4.1 Nomination of Candidates for President

[Lyle Craver]

Nominations for the Office of President are open

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I am standing for election as President again.

[Hal Bond]

I second that notion!

[Sasha Starr]

Nominations for the Office of President are open

I am willing, able and ready to become the President of the CFC.

I stand for the election.

[Michael Barron]

I wish to nominate Sasha Starr. He is a successful businessman and willing to save our Federation from the current death spiral. I believe he would be well suited to the task.

[Valer Eugen Demian]

Is there any information on what Sasha Starr intends to do for CFC if elected?
1. If yes, please point me in the right direction.
2. If no, I think both candidates (so far) need to present themselves and their program if elected.

[Sasha Starr]

Is there any information on what Sasha Starr intends to do for CFC if elected?
1. If yes, please point me in the right direction.
2. If no, I think both candidates (so far) need to present themselves and their program if elected.

Valer, I've published a very detailed announcement on the Chess Talk about a week ago, before I had an access to the Governors' Board.
I'm preparing the adaptation of same. However the other issues came up lately that I've already disclosed in my various posts on the Chess Talk and preparing for publication here.
The issues are very serious and I'll deal with them regardless of outcome of the CFC election.
They are:
1.In spite of numerous promises President has failed to made a public announcement regarding the endorsement of Ilyumzhinov and the reasons behind it. A lot of people are upset about it and rightly so. Obviously in this announcement there would be a revelation about $80,000.00 of FIDE's sponsorship of Canadian chess REGARDLESS of outcome of FIDE election. I have no problem with it. Except these two. Why does it have to be a secret? And what if Ilyumzhinov loses election? Where the $$$ will come from?
2.The President has stated that this is not a cash sponsorship(!?) Then what is it? It's value according to the President is nevertheless $80,000.00: when it was suggested that based on his record Mr. President has no skills to promote chess and raise the funds - only ($1,000.00 were raised in the last year), he's stated that CFC is getting new corporate sponsorship of $95,000.00. $15,000 for the Olympic Teams' sponsor depending of the results of the Men's Team - when the patron was Sid Belzberg - both teams' players were getting bonuses for wins! And the remaining $80,000.00 - the deal with the FIDE.
3.This seriously compromises Canada as a country and CFC in particular. It turns away the biggest patron of Canadian chess, and makes it impossible to establish any agreement with World-known Kasparov Chess Foundation with the first rate scholastic program around the Globe for some time to come. These are some of the problems with this endorsement. So, on the other hand there must be serious advantages. And what are those? First - its a secret. Second - is there a paperwork done, were there a Canadian lawyer involved? And if CFC has already done its part of the bargain, where is FIDE's at least first payment? Based on what? Is there at least a Letter of Intent? And who has signed it? So you are turning away the REAL, proven sponsor for questionable promises? Where is our President's judgment? Please find the right words to describe it (Mismanagement? Naivety? Or something way more serious?)
4.In Mr. President's own straw poll on the Chess Talk there was 1 vote for Ilyumzhinov, and almost 30 for Kasparov. Then in Mr. President's own Governors only "straw" poll only 33,33% of Governors INCLUDING 3executives (one of whom was not even supposed to vote) - voted for the endorsement of Ilyumzhinov. Obviously 66,67% of Governors DID NOT SUPPORT AN ENDORSEMENT OF Ilyumzhinov! So after losing badly all his polls Mr. President has decided to completely disregard the opinions of both the chess public here on chess talk and the CFC's Governors who elected Mr. President and he got the executives to vote his way! And these executives have actually supported it, completely disregarding opinions and wishes of the Governors who actually have elected them! What kind of organization is it? Mr. President and the other executives knew well that Sid Belzberg is a REAL thing, Kasparov's Chess Foundation is here to stay, and yet all this was thrown down to the toilet for an awful deal with the thugs! Still trying to find out if there is at least a written Agreement exists?

Mr. President and the executives have miserably FAILED to respect the wishes of the Governors - the very people who've elected THEM!

[Sasha Starr]

Is there any information on what Sasha Starr intends to do for CFC if elected?
1. If yes, please point me in the right direction.
2. If no, I think both candidates (so far) need to present themselves and their program if elected.

Thank you, here is the outline of some of the things I intend to do for CFC if elected:

CFC Presidency - Message to Governors.

Dear Governors, CFC Members and lovers of chess.

As many of you know I am very discouraged by the direction the CFC has taken in recent years. I never thought I would run for CFC President, but given the current plight of chess in Canada, Nava Starr, my wife, 8 times Canadian Chess Champion, executive with the mid-size Toronto Company, and I, a President of International Company soon becoming public, have decided to try and make positive change for the CFC by dedicating both our personal time and financial resources.

The CFC today is a slowly dying organization that desperately needs several new ideas and initiatives to grow and become more vital than ever. Its greatest weakness is that it never seems to do anything new. Its greatest strength is that among the community it has several dedicated and long serving professionals who could adopt a new vision and make the CFC a new and vibrant organization.

There are a lot of new initiatives that should have been adopted by CFC, however the present leadership was busy with the Non Profit Corporation Act and the endorsement of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The endorsement of Ilyumzhinov took place in spite of the fact that in the Chess Talk poll put up by Mr. Drkulec showed only 1 vote for Ilyumzhinov against nearly 30 for Kasparov. Executives have failed even to explain how and why this endorsement ever has happened other than to criticize supporters of Mr. Kasparov. The non-executive Governors’ vote was about split, so it is possible that CFC could vote for Kirsan at the end of the day, but an endorsement? That could happened only because CFC is run by the old boys’ network, who stripped away all the powers away from the Governors, who in spite of all the work they do lost all of their powers, except for voting once a year at the AGM.

