Chief Executive 2021

[Chris Goodall]

I'm told that the BCN editorial office is considering offering a Zoom (streamed to YouTube) live Q&A session available to all candidates with an impartial host doing the moderation. Since "everyone knows everyone" there is the risk of accusations of "alignment".

I love YouTube Q&As! Please do this.

Q1, for Malcolm: wot compromise
Q2, for Malcolm: who u pick 4 international
Q3, for Malcolm: who u pick 4 alternate ceo
Q4, for Malcolm: if u no where all da coin at, y u ask members 4 more coin always
Q5, for Malcolm: was 4 grand 4 tims elite tourney from donations 2 csc or from ur pockets

[Roger de Coverly]

Do you think that the chess would benefit from Government or lottery funding?

I dare say it would. Direct Government funding was cut in 2010 as part of a review of DCMS spending and I don't suppose DCMS has any spare change to this day.

Doesn't Lottery funding depend on reclassification of chess as a sport? That's seemingly opposed by tax authorities as well as sporting ones, with only limited headway being made for as long as I can remember. The EBU wasted money in the Courts on this. Perhaps wisely the ECF didn't spend that much. Much of the chess world is already VAT exempt by virtue of the ECF mostly NOT being a top down organisation.

There's indirect Government funding already in that investment returns used to finance some chess activity can be sheltered from Corporation Tax by holding them in a charity. Looking at the accounts of the BCF, it would seem that sales of assets to finance donations, presumably to the Chess Trust charity haven't attracted Corporation Tax whilst routine asset sales in previous years seem to have done so.

[Nick Ivell]

I presume that Dominic Lawson has campaigned hard for government funding. It doesn't seem to have got very far. I have no reason to believe the Pein campaign could do better than our President with his connections.

Our game has changed? I have my doubts as to whether a load of online skittles has changed much.

[Bob Kane]

Roger , You are correct , but that doesn't mean that the ECF shouldn't do its part and remodel in anticipation, the Govt has shown recently that it can get things done quickly if it is minded , time is of the essence and one would hope to ride on the wave of interest created by "queens Gambit"

[Roger de Coverly]

but that doesn't mean that the ECF shouldn't do its part and remodel in anticipation,"

Apart from cashing in the balance of the BCF's PIF and spending it, what remodel would Malcolm have in mind? If the ECF set up a load of VAT liable events in anticipation of being freed from VAT and then sporting status didn't happen, isn't that an own goal, as well as crowding out local organisations?

[Bob Kane]

The recent title norm creating event held in Newcastle received £500 from an ECF trust and £4000 donation from Malcolm.

[John Upham]

I presume that Dominic Lawson has campaigned hard for government funding. It doesn't seem to have got very far. I have no reason to believe the Pein campaign could do better than our President with his connections.

I suspect that MBP has different connections to DRCL and through CSC a great deal of them.

No doubt that the Venn diagram of connections will show

MBP ∩ DRCL < MBP ∪ DRCL.

However MBP did raise funds for the recent Northumbrian Masters whereas AFAIK DRCL did not personally (but I could be wrong).

I'm not sure of the logic behind "X" cannot achieve something ∴ "Y" cannot.

Postscript: I note that my CentYMCA team mate Bob has beaten me to it.

[Roger de Coverly]

The recent title norm creating event held in Newcastle received £500 from an ECF trust and £4000 donation from Malcolm.

The list of "would like to thank" is

Northumbria Masters would like to thank
Chess in Schools and Communities
Marriott MetroCentre
The John Robinson Youth Chess Trust
The English Chess Federation
The Friends of Chess
Northumberland Chess Association
Northumbria Junior Chess Association

The John Robinson Youth Chess Trust isn't controlled by the ECF. That's been a long running gripe ever since it first set up around fifteen years ago.

[Chris Goodall]

Its a simple choice .. Do you think that the chess would benefit from Government or lottery funding? Then you should vote for Malcolm as CEO.

Literally anyone could make that claim. I could make that claim. It's cargo cult politics. The cargo planes have failed to land because my opponent has failed to perform the magic ritual correctly! Nothing to do with the war having ended 20 years ago and there being no more cargo.

[John Upham]

The John Robinson Youth Chess Trust isn't controlled by the ECF. That's been a long running gripe ever since it first set up around fifteen years ago.

The trustees are:

Ian Reynolds Trustee 22 March 2018 None on record
GERARD FRANCIS WALSH Trustee None on record
Dr JOHN HIGGS Chair 17 October 2015 None on record
Natasha Regan Trustee 19 May 2020 None on record

Interestingly Gerry Walsh received £1,000 as a beneficiary of Harry Golombek's will in order to travel abroad with his mother to feed a cygnet last fed in 1978.

I've not verified if the feeding took place.

[Chris Goodall]

The list of "would like to thank" is

Northumbria Masters would like to thank
Chess in Schools and Communities
Marriott MetroCentre
The John Robinson Youth Chess Trust
The English Chess Federation
The Friends of Chess
Northumberland Chess Association
Northumbria Junior Chess Association

The John Robinson Youth Chess Trust isn't controlled by the ECF. That's been a long running gripe ever since it first set up around fifteen years ago.

The amounts are on this page.

Chess in Schools and Communities gave a grant of £4,000 to the Congress, and the ECF donated £650. Other sponsors included the Friends of Chess (£500), Northumberland Chess Association (£500) and the Northumbria Junior Chess Association (£250).

The recent title norm creating event held in Newcastle received £500 from an ECF trust and £4000 donation from Malcolm.

Oh, it was a personal gift from Malcolm? Not from the money donated to CSC by people who might have expected it to be used for, you know, schools and communities?

If I were a Council member with *counts* twenty-three votes and proxy votes at my disposal, and had previously made a virtue of casting them according to my own conscience rather than the instructions of my constituents, I would be nervous that accepting such generosity from Malcolm might influence my conscience in ways I was helpless to do anything about.

[JustinHorton]

I am attempting to remain "on the fence" in this whole sordid nest of vipers.

Uh huh

Roger , You are correct , but that doesn't mean that the ECF shouldn't do its part and remodel in anticipation, the Govt has shown recently that it can get things done quickly if it is minded , time is of the essence and one would hope to ride on the wave of interest created by "queens Gambit"

This is just fantasy isn't it Bob

[John Upham]

schools and communities?

Chris. what is your definition of a community?

Wikipedia declares

A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town, or neighbourhood) or in virtual space through communication platforms.

Do the players of the Northumbrian Masters somehow count as a (temporary) community?

[Chris Goodall]

Do the players of the Northumbrian Masters somehow count as a (temporary) community?

No.

At least, if they do, then there is no chess in England that doesn't fall within the scope of Chess In Schools And Communities.

If it were already within Malcolm's remit to organise literally any chess he wants anywhere, and he believes he can make it financially rewarding thanks to his ability to charm sponsors, then he would be doing it already, and Mike Truran's so-called "enabling model" would be cause for celebration. More sponsor money for Malcolm! Unless there were something else that attracted him to the ECF CEO role, like the large pile of cash in the PIF.

[Nick Ivell]

The 'enabling model' is merely a caricature. It doesn't mean much in the real world.