as president of FIDE urge all national chess federations to report any bugs or possible violations of the law and the code of ethics in the nearest FIDE, which will transmit the information the Commission on Ethics and Election Commission of FIDE."

So if the logic is that AP reported alleged bribery to KI who then acted as a filter to pass a complaint to the Ethics Commission then we have a huge conflict of interest here for KI. Of course neither of the Russian articles we have looked at today have cited specific details of the complaint submission.

I was looking back on AP's thread for the ECF Presidency back in 2013 and I found this AP quote on bribery:

(In response to Jonathan Rogers Sep 19 2013)

" 5) There is so little money involved in chess that I am always amused by the word 'bribery'; I'd call it more 'tips'. You recall when George Osborne was on the yacht of a Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska and it was reported that he was asking for £140k for the Tory Party? The response of the Russian press was that Deripaska would have been much more receptive if Osborne had been asking for £140m. But, no way around it, a whore is a whore at any price. How do you root out corruption in chess (I have heard about it, but never experienced it)? Its like training a dog: institutionalise the biscuit-giving and institute zero-tolerance."

So if after this AP was subject to attempted bribery while ECF President why was nothing said at the time?

[Roger de Coverly]

What should be made of this on the FIDE website?
http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... gress.html

It notes that Jersey and Scotland have not registered a delegate. Fair enough to issue a reminder given the problems with the Russian women's team.

But it's the second half that's a puzzle. What do they mean by

Federations that need to register a new delegate:

I happened to notice Fiji on that list. According to the Fiji website, they have decided to support you know who.
http://www.fijichess.com/fiji-support-f ... /#more-253
with the announcement signed as

Calvin Prasad
Acting-President / FIDE Delegate, Fiji Chess Federation

and who is it that FIDE think should be replaced?

Perhaps it was just as well that the ECF dumped AP as President, otherwise Nigel might have found himself on the "need to register a new delegate" list.

[Chris Rice]

This is interesting. A letter from the Ukrainian chess federation to the Canadian chess federation. I guess Kasparov was behind it and is perhaps still trying to get the Canadian vote. This whole business with Lagno is quite disgraceful and shows that Putin completely controls Illyumzhinov now:

Letter from Ukrainian to Canadian Federation

OPEN LETTER TO THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE CANADIAN CHESS FEDERATION

Dear Friends of Chess,

I use this opportunity to extend to you my deepest respect.

It is known that Canadians of Ukrainian descent have influence in Canadian society and policy. Canada was the first country that recognized Ukraine and established diplomatic relations. The Canadian government has supported Ukraine’s independence from the beginning and continues to do so today against the incursions of Russia on Ukrainian sovereignty. Our states have developed strong economic and cultural ties.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said with respect to our chess federations! I hope that we can develop a strong partnership that would result in coordinated activities such as scholastic chess programs, exchange of trainers, national team matches, and other areas of common interest.

I write to you also on an issue of more immediate mutual concern, that of the Ukrainian Chess Federation’s open letter regarding bringing the matter of Crimea before the General Assembly. As you may be aware, FIDE has refused to allow GA debate on jurisdiction over Crimean chess activity, which will thusly default to Russia after its illegal annexation by the Putin government – an act condemned overwhelmingly by the United Nations and the G-7, condemnation led by Canada in both cases. I hope I can count on the support of the Canadian federation in our efforts to rectify this scandalous state of affairs. In more specific case of this FIDE administration’s misguided loyalty to Russia there are the illegal actions of the FIDE Secretariat in respect Ms. Katerina Lagno’s transfer from Ukraine to the Russian federation.

The FIDE administration of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has become dangerously dependent on and devoted to the Kremlin, a situation all lovers of chess should find intolerable. It is damaging to our sport’s reputation and also harmful to the practical development of sponsorship and governmental relationships. One cannot imagine governments or companies in Ukraine or Canada supporting chess activities organized or sponsored by a regime, corporations, or individuals under EU and Canadian sanctions.

For these reasons among many, the Ukrainian federation nominated the ticket of Garry Kasparov for the FIDE presidency. He has promised to align FIDE with international opinion on such matters and to give fair hearing instead of playing politics and aligning with one isolated nation as Mr. Ilyumzhinov has done. I very much desire that the Canadian federation will join us in supporting Mr. Kasparov and a new FIDE that promotes and supports chess and chess federations.

Yours in chess,

Viktor Kapustin
President, Ukrainian Chess Federation (FSHU)