As a part of my program I’d like to offer the following:
• Give the power back to Governors/voting members. They are a back bone of our organization. I’d like to see them highly motivated and have personal goals and plans.
• Increased membership/participation. Over the past 15 years the CFC has experienced a steep decline in membership. In its most general sense, the CFC has never gotten it right in terms of implementing effective membership drives or staging events that are conducive towards attracting high levels of participation. While the CFC membership has fallen, the participation in many other federations has risen drastically. In Turkey, for example, the federation grew to having 80,000 adult members. This explosive growth was largely attributable to the fact that the Turkish Federation established a relationship with a bank in which anyone who became a member of the federation received a free bank account. The bank account/federation membership drive in Turkey is a wonderful example of a win/win corporate partnership and there's no reason a similar initiative couldn't occur in Canada. The Turkish initiative proves that Canada need not re-invent the wheel in terms of implementing effective membership growth programs. The Presidents/Executive Directors of a large number of federations will be surveyed to determine which membership initiatives worked best in their nations and a concrete plan will be implemented to achieve the objective of increased growth. Goal: Increasing Membership to 5,000 members by September 1, 2015.
Aside from soliciting other ideas, this will be achieved by the following actions:
• Establishing an educational membership, and sending direct solicitation on this, whereby every school and library may obtain a special membership to allow on-site access by their interested members
• Duplicating what amateur pool associations have done (250,000 members in Canada), by offering a grass roots restaurant/bar league, whereby patrons can sign up for a nominal membership charge and play a game, which is part of a ladder tournament, with donated corporate prizes at the end of the yearly league
• Reaching out to all historical inactive members with a special discount offer, along with a personal letter from the CFC President indicating our goals to earn back respect for chess in Canada
• Discussion/negotiation with all other entities running rating systems (mostly for kids, e.g., Chess & Math, etc.), to attempt working out a fair deal to have their members as CFC members, and we provide the rating management/output for this
• Hold events (meet the master, simultaneous, demonstration) in shopping malls to promote chess, with an active membership recruitment element
• Youth Membership. Never before has the participation levels in scholastic and youth events been higher in Canada. Chess is currently considered a very popular activity for parents seeking to enroll children in programs/events. Aside from the initiatives of the Chess and Math Association, there have been other highly successful chess programs aimed at kids that have enjoyed enormous success. In Kitchener the Chess-For-Kids program has had several thousand kids register since inception and is run as a for profit business. Even in a small province such as New Brunswick there were nearly 400 kids that participated in the provincial scholastic championships in May. There has been no CFC presence at any of these activities, and not only should the CFC establish an attractive program of its own, but it also should establish co-operative relationships with existing programs aimed at increasing youth membership.
• Much more effective use of the chess events. The standard swiss-system weekend events in Canada have not been customized to attract high levels of participation. Most require a two night stay over for travelers, and are run on schedules that are demanding for both travelers and host city participants. I have remedies available. Some of them are revamping the way swiss tournaments are being run, for example, Curling and Bridge events, which often attract thousands of participants, have a build in social component. Certain pockets of the country, such as Quebec and Ottawa have been fairly constant in terms of offering a full calendar of events each year, but in much of the country there aren't many events to play in.
• The establishment of the Grand Prix system. Starting with the densely populated Quebec-Windsor corridor, CFC should establish an annual Grand Prix of attractive chess events. The Grand Prix should have an attractive website, and consistently high standards in terms of game display, live and online. There would be corporate sponsors to ensure the events are executed at a high level and attractive to all of Canada's top players.
• Patronage. Each year the Olympiad Team faces challenges generating the revenues necessary to participate in the Olympiad and each Olympiad members and patrons are called upon to support the team. In the case of the Olympiad team, patrons don't see any long term benefit from their contributions.... they give money, it is spent and there is no enduring benefit to the team. All donations to the Olympiad team, for example, should have 50% of the donation go towards the current team and 50% go towards an ongoing trust fund that supports all future Olympiad teams. Also, there are clauses with federal tax law that make it extremely attractive for chess players who die to include donations to charitable organizations in their wills....often with 100% of the donated amount going back to the estate of the donor. The CFC has never properly explored this channel of funding. And finally: a program of aggressive corporate sponsorship in Canada, a renewed focus on chess in schools that would include the help of the Kasparov Chess Foundation, facilitation of corporate and individual sponsorship in Canadian chess. Any new initiatives will be financed by the new revenue and/or donations, the present balance sheet and the assets will be preserved and prudently managed.

I’m offering you an opportunity to start building a new, exciting organization. The CFC is due for a change, and it must start from the top.
I love chess, and although busy, I have an every intention to be your President. Here is an endorsement from the post of the well-known Master Ian Findlay:
"I am sure you will make a great President.
I do not know the other Vlad you are running against, but I can say that you, Nava Starr and Sid Belzberg have done much for chess in the past. I remember you helped bring players for the Croatian International tournaments 25 years ago. I believe you also housed them and provided transportation for them. Nava has represented Canada probably more than any female in Canadian history and Sid was a tremendous support of chess, helping various players and making many of our strong Olympic teams possible".
I’m encouraging any voting member who wishes to know more to contact me at alexander.starr@gmail.com
Let’s do it together!
Sasha Starr

[Sasha Starr]

I am standing for election as President again.

This is from one of the posts on the Chess Talk:

Vlad did do a good job in his first term, both Sid and Sasha have recognized him for the NFP work. But that was then and this is now. And right now, we have Vlad prostituting the CFC for the highest return, and then insulting and throwing away the person who has come through in the past with no strings attached. This for someone who has NEVER come through in the past and has strings attached. And guess what, the strings attached are almost identical to the strings Vlad says Sid wanted attached and that Vlad had some moral repulsion towards (riiiight). Are you blind to hypocrisy?

Vlad does have the skill set for re-election, and that is the problem. That skill set includes lying, alienating sponsors in the name of looking like a good cop even if that means depriving Canadian youth of future sponsorship, shrugging off corruption and worse committed by the incumbent Kirsan, keeping deals hush hush to prevent anyone knowing of his hypocrisy...

Have a good day! More is coming soon!

[Ken Craft]

Are these threads designed simply for nominations and the outline of a candidates platform or are they designed for debate between the candidates and their supporters? As a candidate for VP, the answer is important to me. I'm posting the question in this thread since it seems to have the most lively exchanges. Would the Secretary be the best to comment on my question?

[Fred McKim]

Are these threads designed simply for nominations and the outline of a candidates platform or are they designed for debate between the candidates and their supporters? As a candidate for VP, the answer is important to me. I'm posting the question in this thread since it seems to have the most lively exchanges. Would the Secretary be the best to comment on my question?

It would seem that any discussion for a particular position is taking place in the nomination thread. I think this is probably wise, we have enough threads.

[Lyle Craver]

Fred beat me to it but I agree with him. We do need discussion and we do already have enough threads. LC

[Vladimir Drkulec]

This is from one of the posts on the Chess Talk:

Vlad did do a good job in his first term, both Sid and Sasha have recognized him for the NFP work. But that was then and this is now. And right now, we have Vlad prostituting the CFC for the highest return, and then insulting and throwing away the person who has come through in the past with no strings attached.


The offers from the two campaigns were deemed equivalent. The demeanor and behaviour of the two campaigns towards Canada could not be more different. The Kasparov campaign was rude, demanding and pushy.



