My electoral platform in full is available here. I am grateful to the renowned Toronto-based entrepreneur and chess promoter Alexander Starr for an invitation to appear on his popular weekly IBM TV show alongside with my dear old friend, the leading world expert in cheating detection Prof. Kenneth Regan, GM and prize-winning author of chess books Mihail Marin, and the artist Maria Yugina. I am proud to become the first-ever Canadian guest there.
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Among other pressing topics, we have discussed several issues regarding FIDE and its support for national federations that are among the key planks of my electoral platform. These programs may benefit directly each and every one of you, honourable Voting Members, benefit the cases you champion in chess. Please take a look and see for yourself how Vadim Tsypin is the best person to represent you in FIDE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFhwjmxNhbs
I take great exception to this offensive garbage. Aris has already told everyone why he pulled out, and they are certainly reasons that would cause many people to drop out of a race. I feel that you owe him an apology for this.
Well that's fairly dramatic. So what you're saying is that a vote for Victor is something like a vote for Kim Jung-Un? Because that's what comes to mind when we talk about pariahs and elections.
Christopher Mallon
FIDE Arbiter
This morning, I got a call from my friend and long-time business partner. He is a Soviet Union CM that currently lives in St. Petersburg Russia. I have been friends with him since 1976. Currently, he is not an active chess player, however, occasionally plays blitz in St. Petersburg. He informed me that he recently got a very strange call from a well-known chess organizer named Vladimir Bykov (V.B).
V.B asked my friend whether he knew of me, and of course he answered yes, because we are long-time friends. Bykov informed my friend that Victor Plotkin is currently participating in a chess election in Canada against Vadim Tsypin. Bykov told my friend that "Vadim is a good guy and Victor Plotkin should step down from his candidacy." Some very influential people in the FIDE had asked Bykov to call my friend.
When my friend told me about the call between him and Bykov, I was very surprised. In Russia, calling someone and giving such a powerful message is a clear threat. After some hesitation, I decided to contact Emil Sutovsky, and I asked him for his advice regarding this information.
Here are the most important parts of our chat translated into English (it was in Russian, on Facebook Messenger):
V.P: Hello, Emil! I hope you remember me - we have interacted numerous times at Olympiads and in Gibraltar. I recall that in Canada's match against Israel, you beat Gerzhoy on the second board, in the Carro-Cann. The match ended with a score of 2-2.
E.S: Victor, of course I remember you, I also remember seeing you at Aeroflot Opens.
I explained the situation to him, he understood and took it very seriously. It was a priority for him to assure me that the FIDE is unrelated here.
V.P: Emil, there is no doubt in my mind that neither you, nor Dvorkovich, have any relation to this whatsoever. Rather, all I'm asking for is some advice, from friend to friend. I ask that you understand me correctly - what happened today was absolutely brutal for me to hear.
E.S: Why do you need to consider Bykov's opinion?
V.P: Of course, I have no intention of heeding his advice. But it is evident to me that Tsypin initiated this. This all seems somewhat disturbing, wouldn't you agree?
E.S: Certainly. Well, the question here is whether or not Tsypin crossed any lines, made any threats, or did anything of the sort.
He then asked me about my opinion on this election, my answer was that it is approximately equal at this point, because many players support me, but Tsypin has the support of the President and of some chess politicians.
E.S: I understand. Disregard this (Bykov's message). This most certainly doesn't improve his image. I can only reiterate that under no circumstances can we try to have an impact. And if anyone suggests this, it's a lie.
I thanked him for discussing this with me. Soon after, he asked about the reason behind Marghetis' resignation.
V.P: He did it in my favor, I want to emphasize that I did not initiate this, and had never asked him about it. Why? It seems that I, a more neutral candidate in this instance, was suitable, in his view. I am not an arbiter, I don't earn money from chess, and I am not looking for personal benefits from this position.
E.S: You are a surprisingly decent person for a candidate.
Sutovsky took this issue very seriously, and immediately informed the FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich. Very soon after this, Vlad Drkulec, Vadim Tsypin, and I received an official email from a FIDE lawyer stating:
"Dear colleagues. I am writing this letter on behalf of the FIDE President.
In connection with a number of questions that arise regarding the upcoming elections of Canada’s representative in FIDE, we would like to officially assure FIDE’s position.
FIDE always takes an absolutely neutral position on elections in any federation, considers elections to be the internal affair of each federation, and works equally fruitfully and constructively with any representative elected in the respective federation."
I do not know if Vadim crossed a line, and I don't have enough evidence to take this to court, nor do I have any intention of doing this as of now. Actually, I don't know Bykov at all, and likely, before last week, he was not aware of my existence either. The only person who could have initiated this chain of contacts is Tsypin, who tried to put some pressure on me to step down from this election. This reflects so negatively on his personality. I don't understand how any voting member, with the best interests of Canadian chess in mind, would be ready to support him.
Last edited by Victor Plotkin; 02-22-2021 at 07:20 PM.
Christopher, Aris, other VPs.
I find it hard to understand that at first Aris was one of two candidates, then one of three and finally resigned while endorsing the new candidate. If he resigned from the race due to the family health issues, why to endorse one of two remaining candidates, especially one who's entered the race almost at the last minute?
Aris has had family health issues, and therefore resigned, understand. And I've said numerous times the very best wishes to him and his family.
But his endorsement of Victor is highly questionable. Especially in a view that I've asked Victor: if there would have been only two candidates, Aris and Vadim, who would he, Victor, have supported? Without any hesitation Victor has answered: OF COURSE, ARIS!
This made me very suspicious about the motives of certain candidates. Entering the race, exiting the race, endorsing one of the two remaining candidates... While legal, it all SMELLS...
Sasha Starr, VM.
Dear colleagues:
There are so many intriguing possibilities for online and, eventually, over-the-board matches between players at all levels from Canada and a partner federation: senior players, club-level players, scholastic games, IM/GM norm events. To finance such exchanges, we will not necessarily go looking for partnerships with countries that are rich and powerful (U.K., France, or Japan). Many developing economies have chess funding that exceeds our wildest dreams but might be quite interested in various intangibles that Canada can offer.
I am pleased to direct you to an opinion piece published on the CMA Web site. This article analyzes issues with player development in Canada and draws attention to the positive experiences and government programs in one of rapidly expanding Central Asian economies.
An equivalent of US$ 4 million of annual guaranteed funding from state budget just for scholastic chess – isn’t it fantastic even by North American standards?!
https://chess-math.org/blog/uzbekist...sidents-decree
The CFC would benefit greatly from forming horizontal, peer-to-peer relationships with the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan and similar relationships with other rapidly developing chess powers, such as the All-India Chess Federation. Thanks to my already established contacts with federation officials around the world, we shall be able to start working on drafting Memorandums of Understanding right after the election!
I hereby confirm that Vadim also got the following people to contact myself, to "influence" me that I should step down for Vadim (and publicly endorse him):
January 24th: Michael Barron (CAN)
January 24th: Nikos Kalesis (GRE)
January 24th: Vadim Tsypin (CAN)
January 26th: Nikos Kalesis (GRE)
January 28th: George Mastrokoukos (GRE)