What am I doing?

[Adam Raoof]

Dear All

CJdemooi should be required to stand down as President of the ECF after one year of service, invited to stand again in three years time, he has had a brilliant year he should leave with the applause of English chess players ringing in his ears and allow a new man with fully charged batteries and fresh ideas to take over, otherwise we are and he is making the same mistake as Gerry Walsh.

Alan Ruffle

I do not see the logic behind this suggestion, Alan. In fact, from previous experiences as an elected (and paid) student rep, I think that one year terms for ECF Directors are far too short to be effective! I would be in favour of changing to a two year term of office, with the usual proviso that Council can kick out anyone they think is not doing their job properly...

[Gareth Harley-Yeo]

Dear All

CJdemooi should be required to stand down as President of the ECF after one year of service, invited to stand again in three years time, he has had a brilliant year he should leave with the applause of English chess players ringing in his ears and allow a new man with fully charged batteries and fresh ideas to take over, otherwise we are and he is making the same mistake as Gerry Walsh.

Alan Ruffle

I can't see you finding a better president any time soon.

[Sean Hewitt]

Dear All

CJdemooi should be required to stand down as President of the ECF after one year of service, invited to stand again in three years time, he has had a brilliant year he should leave with the applause of English chess players ringing in his ears and allow a new man with fully charged batteries and fresh ideas to take over, otherwise we are and he is making the same mistake as Gerry Walsh.

Alan Ruffle

CJ is doing excellent work, has raised the profile of chess and has invigourated the chess community in this country. He has not yet delivered anything tangible, but that will come. To ditch him after one year would be rather like the ECF putting a shotgun in it's own mouth and pulling the trigger. Which is certainly not impossible

[johnmcbride]

I thought it must be April fools day when Mr Ruffle repeated the same thing from months ago.
Sadly it is not. Repeating comments that no one supported months ago, every three months, is not going to get people to see it your way. In fact it just winds people up to disagree further.

Replacing someone after one year for the sake of it make no sense. Especially when you are guaranteed to struggle to find a better candidate. Limiting a tenure for a maximum of three years has some merit, but that is not what you are saying.

[David Gilbert]

Amazing! Bonkers!

[cjdemooi]

The ECF today officially nominated Nigel Short to stand as an ECU board member in the upcoming elections

[cjdemooi]

As I've previously stated, I'm arranging a gala dinner in London.

Most of the details have now been finalised.

It will take place at Simpsons in the Strand on 8th September. Nigel Short and Michael Adams will be attending and the guest of honour will be Garry Kasparov.
The dinner has 5 primary purposes - 1. to allow Garry to come and personally thank representatives of the 6 home chess federations for their support of Anatoly Karpov in the upcoming FIDE elections 2. to raise funds and awareness for the campaign 3. to raise funds and awareness for the Staunton Society, especially considering the historic venue 4. to raise funds for the British Championships 2011 which I am working to make the strongest ever 5. to attract a sponsor to help English chess in the future

Garry and Nigel (and hopefully Mickey and another Grandmaster not yet decided) will be playing consultation games and the opportunity to partner these players will be auctioned in advance of the evening.

There will be 80 guests, half of whom will be invitees and the remainder will have the opportunity to buy tickets at £200 each. This price includes the launch of Barry Martin's chess portraits art show in the Simpsons bar, a sumptous Simpsons Classic dinner and attendance to watch the consultation games live.

No doubt Garry and Nigel will be happy for a few autographs so bring along one of their books or DVDs and get it signed!

Anybody interested in any of the above, please message me and I'll let people know when the tickets are available.

[LozCooper]

Dear All

CJdemooi should be required to stand down as President of the ECF after one year of service, invited to stand again in three years time, he has had a brilliant year he should leave with the applause of English chess players ringing in his ears and allow a new man with fully charged batteries and fresh ideas to take over, otherwise we are and he is making the same mistake as Gerry Walsh.

Alan Ruffle

So anyone who does a good job should leave after a year? CJ appears to still have many fresh ideas so I see no reason for him to leave and certainly not because of his predecessor's extended stay.

[Wilf Arnold]

Now I see the reasoning behind Mr Ruffle's suggestion. It's obvious that CJ only took the job of ECF President on so that he could advertise his products in the forum.

[Carl Hibbard]

Now I see the reasoning behind Mr Ruffle's suggestion. It's obvious that CJ only took the job of ECF President on so that he could advertise his products in the forum.

Yes I have moved that one to the more appropriate Adverts section

[John Upham]

Dear All

CJdemooi should be required to stand down as President of the ECF after one year of service, invited to stand again in three years time, he has had a brilliant year he should leave with the applause of English chess players ringing in his ears and allow a new man with fully charged batteries and fresh ideas to take over, otherwise we are and he is making the same mistake as Gerry Walsh.

Alan Ruffle

I've only just noticed this nonsense.

I'm not sure I can find the words to argue with this tripe so I will instead quote Mark Twain :

Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

[Simon Spivack]

to raise funds and awareness for the Staunton Society

Always glad to help where possible. To raise awareness of the Staunton Society, I should mention that the chess correspondent of The Times is one of its luminaries. Quite invaluable when booking Simpsons, I understand.

[cjdemooi]

Ray and I are already working closely together!

[cjdemooi]

Not sure where to put this one as it's strictly got nothing to do with the EC other than that the President is organising it!

However, the plans for the Kasparov dinner are now set with at least 10 GMs, a number of luminaries and ticket holders to attend. These
e-tickets will be released for sale very soon so if you're interested, let me have an email address asap and I'll send you a flyer with all the information. There will be only 40 tickets on sale so first come, first served.

[Gavin Strachan]

Ever thought of having a raffle for a couple of tickets?