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Thread: 11.1 Presidential Campaign Thread

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  1. #1
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    Default 11.1 Presidential Campaign Thread

    In an ideal world people would become voting members and volunteer for assignments and lead projects which help the CFC fulfill its mandate. They will be known by their results and demonstrated competence and rise through the ranks and be seen as leaders who can then challenge for higher levels of responsibility based on the positive results and outcomes that they have clearly shown. We don’t live in that world. Our world is a fast food paradise where everyone is in a hurry, everyone wants a participation award and everyone wants to start at the top and become CEO without having to put in their dues. It is not clear what he would do differently than what we are already doing.


    I am not going to say anything bad about Mahmud. I have met him a few times over the years and my impression has always been positive. He’s a nice guy but that doesn’t mean that he is the right guy to lead the CFC.


    The candidate and his team have stated that I have been a good president but that it is now time for a change of direction. I disagree with the two aspects of this statement. I am a good president right now, present tense, today with seven years of experience as president over the course of which we have totally reversed the negative momentum that had been a feature of the CFC. I am a good president with the experience to deal with the considerable challenges that we are facing today. I have the connections and the skills which are needed to help chess get over the hurdles that have been placed in front of us through nobody’s fault. The direction that we were going was up, up, up.

    We already got a taste of a change of direction with the Covid pandemic which has hit us like a train hitting a car at an unmarked railway crossing. If I am re-elected I expect that with the help of the volunteers, officers and executive to reassemble the vehicle that was the CFC and head forward in the same direction we were going previously which was up, up, up. The CFC does not need a change of direction nor does it need a change of leadership.

    In any endeavour, there is a learning curve. This is true for the CFC presidency as with anything else. Mistakes will be made. The key is to make lots of them and correct course when results are disappointing. If you do make mistakes, make sure they are not catastrophic ones.

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    Lets talk about what being a 'good president' in CFC. I think being present and available are very good qualities, experience and knowing all the projects of the CFC from inside certainly helps. However, in the last years we have descended to a situation where the gap between directors and voting members is such that the voting members are only needed once a year on election day, and even that not every year (no candidates). I think a CFC president should not be dictatorial.

    To explain 'dictatorial', some examples.

    We don't have a current rules handbook, discussions of rewriting it have been going for maybe a decade. When the 'old handbook' laws don't suit the president, they get ignored, ie Canadian championship 2017 (no paying grandmasters hotel fees, etc). I might personally even agree on some of those decisions that were against the 'old rules' - but the point is, the rule of law does not work in CFC, directors (president) decide.

    Its rare that there is a vote between two different bids for tournaments, more often than not voting members are just put against the fact that so and so bid has been approved

    Juniors to masters - "CFC will sponsor 20 players into the JtM Program. Each player will receive $250 sponsorship to be used towards the registration into the JtM Program in a CFC yearly chess cycle." I have met Gergely Szabo and he is a wonderful person, but I am not sure why CFC decided to make JtM officially affiliated with them through sponsorship. There are quite a few canadian coaches in the big cities, myself included, who could be approached with attempts of creating group lessons for the 'elite' up and coming kids. I daresay we could even do better, because in non-covid times a group lesson would work so much better in person, the chemistry, competition is so much better than online. I can understand when CFC decides to have a coach living in Europe train the canadian youth team, because of cheaper costs, but this initiative I found very anti-canadian in nature. Once again, voting members are just put against the fact that this is now how things are, no discussion.

    I hope if the CFC has a new president, the status quo will change.

  3. #3
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    Also.

    " When I was approached by members of Mahmud's campaign and then by Mahmud himself I said that I would not step down as I would feel that I was abandoning the CFC in the midst of a crisis (the pandemic). "

    Is CFC in a crisis? What has the CFC done to adapt to the pandemic? What steps were taken to help organizers restart tournaments, perhaps organize something online?

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    Hi Nikolay,

    As you mentioned our Juniors to Masters Program, I thought I would add in some info, especially to help alley your fears of us being "anti-Canadian".

