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Lyle Craver
12-12-2015, 07:43 PM
(Executive members and Officers please post your reports here)

Fred McKim
12-13-2015, 02:41 PM
CFC Financials. For the 6 month period 2015/05/01 - 2015/10/31

Vladimir Drkulec
12-13-2015, 06:50 PM
The receivables have gone up and the payables have gone way up. Any word on what this represents?

Fred McKim
12-13-2015, 06:56 PM
The receivables have gone up and the payables have gone way up. Any word on what this represents?

Payables are high primarily due to the WYCC. On the FIDE billing next month we should see $ 11,130 Cdn for the FIDE entry fees for the kids at WYCC Greece. This isn’t paid out yet, so I could have left it in the Youth fund, but then that would suggested we still have 11k available to spend, but we don’t. Better accounting treatment this way, as expenses are recognized when incurred not paid out.

Bob

Receivables continue to be a concern, I am going to help Bob on this for the rest of the fiscal year.

Vladimir Drkulec
12-13-2015, 07:01 PM
I just saw that. Yes it makes sense to do it the way he has done it. We need to whittle the receivables down so that we don't miss the cash when the WYCC bill is paid.

Paul Leblanc
12-13-2015, 07:11 PM
It would be useful to have some analysis from the E.D. or Treasurer to accompany the statement. To my untrained eye we seem to be in reasonable shape (forgetting for a moment the dreadful numbers for adult paying members). The balance and net revenue figures in the balance sheet seem to indicate that we are operating in the black.

Vladimir Drkulec
12-13-2015, 07:34 PM
It would be useful to have some analysis from the E.D. or Treasurer to accompany the statement. To my untrained eye we seem to be in reasonable shape (forgetting for a moment the dreadful numbers for adult paying members). The balance and net revenue figures in the balance sheet seem to indicate that we are operating in the black.

To my eye it seems to me that we "lost" a few members to life membership which is not reflected in those annual paying adult member numbers? That indicates to me that we are stable memberwise in a year where there was no Canadian Open. Rating fee revenue seems to be up for the six month period. I think membership revenue reported is a better indicator of health than the net membership revenue which is also stable from six months to last year.

Paul Leblanc
12-14-2015, 01:00 AM
Job for a volunteer: examine the list of life members to see how many were active in the past year. My prediction: 20%

Paul Leblanc
12-14-2015, 01:09 AM
Again I am happy to report another dull quarter for rating statistics. The system is showing remarkable signs of stability.

As of 30 September 2015:
- average rating of all players over 1200 active in the past 12 months = 1726
- 5 year range = 1715 to 1750

- average rating of all players over 1200 active in the past 36 months = 1697
- 5 year range = 1685 to 1710

- median rating of top 100 players = 2338
- 5 year range = 2336 to 2356

Lyle Craver
12-14-2015, 01:26 AM
Well what does that mean for somebody like me? I assume you mean over the board while most of my chess activity has been with the BCCF and CFC with most of my actual play being on servers....

Paul Leblanc
12-14-2015, 02:03 AM
It means nothing to the individual player except perhaps the confidence that statistically speaking, your opponent is probably correctly rated. If he/she is a kid he/she is probably getting better and you can be satisfied that the outcome of your game with the kid will help his/her rating go up.

Fred McKim
12-14-2015, 12:35 PM
308
CFC Financials. For the 6 month period 2015/05/01 - 2015/10/31

I have revised the Financials to correct the information pertaining to the 2015 Canadian Closed

Hal Bond
12-14-2015, 01:31 PM
FIDE Report; December 2015

FIDE Presidency
As most of you know, FIDE President Kirsan Ilumzhinov has been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department with respect to alleged activities in Syria. President Ilumzhinov insists he is innocent of any wrong doing and intends to clear his name. In the meantime he has stepped aside and Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos is the acting FIDE President. The official statement is provided below:

Athens, 6 December 2015

Following the announcement by the US Department of the Treasury that the US levied sanctions against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Russian citizen and FIDE President, Mr. Ilyumzhinov has informed the Presidential Board that he will withdraw from any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE until such time as Mr. Ilyumzhinov is removed from the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanction list.