This for someone who has NEVER come through in the past

He certainly came through to preserve and save FIDE when all Garry was trying to do was to destroy it.

You violated the confidentiality of the governors board more than once. You don't seem to be able to read. The only one guilty of lying in this campaign is you and your Kasparov cronies. You make promises that your lawyer will fix everything and Nava will keep the books. That sounds like you don't even realize that there is a treasurer and executive director that are charged with that job and lawyers usually expect to get paid for such undertakings.

[Sasha Starr]

The offers from the two campaigns were deemed equivalent. The demeanor and behaviour of the two campaigns towards Canada could not be more different. The Kasparov campaign was rude, demanding and pushy.



He certainly came through to preserve and save FIDE when all Garry was trying to do was to destroy it.

You violated the confidentiality of the governors board more than once. You don't seem to be able to read. The only one guilty of lying in this campaign is you and your Kasparov cronies. You make promises that your lawyer will fix everything and Nava will keep the books. That sounds like you don't even realize that there is a treasurer and executive director that are charged with that job and lawyers usually expect to get paid for such undertakings.

Vlad, you yourself advised me to look at the Governors' Board while we were communicating on the Chess Talk and you have NEVER advised me on any confidentiality issue. Is it your deal with the thugs that makes it confidential? Why do you believe that once the deal is done some people should know about it and others should not? Are there commercial or patent issues? Isn't it a Not For Profit Corporation? Do you believe that withholding important information from the Members is a good policy?
About the FIDE affair. No one was pushy, rude and demanding. Your behaviour toward Sid was unheard of! Complete disrespect to the biggest patron in Canadian chess! It was a very questionable thing to do: don't you understand that for your actions somebody else will have to pay and suffer - including the kids you are teaching!
No, Nava is not going to keep the books: there are indeed a treasurer and executive director. Paying my lawyer is my business.

[Halldor P. Palsson]

Mr. Starr is CFC Presidential candidate on a crusade to elect GK. This is a decision for the Executive. They picked KI after consulting with Governors/Voting Members. Interest in this was slight. We got 20/of over 60 that expressed an opinion. Nobody thought that either was going to be important for chess in Canada. This has since become a ****-storm that is wasting our time and energies. We need our leadership focused on the AGM/CYCC-WYCC, Canadian Open etc. 2013 was a good news story for us in youth chess and Montreal 2014 promises to be even better.

I asked Mr. Starr about what he has done in organized chess. I do not know of or whether he has ever run anything that might be called organized chess through the CFC. Nothing pops up if you enter him as a TD. His postings here do not inspire confidence that he knows what organizers of chess in Canada are facing on the ground. The voters here are all special people that run Provincial Chess Associations, chess clubs and open chess tournaments and we have all discovered that there is no low hanging fruit when it comes to finding chess players.

[Sasha Starr]

Mr. Starr is CFC Presidential candidate on a crusade to elect GK. This is a decision for the Executive. They picked KI after consulting with Governors/Voting Members. Interest in this was slight. We got 20/of over 60 that expressed an opinion. Nobody thought that either was going to be important for chess in Canada. This has since become a ****-storm that is wasting our time and energies. We need our leadership focused on the AGM/CYCC-WYCC, Canadian Open etc. 2013 was a good news story for us in youth chess and Montreal 2014 promises to be even better.

I asked Mr. Starr about what he has done in organized chess. I do not know of or whether he has ever run anything that might be called organized chess through the CFC. Nothing pops up if you enter him as a TD. His postings here do not inspire confidence that he knows what organizers of chess in Canada are facing on the ground. The voters here are all special people that run Provincial Chess Associations, chess clubs and open chess tournaments and we have all discovered that there is no low hanging fruit when it comes to finding chess players.

Mr. Palsson, my point is that in spite of all your considerable efforts and great experience, unlike mine, the CFC, a national organization, has about 800 adult membership. There is a deficient web site, no Canadian Closed Men's and Women's Championships, no chess promotion, practically no funds were raised. The biggest sponsor of Chess in Canada is being chased away, the potential deal with Kasparov Chess Foundation is being derailed. CFC is mismanaged, no handbook.
While its true that I've never run tournaments through CFC, I have a considerable business experience and connections which I'm planning to employ if elected as a President. And Governors are the back bone of the CFC, they must have a say how the CFC and its most important issues are being run. The new CFC book could be done by professionals in no time. The web site would up and running at no cost to the CFC. The funds will be raised and hopefully Kasparov Chess Foundation will try to help us. USA is our natural extension, even geographically, we can organise joint tournaments, have a North America scholastic chess league, see my program. And by refusing each you are depriving our kids to have a brighter future of chess here. The present management has no relevant skills to run a National Non For Profit organization, the results are self evident. Canadian Chess deserves better then THAT!

[Lyle Craver]

I'm sorry - I really didn't want to get into the midst of this but there are things said here I just can't let pass.


Thank you, here is the outline of some of the things I intend to do for CFC if elected:

The CFC today is a slowly dying organization that desperately needs several new ideas and initiatives to grow and become more vital than ever. Its greatest weakness is that it never seems to do anything new. Its greatest strength is that among the community it has several dedicated and long serving professionals who could adopt a new vision and make the CFC a new and vibrant organization.


Funny - by any stretch of the imagination I would have considered "several dedicated and long serving professionals" to have included me. My company isn't publicly traded nor is likely ever to be but we make a good living and do just fine. My brother (and business partner) has his outside interests as do I as you all know.



There are a lot of new initiatives that should have been adopted by CFC, however the present leadership was busy with the Non Profit Corporation Act and the endorsement of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The endorsement of Ilyumzhinov took place in spite of the fact that in the Chess Talk poll put up by Mr. Drkulec showed only 1 vote for Ilyumzhinov against nearly 30 for Kasparov. Executives have failed even to explain how and why this endorsement ever has happened other than to criticize supporters of Mr. Kasparov. The non-executive Governors’ vote was about split, so it is possible that CFC could vote for Kirsan at the end of the day, but an endorsement? That could happened only because CFC is run by the old boys’ network, who stripped away all the powers away from the Governors, who in spite of all the work they do lost all of their powers, except for voting once a year at the AGM.


I am completely mystified that Mr. Starr sees any role for ChessTalk as a forum for CFC governance. I am equally amazed he thinks they should. On NFP that was a huge file with drastic consequences if the Executive and Governors dropped the ball.