    JtM is not just an one-man operation. We are a Canadian company that have a team of Canadian instructors who are experienced chess coaches as well as published authors. At the helm of our teaching team is GM Gergely Szabo who is a FIDE Trainer from Romania and who has coached Canadian teams at the World stage, including the 2018 Canadian Women’s Olympiad Team, as the Head Coach of the Canadian delegation at the 2015 World Youth Chess Championship in Greece, and as the Trainer and Captain of Team Canada at the 2014 U16 Olympiad, which won 5th place. I (Victoria) am also a big part of JtM and am a proud Canadian and have has been the Canadian Head of Delegation and Team BC Captain including at the North American Youth Chess Championship (in New Jersey 2017 and in New York 2014) and at the World Youth & Cadet Chess Championships (in Halkidiki, Greece 2015).

    GM Gergely Szabo and I have discussed the concept of JtM for many years and the result is our Juniors to Masters Program which offers online group training that is inclusive of ALL Canadians which span our great nation from the beautiful West Coast to the awesome Maritime, and all the wonderful provinces in between. By embracing technology, we are able to train Canadian youths in advance and in preparation of the major World events like the WCCC, WYCC, World U16 Youth Olympiad, Women's Olympiad, etc. AND where they would then meet up and work with in person GM Gergely Szabo.

    JtM submitted a proposal to the CFC Executives to create a National Training Program for our Canadian Youth which took into consideration GM Gergely Szabo's position as Team Canada Head Coach at the WYCC which was scheduled to take place in Romania. Our goal was to create a year long program as a preparation to these World events for ALL Canadians, not just those in ON, nor only those in BC, nor any one place -- it is for ALL Canadians, and that is how technology allows us to be inclusive. Kids are smart. We have seen them quickly adapt to online learning in all aspects of their lives during this Covid-19 shutdown. JtM had already been embracing the online experience well before Covid-19.

    Any coach or any organization can submit proposals to the CFC Executives all year round, and are encouraged to do so. I think this is what helps to move CFC forward. When good ideas are brought to them and things get done for the good of the chess community, we all win.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nikolay Noritsyn View Post
    Also.

    " When I was approached by members of Mahmud's campaign and then by Mahmud himself I said that I would not step down as I would feel that I was abandoning the CFC in the midst of a crisis (the pandemic). "

    Is CFC in a crisis?
    Six months without very much revenue would probably constitute a crisis in the minds of most people. Yeah, I would say that we are in a bit of a crisis.


    What has the CFC done to adapt to the pandemic? What steps were taken to help organizers restart tournaments, perhaps organize something online?
    We have done plenty. Perhaps you could pay attention to the CFC forums and CFC facebook page where we announce the tournaments that are taking place online and the issues we are having if you are unaware.
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 08-16-2020 at 05:39 PM.

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    Hi Victoria,

    Just to elaborate - I don't think Juniors to Masters is "anti-Canadian" at all. I think the decision of CFC executive to approve your proposal is, without consulting the voting members and without approaching other Canadian coaches/teachers. You have a private, mostly family run company (I checked https://juniorstomasters.site123.me/our-team), and you are doing great things for the chess community, while also promoting your own interests.

    I also have been teaching online for many years, while having most of my lessons in person. Today everything is online. I think most would agree that, while kids certainly are smart and can adapt to online learning - in person learning is still more beneficial for them.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nikolay Noritsyn View Post
    Hi Victoria,

    Just to elaborate - I don't think Juniors to Masters is "anti-Canadian" at all. I think the decision of CFC executive to approve your proposal is, without consulting the voting members and without approaching other Canadian coaches/teachers. You have a private, mostly family run company (I checked https://juniorstomasters.site123.me/our-team), and you are doing great things for the chess community, while also promoting your own interests.