Mr. Ilyumzhinov advised that he has initiated legal procedures in the US aiming to request additional information and reverse restrictive measures put by the US Department of the Treasury. During the next Presidential Board meeting, Mr. Ilyumzhinov will update the Board as to the progress of the legal procedures.

Mr. Ilyumzhinov’s decision to withdraw from any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE is to enable him to concentrate on clearing the situation with the US Department of the Treasury.

Until further notice, under section A.9.5 of the FIDE Statutes, if the President: “duly authorises, then he can be represented by the Deputy President who shall exercise the powers of the President. The Deputy President can thus represent FIDE officially and can solely sign for FIDE.” Therefore Mr. Makropoulos will now be exercising these powers and representing FIDE officially.
Nigel Freeman
FIDE Executive Director

It was correct of Mr. Ilumzhinov volunteer to step aside. The accusations are serious and FIDE could not tolerate such a cloud over a sitting President. We are also fortunate to have such an able designate in Deputy President Makropoulos. The work of FIDE will continue. “Makro” served on the FIDE Presidential Board since the Thessaloniki Olympiad in 1984.

Congratulations to Canada’s newest IM Michael Barron, who was awarded the title following his excellent result at the Pan American Seniors Championship this past August in Venezuela.

National Arbiters licences have been issued to David Miller, Brian Clarke and FM Andrew Peredun and Vlad Drkulec.

Transfers: Youth player Svitlana Demchenko was successfully transferred from Ukraine in time for the WYCC in Greece. Owing to the tight timeline, a letter of non-objection was required from the Ukraine Chess Federation, which they graciously provided.

Abu Dhabi Congress:
The 86 FIDE Congress was held in Abu Dhabi from September 2-9. Prior to the meeting of the Executive Board I was able to attend a number of commission meetings. All minutes and annexes of the Congress can be found at this link: https://www.fide.com/fide/minutes.html

Anti Cheating: ACC Secretary Yurri Garret chaired the meeting. He spoke at some length about the culture shift which is necessary in order to meet the challenges that cheating present. It is a complicated issue due in no small part to the number of different ways that cheating can take place and the laws of a given country. The latter being a problem for signal jammers. From their report:

Hindering external communication. Dr. Dmitrij Waldman, a leading expert in wireless communication systems, made an extensive presentation to the ACC. Finding suitable solutions to hinder fraudulent transmissions during chess events is no easy task, especially in view of the complex legal framework, and more research will need to be made in this area. We will be asking FIDE lawyers to study the matter in detail.

I expressed concern about the implications for Arbiters, and that this problem is being dumped on them. Mr. Garrett agreed, and believes that the Chief Arbiter should be given more power than practice currently affords. At the end of the day, anti cheating measures (such as screening tools to review games scores) mean more work has to be done by someone. Organizers, Arbiters and players will have to work together.

Ethics Commission: Their 7 page report summarized the process of dealing with Ethics cases (many of which are deemed inadmissible) as well as several results. Garry Kasparov and Ignatius Leong were found to be in breach of paragraph 2.1 of the FIDE code of ethics pursuant to their agreement during the 2014 Election. The sanction was pending at the time of the Congress and has since been announced:
Upon due consideration by the Ethics Commission of the factors relevant to the sanction, including the gravity of the offence and the presence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the Ethics Commission imposes the following sanction:

Mr Kasparov and Mr Leong are both banned for a period of two (2) years from holding any office or position within FIDE, including its member federations, continental associations or any other affiliated international organisations, as well as participating in any FIDE meeting as delegate, proxy-holder or other representative of a FIDE member.

This ban will be effective from the period 21 October 2015 until 20 October 2017.