There are reasons to vote for Kasparov. There are reasons to re-elect Ilyumzhinov. The 2013-14 board felt and for the most part still do that the arguments for the latter are stronger. Should a superior slate come forward in the next round of FIDE elections I would welcome a change - I do not however feel the present GK slate is it particularly with the tactics used in this election. I said previously that neither side had clean hands - I still believe that HOWEVER there's no doubt in my mind whose are cleaner. Neither is pristine - but there is a difference. This isn't a totalitarian regime - the Executive is NOT expecting 100% support nor even 99.9% - but we've done quite a few useful things in the past year that even those who feel we made the wrong decision on FIDE should carefully consider our record.

I will say that Starr's last sentence is deeply insulting to both the Executive and the Assembly of Governors. For what it's worth on average it takes a LOT more work to be on the Executive than to be a Governor and having been both (plus on a provincial executive) I should know. In any case he is in error in saying "Give the power back to Governors/voting members" as the Governors never had the power he seems to think they held though any Governor who cares to put in the sort of effort someone like Bob A (among others) has put in can have a LOT of influence. Absolutely no question about it!



• Increased membership/participation. Over the past 15 years the CFC has experienced a steep decline in membership. In its most general sense, the CFC has never gotten it right in terms of implementing effective membership drives or staging events that are conducive towards attracting high levels of participation. While the CFC membership has fallen, the participation in many other federations has risen drastically. In Turkey, for example, the federation grew to having 80,000 adult members. This explosive growth was largely attributable to the fact that the Turkish Federation established a relationship with a bank in which anyone who became a member of the federation received a free bank account. The bank account/federation membership drive in Turkey is a wonderful example of a win/win corporate partnership and there's no reason a similar initiative couldn't occur in Canada. The Turkish initiative proves that Canada need not re-invent the wheel in terms of implementing effective membership growth programs. The Presidents/Executive Directors of a large number of federations will be surveyed to determine which membership initiatives worked best in their nations and a concrete plan will be implemented to achieve the objective of increased growth. Goal: Increasing Membership to 5,000 members by September 1, 2015.


The CFC has never had a problem attracting new members - the problem has always been one of retention and a big part of that is increasing the perception of "value added". Which bank does he suggest we should seek alliance with? There are only 5 majors who are active coast to coast. I'm interested in specifics please.

As for total membership I have ALWAYS felt that a big part of restoring our membership involves restoring our relationship with the FQE and a big part of that is promoting what services we can provide in the French language. Given the position of English vs French globally there will never be equality in publications and the financial means of the CFC is limited BUT what we can do we should! Last I heard we were the Chess Federation OF CANADA. Now let's be plain - there are elements of the FQE that will NEVER accept re-affiliation with the CFC but those folks haven't been influential in the governance of the FQE for some time and I do strongly believe that the vast majority of the FQE are open to change. I want to specifically point out that most of the outgoing Executive served when the CFC / FQE agreement was made and I for one will be horribly disappointed if it never goes further than it has so far.

At the same time, increasing membership is definitely a priority. Anybody unclear on that point? No I thought not.



• Duplicating what amateur pool associations have done (250,000 members in Canada), by offering a grass roots restaurant/bar league, whereby patrons can sign up for a nominal membership charge and play a game, which is part of a ladder tournament, with donated corporate prizes at the end of the yearly league


25 years ago when I lived in Toronto I was part of the Scarborough Chess Club - I thought it was an excellent model then and still do.



• Discussion/negotiation with all other entities running rating systems (mostly for kids, e.g., Chess & Math, etc.), to attempt working out a fair deal to have their members as CFC members, and we provide the rating management/output for this


Again you are going after what Mr. Bevand considers his "crown jewels" - I'm all for cooperation but C&M/AEM is a business and as such would need an attractive business plan for Bevand. If you've got one I'd like to see it - but I confess I see an organization primarily run by and for volunteers (and it is EASY to be a chess volunteer - just don't say no when someone asks - that's how I came to run my first event!) coupling with a business. In case you don't know - the CFC stopped charging rating fees for all-junior events specifically to compete with Bevand who used zero rating fees as a way to market to the families of juniors. This is why I as a CFC Officer get so frustrated with junior organizers who think it is not necessary to include juniors' address info with their registrations. Obviously I see what the 'win' is for the players but an organizer who does this amputates the CFC's side of the "win/win".



• Youth Membership. Never before has the participation levels in scholastic and youth events been higher in Canada. Chess is currently considered a very popular activity for parents seeking to enroll children in programs/events. Aside from the initiatives of the Chess and Math Association, there have been other highly successful chess programs aimed at kids that have enjoyed enormous success. In Kitchener the Chess-For-Kids program has had several thousand kids register since inception and is run as a for profit business. Even in a small province such as New Brunswick there were nearly 400 kids that participated in the provincial scholastic championships in May. There has been no CFC presence at any of these activities, and not only should the CFC establish an attractive program of its own, but it also should establish co-operative relationships with existing programs aimed at increasing youth membership.


The Kitchener program owes a lot to the C-FAX program in Victoria (which is primarily what got Lynn Stringer into chess organizing) in the late 60s/early 70s. It was a good program and the original version of the CYCC cycle took a lot from it. CYCC has morphed a lot since then which is to be expected but I assure you your examples are far from unique.



• Much more effective use of the chess events. The standard swiss-system weekend events in Canada have not been customized to attract high levels of participation. Most require a two night stay over for travelers, and are run on schedules that are demanding for both travelers and host city participants. I have remedies available. Some of them are revamping the way swiss tournaments are being run, for example, Curling and Bridge events, which often attract thousands of participants, have a build in social component. Certain pockets of the country, such as Quebec and Ottawa have been fairly constant in terms of offering a full calendar of events each year, but in much of the country there aren't many events to play in.


Speaking from BC, chess is active in Victoria and Vancouver but almost non-existent elsewhere. Most of what chess there is outside these two areas is online and make no mistake about it - our style of chess no longer is the only 'brand' and there are lots of alternatives available for those who want to play chess. It needs to be clearly said though that the CFC as an organization has no control over the format of events volunteers choose to run. We can encourage - and should - but we cannot mandate.



Also, there are clauses with federal tax law that make it extremely attractive for chess players who die to include donations to charitable organizations in their wills....


On the contrary - bequests are definitely something the CFC has previously pursued. However you are clearly unaware of the battle over charitable status that was fought and lost and I want to emphasize that it wasn't lost due to lack of effort but rather a concerted policy initiative of the current federal government to reduce the number of charitable organizations in this country and to make gaining charitable status for a new organization to be much more difficult than previously. There were definitely things we could have done better in the charitable status fight - but I am firmly convinced that the Feds were actively seeking to lift charitable status wherever possible. I agree seeking bequests would be a good thing but I doubt I have to explain how much harder this is without charitable status.