    I also have been teaching online for many years, while having most of my lessons in person. Today everything is online. I think most would agree that, while kids certainly are smart and can adapt to online learning - in person learning is still more beneficial for them.
    Hi Nikolay,

    Thank you for clarifying and for your kinds words about our Juniors to Masters Program. We hold you in high regard as a Chess Coach and Player as well. We actually have some of your private Students in our JtM Program, and at one point thought you were referring them to us to augment their private lessons with you -- which I think is working well, btw.

    It's not clear to me that the CFC Executives are required to consult with the VMs on all matters. If we allow bureaucracy to grind down the process of enabling great ideas to be executed, likely there would be fewer and fewer attempts to make great ideas a reality.

    I think the lesson learned here is, if anyone has a great idea, reach out to the CFC Executives with your proposal. If it's a win-win proposition (maybe I should add win-win-win to include the Canadian Chess Community), then likely this "can-do" group will help make it happen.

    If a new CFC President is going to grind things down to a stand still filled with bureaucracy, that is not something to look forward to.

    In the end, we are all here because we want to see our Canadian Chess Community flourish.

    You seem to be eluding to JtM be an "exclusive club" and while it's true that we want to encourage and show our appreciation to our hard working JtM Students as well as those who volunteers in our JtM Leadership Development Program, by holding some popular JtM Team Matches for our JtM Students (JtM vs. LPS Satu Mare, JtM vs. Cotnari Chess Academy, JtM vs. Vancouver Island, JtM vs. CFC, JtM vs. BC), we have also organized very popular open tournaments -- come one, come all!:

    Juniors to Masters Sunshine Open: https://chess-results.com/tnr530540....&art=4&fed=CAN

    Juniors to Masters Sunshine U1200: https://chess-results.com/tnr530541....&art=0&fed=CAN

    Juniors to Masters Summer Open: http://chess-results.com/tnr529561.a...CAN&turdet=YES

    Juniors to Masters Summer U1000: http://chess-results.com/tnr529735.a...CAN&turdet=YES

    Juniors to Masters Charity Chess Tournament: https://juniorstomasters.site123.me/...ainst-covid-19


    PS: I would agree that younger Students may benefit more from in-person lessons, but we have been dealing with online lessons fairly successfully for a number of years, including a Student in the NWT, and the best thing is that it gives access to all, not just a few in a certain area.
    Last edited by Victoria Doknjas; 08-16-2020 at 08:05 PM. Reason: updated link

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Victoria Jung-Doknjas View Post
    I think the lesson learned here is, if anyone has a great idea, reach out to the CFC Executives with your proposal. If it's a win-win proposition (maybe I should add win-win-win to include the Canadian Chess Community), then likely this "can-do" group will help make it happen.

    If a new CFC President is going to grind things down to a stand still filled with bureaucracy, that is not something to look forward to.

    The CFC has limited finances thus it should look for tenders/bids for those wonderful ideas. That was my stance during the Exec discussions on your proposals. However, at the end it is only my single vote.
    .*-1

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    Quote Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post
    The CFC has limited finances thus it should look for tenders/bids for those wonderful ideas. That was my stance during the Exec discussions on your proposals. However, at the end it is only my single vote.
    100% agree. I am glad that we have you in the executive, Egis.

    "Quote Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post
    Recently the CFC approved the bid for the National Online junior championship. I hope the details will be released soon.
    Youth not Junior.

    What should be noted is that this event is not being called the Canadian Online Youth Chess Championship, as we felt acquiring that title would require a notification for other potential bidders."

    I don't see why having a notification for other potential bidders would be a bad thing. The more tournaments and organizers, the better. Even if only online.

    I think, in a perfect world CFC should organize, initiate events to take place. Not just give approval to organizers that decide to take initiative.

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    "Six months without very much revenue would probably constitute a crisis in the minds of most people. Yeah, I would say that we are in a bit of a crisis."

    From reading the Treasurer Report, I get the feeling that everything is fine, and I am not the only one who thinks so. Not much revenue, but also no expenses. If we are in a crisis though, I'd love to hear a plan. I think its missing in your campaign essays.

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