Qualification Commission: This commission deals with rating and title regulations and is therefore the most relevant commission for the average player. IA Werner Stubenvoll from Austria is the Chair. My criticism for the QC is the extent to which direct titles have been removed from Zonal Championships. This point was accepted and will be taken into account when the table of direct titles is reviewed in 2017.
The Online Commission seeks to eventually host classic rated games. To this end, they sought the blessing of the QC for team matches to be classically rated as a pilot project. Much discussion took place and while the majority of attendees supported the idea, it was felt that such a move was premature because there are no rules in place for this kind of chess and thus it was voted down. Despite this outcome, the General Assembly agreed to proceed with the project with the understanding that rules would be developed enroute.

Medical Commission: WGM Dr. Jana Bellin chairs this Commission and does a great job of administering the anti-doping regulations with the least possible intrusion. This compliance is key to the support that many countries receive through the IOC.
I last saw Jana rushing to the heart attack scene at the Tromso Olympiad and was eager to follow up with her and hear her impressions of the emergency response. We had a chance to discuss it in Abu Dhabi and as a result the Medical Commission included the matter in their minutes, citing the less than ideal response time in Tromso and encouraging FIDE to require EMS protocols and medical personnel of future organizers of large events.

Verification Commission: This is akin to an internal audit commission. Gradually this Commission is growing some teeth and I hope this continues. Thsepo Sitale of Botswana has joined the Commission and he is a good man. The budget process for FIDE is underdeveloped and the actual income statement rambles on for more than 150 lines. In preparation for the Congress I reformatted the income statement to make it more readable. Income and expenses were categorized and subtotals added. FIDE Treasurer Dr. Adrian Siegel seemed to appreciate the effort and this format was adopted for the 2015 and 2016 budgets.

I was quite surprised by the June 2015 Report of the Verification Commission going into this Congress. FIDE has recorded a substantial loss in the 2014 (€700k +). Revenue was basically on target but expenses ran over by €900+. The Development Commission was actually named as one of the culprits. I sit on this Commission and did not agree at all. DC spent 422K against a budget of 400K, including some spending irregularities in Africa which were not approved by the DC. Other Commissions were worse, but in aggregate the Commissions were over by 74K on a budget of 1,263K. The expenses of the President far exceeded the budget, as did legal costs, the Olympiad and the Moscow Office. In the end the VC’s report to the General Assembly was stern but measured. A modest deficit is projected for 2015 and an offsetting surplus for 2016.

Vladimir Drkulec
12-14-2015, 03:48 PM
So the sanctions on Kasparov would not preclude another run for FIDE president in 2018?

Hal Bond
12-15-2015, 11:24 AM
I believe you are correct Vlad. Kasparov should be eligible to run in 2018. The balance of my report is as follows:

Arbiters Commission: It was a real disappointment that Commission Secretary IA Aris Marghetis was unable to attend the Congress. Aris suffered an eerie hamstring injury at the start of the summer and was still not cleared for travel in September. The Arbiters Commission has made great strides in the past year, publishing an Arbiter Handbook as well as their first issue of Arbiters Magazine.
Following a proposal from the Welsh Federation, the minimum age for a National Arbiter has been lowered from 17 years to 16 years of age. Kevin O’Connell proposed that “long notation” be acceptable when recording chess games. This proposal was accepted and Rules Chair Ashot Vardapetian agreed to include it in the revised laws of chess.
I repeated my concerns about the emerging anti cheating regulations and the extra work that is being placed on the backs of Arbiters. There appears to be no official advocacy mechanism for Arbiters – only a disciplinary sub committee and a growing list of new responsibilities. The Commission does its utmost but I believe this advocacy function requires further attention.

Development Commission: Allan Herbert from Barbados Chairs this Commission. The meeting boasted an attendance of almost 40 people. After some technical misadventures, the DC Power Point presentation was delivered from my laptop. One of the prime objectives of the Commission is to move away from the old CACDEC (Chess Assistance for Developing Countries) model which came into prominence during the Campomanes era. Instead of a kind of chess welfare the Commission strives to help Developing countries improve the state of chess in their countries through approved projects and activity incentives.
The successes of the Commission were highlighted - the World Youth Travel grants for champions of developing countries, activity rebates which increased from less than €3,000 to 23 countries in 2011 to €49,000 to 94 countries in 2014. Councillor Martin Huba presented a variety of statistics which all pointed to increased activity around the world. More statistics can be made available on the FIDE website, such as World ranking of age groups, which will promote further activity. DC Secretary Rupert Jones also presented some impressive results by Developing Countries at the Tromso Olympiad. We hope to introduce Development Awards at future Olympiads.