I say again - there has been a great deal going on during the past year on the Executive and there are plenty of factors besides the FIDE Election Governors / Voting Members need to take into account. To each of you - I hope I will get your vote but win lose or draw I really want to see all of you voting!

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Chess is popular in areas where there are local organizers who are willing to promote it, teach it, and hold events where it is played. Without such organizers there is little hope for any great expansion in CFC member numbers. We have been encouraging this in Windsor where I can actually personally get involved and the result is that 9% of the kids at this year's Montreal CYCC are coming from Windsor a city with 0.7% of the Canadian population.

When I was preparing the strategic plan for the CFC I looked at what some other sports were doing in order to increase participation in their activities. Sports like tennis and soccer get support from governments and invest much of that support in building infrastructure and training kids in how to play the sport. If you teach kids how to play you will get more chess players as a natural consequence of this.

[Lyle Craver]

For what it's worth Starr's membership statistics exclude Life Members who as a group who have made a conscious decision to make a serious financial commitment to the CFC. One can fairly debate whether it's been a good deal or a bad deal for the members affected. What one cannot fairly do is exclude them from calculation of membership totals.

No one denies we can improve our membership totals and there are lots of ways to pursue this.

The CFC formerly offered multi-year memberships and I have repeatedly said both in previous Governor meetings and within the Executive that I intend to introduce a motion to this effect once the NFP process is completed. I thought previously and still do that it's worthwhile BUT have no desire to give Ottawa any excuse to delay final approval. I have not been keeping count but this is the 4th or 5th time I have made this point. We are well on the way to final approval BUT we're not fully 'into the barn' yet.

I have favored additional benefits to TDs and organizers for more than a decade. I do think the pairing software and rating fee discount on events submitted with it is a big one. We could do more.

Please don't think I'm being self-serving (I have directed over 100 events) - I haven't collected statistics but am convinced most of us have directed or organized at least 10 events. Given the sort of person who directs/organizes and the sort of person who gets involved in CFC governance no one should be surprised there's a huge overlap between the two groups.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Hello Lyle,

We have final approval from the federal government. We have transitioned to the new act which means we are governed under the provisions of the NFP act and not the old act. What we still have to do is pass any new bylaws in a way that are compliant with the NFP act.

Fewer bylaws are required than under the old act as much of the governance provisions previously spelled out in the constitution and bylaws are prescribed and proscribed under the new law (no ex-officio board members being one).

[Sasha Starr]

As a Voting Member of the Non For Profit National organization I'm entitled to know what exactly were the offers from the two FIDE Presidential campaigns and let me see if they indeed were "deemed equivalent". Please publish them here. Who is responsible for doing it anyway?

[Sasha Starr]

Hello Lyle,

We have final approval from the federal government. We have transitioned to the new act which means we are governed under the provisions of the NFP act and not the old act. What we still have to do is pass any new bylaws in a way that are compliant with the NFP act.

Fewer bylaws are required than under the old act as much of the governance provisions previously spelled out in the constitution and bylaws are prescribed and proscribed under the new law (no ex-officio board members being one).

So as I understand when the Governors have asked you and Hal for the vote on the FIDE's Presidential issue CFC was still governed by the old act. And the Power on the most important issues at that time was in the hands of the Assembly of Governors. Why were they denied to have a real vote, but you've allowed only non binding straw vote? It was their right, and you could not deny them exercising it! Why other executives have not corrected you and Hal?

[Sasha Starr]

Here is Mr. Belzberg's reply to President's announcement on the Chess Talk.

Re: CFC and FIDE election FAQ



it is the belief of the CFC and the Russian authorities under Boris Yeltsin who investigated this thoroughly at the time that it happened that Kirsan had nothing to do with the murder of any journalist. There has been no credible information that contradicts this view despite repeated claims by Kasparov loyalists.

Vlad thank you for your list of lies that you continue to publish. You really should consider working in the propaganda department for Russia. The Nigel that Spraggett refers to and disagrees with is GM Nigel Short ex challenger for the FIDE Word Chess Championship, Kevin often will post contrarian views on his website and although Kevin and I are very good friends there are many things we disagree on. This being one of them. The other thing I disagree with is Kevin's support of Putin annexing Crimea that he also has written about on his website. Even though Spraggett actually supports the CFC endorsing Kasparov for Canada he is not God or a credible reference on the murder of Larisa Yudina.





Here is a quote from "Putin's Chess War" article in World Affairs. established in 1837 it is a very prestigious bi monthly journal on US Foreign policy.

"On June 7, 1998, newspaper editor Larisa Yudina, who investigated corruption in Kalmykia’s government, was murdered in the capital, Elista. One of the people convicted for her murder was Sergei Vaskin, Ilyumzhinov’s childhood friend, campaign manager, and presidential adviser'.


Another aide of Kirsan was involved in this gruesome murder as well where Mrs Yadinsa was stabbed 22 times. Both aides were convicted and it was widely reported in newspapers world wide at the time. Credible human rights groups have no doubt that Kirsan ordered the murder and the only thing that protected Kirsan from being indicted was the infamously corrupt Yeltsin regime. This case resembles mafia murders where it is very difficult to prove 100% that the boss ordered the killing even though the circumstantial evidence and motivation is overwhelming.

For Vlad to post such an outrage and state that this is the view of the CFC is an insult to Canadian chess players. This is propoganda put out by a small group of executives at the CFC


I can understand why Garry Kasparov would like to run against Vladimir Putin as this might increase his chances of winning the FIDE election.
Gary is absolutely runing against an Putin's agent. Here is another quote from World Affairs.

"Yet the Kremlin is pulling all the stops to ensure the reelection of Ilyumzhinov and the defeat of Russia’s chess legend Kasparov. National chess federations from Jamaica to Singapore have been contacted by Russian embassy representatives urging support for Ilyumzhinov. Last month, Vladimir Putin personally met with Ilyumzhinov, posing for official photographs. The Russian Chess Federation—which nominated Ilyumzhinov for reelection—recently appointed a new board of trustees that is chaired by Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, and that includes such famous chess luminaries as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and Kremlin-connected businessman Gennady Timchenko, who has been sanctioned by the US government over Putin’s aggression in Ukraine."

Isn’t the Canadian Government displeased with the CFC over the decision to support Kirsan?

