Thank you Michael, for your comments and your efforts on behalf of chess in Canada and Toronto. Some very impressive new voting members. I look forward to getting to know them and their concerns better as this new year progresses.

Mr. Makropoulos was the best option available when we made our decision which I believe was between Makro and Kirsan Illyumzhinov and Nigel Short (a brilliant chessplayer). Mr. Dvorkovich was an outstanding candidate that came out of left field. When I talked to him I was quite impressed. He understood that we had made a promise and intended to keep it but he was very positive and upbeat and in command of the facts. He seemed to be a brilliant well spoken man. The lesson might be that we shouldn't commit too early when the situation is still fluid. Mr. Dvorkovich continues to impress and has surrounded himself with an able supporting cast. The only complaint I might have is that he campaigned on a term limit for himself but given the hole that COVID has blown in everything perhaps we should see what he can do with an additional term.

Like the CFC, FIDE is in for a tough year or two with the COVID virus.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/worl...ss-federation/
Canada’s chess federation is supporting Mr. Makropoulos, but Canadian president Vladimir Drkulec said he’d be happy to see Mr. Dvorkovich win. “Either one of them will be a better president than what we’ve had recently,” Mr. Drkulec said from his home in Windsor, Ont. “I think that chess is entering on an adventure here.”