Commonwealth Chess Association: The 2015 Commonwealth Championship was held in New Delhi, India. 2016 will be hosted by Sri Lanka, Capetown South Africa will host in 2017 and Zambia bid successfully for 2018. This event has evolved into several categories including youth age groups, seniors and an open tournament. Some categories are actually rolled into the open tournament. Perhaps this event could be held in Canada in 2019?

The Executive Board meeting featured some surprises. FIDE VP Andrei Filatov, President of the Russian Chess Federation, suggested that President Ilumzhinov generate some “media capital” for chess and FIDE by running for the President of FIFA. Ilumzhinov thanked Filatov for his suggestion and stated that he had been considering the idea since the FIFA corruption scandal broke last year.
Filatov also spoke about other strategies to engage the mainstream media. He cited some examples in Russia with chess in schools, chess in museums and RCF outreach to Ukranian refugees. He suggested that we work closer with international social and humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross.

When the report of FIDE America was presented, I pointed out that the activities in Canada and USA had been omitted completely. Both of us had not only held our Zonal Championships, but also Canada had hosted the North American Junior, which is a FIDE America event. President Vega apologized for the omission and confirmed that his report would be updated.

While we waited for photocopies from another presentation I proposed that we start moving away from paper at the Congresses in favour of digital copies. The Executive Board is smaller so we typically have more room and even a table for our photocopies, the amount of paper generated from minutes and annexes from all the commissions and other meetings is unwieldy. The proposal was met with some applause so I hope it happens.

2016 Olympiad in Baku: This event will be upon us in less than a year and there is much to be done. With a little luck we should be sending our strongest teams ever! We are in particular need of a Fundraising Chair, but there are other logistics involved in the selection of our Canadian Delegation as well. If you can help, please contact me, halbond@sympatico.ca
The next FIDE Congress will also happen during the Baku Olympiad, where whispers of the 2018 election should become more audible. Provided that relations between Canada and Russia do not deteriorate before March 2016, I will be working the Candidates Tournament. Maybe some whispers will be heard there between rounds.

Respectfully submitted
Hal Bond, IO, IA
FIDE Zone 2.2 President and Delegate, Canada

Frank Lee
12-19-2015, 02:27 AM
We had a very active summer and fall for youth chess. The 2015 Canadian Youth Chess Championships was held July 6th to the 9th in Windsor, Ontario with about 290 players from across the country.
The 2016 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad was held August 19th to the 29th in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We had 5 very enthusiastic players that participated: Zong Yang Yu, Diwen Shi. Yinshi Li, Joey Zhong, and Rachel Tao. They started the tournament ranked 12th with an average rating of 2095. They finished strong in eighth place a team score of 5 wins, 1tie, and 4losses. There were some exceptional individual achievements with Zong Yang ranked 7th in win percentage among the 1st Boards, Diwen ranked 10th in win percentage among 2nd Boards and Joey ranked 8th in win percentage among the 4th Boards.
The 2015 World Youth & Cadets Chess Championships (WYCC) was held October 24th to November 6th in Porto Carras, Halkidiki, Greece. The Canadian Delegation was 56 players strong and 6 onsite coaches.
This year was the last year that all twelve age sections will be together in one event as the WYCC. After this year, the U8, U10, and U12 sections will become the World Cadets Championships and the U14, U16, and U18 will become the World Youth Chess Championships. These tournaments will be played at different venues and during different times of the year. In 2016, the World Cadet Chess Championship is scheduled for October 18th to 31st in Batumi, Georgia and the World Youth Chess Championship is scheduled for September 1st to 15th in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.