More to the point is that the Canadian Government has a dim view of Kirsan. The Canadian government correctly stated in the Vice Article that the CFC is an independent organization that is free to do as it sees fit. of course Vlad like's to use this to mislead and try to send the message that the Canadian government supports Kirsan.

Q. Didn’t a majority of the CFC governors support Kirsan?
No, only 50% supported Kirasn, after being completely misled by Vlad and Hal Bond. Furthermore one governor has since changed his vote to Kasparov (it was just a straw poll so why not) so actually less then 50% support Kirsan and furthermore only 8 out of 24 supprted actual endorsement. Despite this the CFC went ahead with the endorsement anyways. The reason it was not an actual vote was that just like with the chess talk poll here it was for optics. The reality is that the executive were determined to enodrse Kirsan regardless of chesstalk polls or the governors input. legally by the way under the NFP the only vote the "Governors/voting members" are entitled is at the AGM. The executive has free reign to do as it desires and so it did.
THe most pathetic part of this is the key advisor was Hal Bond who is frequently employed by FIDE as an arbitor most recently at the Candidates matches in Russia. He has declared himself conflicted out of this but weighed in heavily on the matter. So the CFC embarrasses itself goes against the wishes of the governors/voting members, effectively alienates me as a sponsor and why??? In my opinion it was so that the 5 execs can protect there buddy Hal Bond's job. The FIDE offer of $80,000 worth of tournaments is a ruse they have offered many federations and are known to never follow through with these so called tournaments that they promise.

The above FAQ is a disgusting display of Vlad's lies. Vlad and his small cadre of executives has sold the integrity of the CFC for a promise of
sponsorship of $80,000 worth of tournaments in Canada. A well known promise that FIDE has frequently not followed through with with other chess federations.

. If GK's has such easy access to corporate wealth and sponsors, why could he not find the money for his own match with Shirov?


That was a different time. The Kasparov Chess foundation that I was a director for many years is endowed by a billionare and is thrivng around the world. One member of Gary's campaign ticket singlehandedly built a huge chess center in St Louis Missouri and is a fund manager with over half a trillion (yes trillion!) dollars worth of assets under management.
in addition to this Gary has had endorsements for this campaign form Richard Branson and Bono. Of course Vlad ignores this and instead resorts to cheap shots.

Q. Why should GK be rewarded with the top position in FIDE after all of his attempts to destroy it?

I couldn't figure that one out myself.


That does not surprise me. Gary at one time did have a competing organization as he was mistreated by FIDE. Without the current administration running FIDE Gary see's it as a perfectly viable organization.

Q. You are a liar. You are scum. You are_________(fill in blank).

Hey one of the very few thing's i have seen Vlad post that i agree with. The first two will do fine i don't need to fill in the blank.


For those of you that have not seen the Article i already posted from World Affairs "Putin's Chess War" here it is again. of course Vlad states that he knows better. It reminds me of a bumper sticker i once saw "Who needs Google? My wife knows F*cking everything!"


Putin’s Chess War

1 July 2014

MOSCOW — Just as during the Cold War, when sporting competitions between the free world and the Communist camp inevitably acquired a political dimension, big sport is increasingly becoming big politics for Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the ongoing campaign for the presidency of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, that will be decided at the congress in Tromso, Norway, on August 11th.

Two contenders—both of them Russian—are vying for the position. One is Garry Kasparov, the legendary grandmaster, the 13th world chess champion, and an eight-time winner of the Chess Olympiads. The other is the incumbent, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the former president of Kalmykia, whose 17-year rule over this southern Russian republic was marred by frequent allegations of corruption and abuse of power. On June 7, 1998, newspaper editor Larisa Yudina, who investigated corruption in Kalmykia’s government, was murdered in the capital, Elista. One of the people convicted for her murder was Sergei Vaskin, Ilyumzhinov’s childhood friend, campaign manager, and presidential adviser.

Given the credentials of the two candidates, the choice should be clear. Yet the Kremlin is pulling all the stops to ensure the reelection of Ilyumzhinov and the defeat of Russia’s chess legend Kasparov. National chess federations from Jamaica to Singapore have been contacted by Russian embassy representatives urging support for Ilyumzhinov. Last month, Vladimir Putin personally met with Ilyumzhinov, posing for official photographs. The Russian Chess Federation—which nominated Ilyumzhinov for reelection—recently appointed a new board of trustees that is chaired by Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, and that includes such famous chess luminaries as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and Kremlin-connected businessman Gennady Timchenko, who has been sanctioned by the US government over Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

As the head of a respected international body, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov—a member of Putin’s United Russia party, who has acted as Moscow’s unofficial envoy to Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi, and Bashar al-Assad—is an important asset for the Kremlin. His replacement by Garry Kasparov—a longtime opponent of Putin’s regime—would naturally be a major setback. It is to be hoped, however, that the delegates gathering in Tromso next month will be more concerned with the future of world chess than with the political interests of Vladimir Putin.

[Sasha Starr]

And here is my reply on the Chess Talk.

1.As an official reason for the Ilyumzhinov's SUPPORT - it was stated that Kasparov's representatives were pushy, etc. This is simply not true. Kasparov's program is clearly much more exiting and credible, he is going to stop all the payments to FIDE from the National Federation, which is a very tangible benefit to CFC and many others. And CFC could benefit also from association with the Kasparov Chess Foundation plus the biggest patron of the Canadian Chess Mr. Sid Belzberg was offering to renew his support of the Canadian Chess. This information was available elsewhere including the Chess Talk. What is Canada gaining by ENDORSING Ilyumzhinov? There are no answers except some noise about $80,000.00 for the 4 tournaments Anybody saw the contract? Between whom? Was a Canadian lawyer involved in preparation of this contract?

2.So according to Vlad "Canada is supporting Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for FIDE president". I really hope that one day these manipulations will stop once and for all. There is a support and there is an endorsement. I've read all Governors' discussion on the FIDE election issue. Many of them wanted to have an official poll. There were only two people clearly for Ilyumzhinov all the way: Vlad Drkulec and Hal Bond. As you know in January this year Hal Bond told me that he has a conflict of interests due to his arbiter's assignments from the FIDE. Most of the Governors wanted to have a poll, but both Vlad and Hal have skillfully manipulated the process, disclosures about both candidates. It was not even revealed that Mr. Ilyumzhinov in the last few years was trying 3 times was to create different commercial for profit entities with partners (Tarasov, Bessel Kok and Polsson).

3.Finally after a pressure from some Governors Vlad and Hal have reluctantly agreed to the poll, which they've called at the very last moment non-binding. In any case, for the endorsement of Ilyumzhinov there were only 33,33% of votes! Counting Hal Bond, who has a clear conflict of interest. And in the popular vote here on the Chess Talk Ilyumzhinov had only 1 vote against almost 30 for Kasparov. However the Executives, being ill informed, voted for the ENDORSEMENT. Not for the support, but for the ENDORSEMENT, MAKING CANADA A JOKE AROUND THE WORLD AND CHASING AWAY THE BIGGEST SPONSOR OF CHESS CANADA EVER HAD!

4.His personal attacks on me and other people I will leave for now. Maybe I'll deal with it at some other time and place.

The wishes and opinions of the public at large and the Governors were completely disregarded! Is this style of governance acceptable?

[Sasha Starr]

Hi Lyle,

Thanks for your comments. It's a busy day for me so I'll not go into detail on all topics you raise but quickly try and answer a few.

First, when I mentioned the CFC needing input from professionals I did not mean to suggest that it doesn't benefit from the contributors who are already there. I was speaking of additional individuals such as professional fund-raisers.

I completely agree with you that it is important the federation be truly national and include Quebec. Prior to the current initiatives in Quebec, I was of the mind that the CFC should simply be running CFC events there and those who chose to play and be CFC members could. Now things have changed a little and I would like to see more done.

I also agree that the CFC needs value added initiatives to attract new members. When I mentioned the banks as an example I was referring to establishing partnerships with several entities. The Stratford Festival has it's own credit card and many national federations have arrangements with insurance companies etc. to give added value to members.

Regarding the CFC nomination for Kirsan I'm very much of the mind that Hal and Vlad have wanted FIDE to win from day one and some of the strategies implemented clearly seemed be based on quickly getting the endorsement in place. You may be concerned about some of the Kasparov campaign tactics, but at the same time Vlad and others are ignoring the merits of Kasparov and long time wrong doings of Kirsan.

I don't think anyone at the CFC can feel too proud about the membership dive that's been occurring in recent years and I feel it's time to make many changes aimed at getting the CFC on a rapid upward growth trajectory.

[Valer Eugen Demian]

Sasha, thank you for presenting what you stand for! Chesstalk is not the official medium for CFC AGMs, so doing it again here is appreciated.

If anyone is willing to truly stand up for chess in this country, I think having chess recognized as a sport as your first and only item on the agenda plus fighting to make sure it gets done, is imperative! This solves a lot of troubles CFC confronts itself with for many years. You should model CFC after successful national chess federations and you will find that chess as a sport is an important part of their portofolio; no less than 107 countries consider chess as such!

We have a lot of work to do on our own and there are a lot of qualified people across the country to be successful. I think this should be the focus and not who gets elected as FIDE President. Of course that has its importance too, but not nearly as much.

GK is a brilliant chess mind. However his failure with the Professional Chess Association and its catastrophic effect on FIDE for years raises flags over his ability to run things of that magnitude. Have you considered that from a strictly business point of view?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Valer raises a very good point. Garry made some enemies with the IOC with his calls to boycott the Sochi Winter Olympics. Kirsan has made some promising inroads in this area.

[Sasha Starr]

I have a question to Vlad (from the Chess Talk), however I need the answer. If Vlad is unwilling/unable to answer, any executive can.
"Q: With the knowledge that the voting members were highly polarized on the choice between Kirsan and Garry, and the additional knowledge that ordinary CFC members are highly supportive of a vote for Kasparov (your own poll on ChessTalk), why did you decide to cause what you knew would be maximum controversy and divisiveness within the CFC, perhaps to last years to come, by not just voting for Kirsan, but ENDORSING him, when you could have taken a MUCH less divisive path by choosing to abstain in the FIDE election?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Sasha, ordinary CFC members are not supportive of Garry based on my talks with them at the Ontario Youth Chess Championship and the recent Guelph Pro Am. It is you and your group of Kasparov supporters which are working to do maximum damage to the CFC and sow division among chess players. Kirsan won the straw poll 12 to 8. He won the executive vote 5-0 no doubt in large part due to your and Sid's chesstalk campaign. If you were the great persuader that you claim to be perhaps your arguments might have been more helpful to Kasparov's cause.

Why would we abstain when Kirsan won the vote?

Can someone move these two posts to the thread for the FIDE election. Every thread does not need to be polluted with this nonsense.

[Sasha Starr]

Sasha, thank you for presenting what you stand for! Chesstalk is not the official medium for CFC AGMs, so doing it again here is appreciated.

If anyone is willing to truly stand up for chess in this country, I think having chess recognized as a sport as your first and only item on the agenda plus fighting to make sure it gets done, is imperative! This solves a lot of troubles CFC confronts itself with for many years. You should model CFC after successful national chess federations and you will find that chess as a sport is an important part of their portofolio; no less than 107 countries consider chess as such!

We have a lot of work to do on our own and there are a lot of qualified people across the country to be successful. I think this should be the focus and not who gets elected as FIDE President. Of course that has its importance too, but not nearly as much.

GK is a brilliant chess mind. However his failure with the Professional Chess Association and its catastrophic effect on FIDE for years raises flags over his ability to run things of that magnitude. Have you considered that from a strictly business point of view?

Yes, agree with you, lets see it from the business point of view. It is very possible that Kasparov could not win a FIDE election after all. And if Canada would not endorse the incumbent and just abstained (preference of the majority of Governors), or even quietly voted for KI, nobody would care about it, after all there are well over 150 countries. So the goodwill of Kasparov Chess Foundation and the biggest sponsor of chess in Canada would not be lost for long time... So there must been a heavy inducement for these 2 people derailing the rules, disregard the wishes and opinions of the majority of the chess players AND that of Governors... And they hope to get away with it!

If elected I'll start DOING THINGS! Those who would want to create vital and vibrant CFC will work with me from the day ONE! Others will join when will see first results! We'll do it all together!

[Sasha Starr]

Valer raises a very good point. Garry made some enemies with the IOC with his calls to boycott the Sochi Winter Olympics. Kirsan has made some promising inroads in this area.

Are also an expert in the international politics?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Are also an expert in the international politics?

If you want to talk about the FIDE election use the appropriate thread.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Yes, agree with you, lets see it from the business point of view. It is very possible that Kasparov could not win a FIDE election after all.

Do you think Garry and his campaign team are wrong about his claims that he has the majority of the vote locked up? Just like they were wrong when they said that there would be more federations nominating Garry than Kirsan.



And if Canada would not endorse the incumbent and just abstained (preference of the majority of Governors), or even quietly voted for KI, nobody would care about it, after all there are well over 150 countries. So the goodwill of Kasparov Chess Foundation and the biggest sponsor of chess in Canada would not be lost for long time... So there must been a heavy inducement for these 2 people derailing the rules, disregard the wishes and opinions of the majority of the chess players AND that of Governors... And they hope to get away with it!

If elected I'll start DOING THINGS! Those who would want to create vital and vibrant CFC will work with me from the day ONE! Others will join when will see first results! We'll do it all together!

Will you rest on the seventh day?

In addition to not having good reading comprehension skills it would appear that mathematics is not your strong suit. Only 4 out of 24 governors voted to abstain. That is hardly a majority of governors under any definition of majority that I am familiar with.

[Sasha Starr]

If you want to talk about the FIDE election use the appropriate thread.

And which one is it?

[Sasha Starr]

Will you rest on the seventh day?

I will answer reasonable questions.
I'm worried that you are not answering at all.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I will answer reasonable questions.
I'm worried that you are not answering at all.

You said that a majority of governors preferred abstention. That seems to be either a fantasy of yours or something else. I believe that I have answered it.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

And which one is it?

Probably the one marked Other business FIDE discussion thread. If you win the CFC presidency will you have someone to explain these things to you? It might be a full time job for your lawyer.

[Sasha Starr]

Sasha, ordinary CFC members are not supportive of Garry based on my talks with them at the Ontario Youth Chess Championship and the recent Guelph Pro Am. It is you and your group of Kasparov supporters which are working to do maximum damage to the CFC and sow division among chess players. Kirsan won the straw poll 12 to 8. He won the executive vote 5-0 no doubt in large part due to your and Sid's chesstalk campaign. If you were the great persuader that you claim to be perhaps your arguments might have been more helpful to Kasparov's cause.

Why would we abstain when Kirsan won the vote?

Can someone move these two posts to the thread for the FIDE election. Every thread does not need to be polluted with this nonsense.

You are fundamentally wrong. The issue of this election is a preservation of the rights of Governors/Voting Members. The issue of this election is whether or not Voting Members will allow a manipulator like yourself without any business acumen to promote chess, raise money, start new initiatives and increase membership to continue chase away sponsors and further damage the CHESS in CANADA. I hope not.

[Sasha Starr]

You said that a majority of governors preferred abstention. That seems to be either a fantasy of yours or something else. I believe that I have answered it.

Only 33,33% of the Governors supported the ENDORSEMENT! Please look at your own poll.

Me and Sid did not have an access to the Governors' Board. And by the time I've registered on the Chess Talk you were openly against Kasparov.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

And which one is it?


You are fundamentally wrong. The issue of this election is a preservation of the rights of Governors/Voting Members. The issue of this election is whether or not Voting Members will allow a manipulator like yourself without any business acumen to promote chess, raise money, start new initiatives and increase membership to continue chase away sponsors and further damage the CHESS in CANADA. I hope not.

You are dangerously close to being censured and censored. You can call me names on chesstalk where I can put you in the ignore file. If you do it here I will rule you out of order.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Reading all these BS, one thought - the online meeting is the least suitable form for for elections.

Can both nominees write each other in private their comments to each other? There are already not many Governors participate in discussions, and only less will do in future if the tone will be kept as now.

[Sasha Starr]

Valer raises a very good point. Garry made some enemies with the IOC with his calls to boycott the Sochi Winter Olympics. Kirsan has made some promising inroads in this area.

So you think that Gary made enemies by trying to boycott the Sochi Olympics? Its false. He encouraged the athletes to go and simply said that sponsors should have things like rainbow coalition flags as a form of protest. He also said world leaders should not go. He did not make enemies in the IOC as Vlad states.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

So you think that Gary made enemies by trying to boycott the Sochi Olympics? Its false. He encouraged the athletes to go and simply said that sponsors should have things like rainbow coalition flags as a form of protest. He also said world leaders should not go. He did not make enemies in the IOC as Vlad states.

I saw comments about sponsors, members of the IOC and others which probably annoyed the IOC.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/07/sochi-vladimir-putin-hitler-berlin-garry-kasparov

"He vilified the foreign dignitaries attending, who include the Chinese president Xi Jinping, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Japan's premier Shinzo Abe and other Asian leaders."

"No upstanding politician can come to these games," Kasparov said. "Particularly interesting [is] the role of Thomas Bach, the president of the Olympic committee. He's a German and as such he should have learned something from history. Instead he's cosying up to Putin."

I'm surprised Garry didn't put that article on his campaign website as proof of his good relationship with the IOC.

[Sasha Starr]

I saw comments about sponsors which annoyed the IOC.

Links, please.

[Lyle Craver]

While I would be happier to see pre-meeting statements by the candidates as is typical in USCF affairs our 'culture' seems to be to fight this out at the AGM.

It's too easy for things to turn into a popularity contest and it's even worse when the process gets captured as a single issue referendum.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Links, please.

How about Garry's own tweets scroll down to the ones that suggest boycotting advertisers. I'm sure the IOC took it in stride.

http://twitchy.com/2014/01/21/garry-kasparov-on-winter-olympics-selection-of-sochi-was-a-sick-joke/

[Sasha Starr]

While I would be happier to see pre-meeting statements by the candidates as is typical in USCF affairs our 'culture' seems to be to fight this out at the AGM.

It's too easy for things to turn into a popularity contest and it's even worse when the process gets captured as a single issue referendum.

The Voting Members have to make an important decision: have more of the same or start building the new vibrant and vital organization. I'm offering my vision, energy, business experience, connections. The form of the debates or any other process are acceptable to me.

[Sasha Starr]

How about Garry's own tweets scroll down to the ones that suggest boycotting advertisers. I'm sure the IOC took it in stride.

http://twitchy.com/2014/01/21/garry-kasparov-on-winter-olympics-selection-of-sochi-was-a-sick-joke/

You are sure... I'll not comment on this, you could do better then that!

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Sasha, this business of yours that is about to go public, is it chess related?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

You are sure... I'll not comment on this, you could do better then that!

I could do better than that but then you would claim he was misquoted.

[Sasha Starr]

Sasha, this business of yours that is about to go public, is it the chess related one that you have talked about with a number of people?

Source, links, please.

[Sasha Starr]

From the Chess Talk regarding CFC's Endorsement:
"These sure aren't the questions I frequently ask myself when trying to figure out how this strange decision got made".

[Sasha Starr]

I am trying very hard to repair the damage. With the help of the Voting Members, all together, we can do it!

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Source, links, please.

Don't be so suspicious. Even if it is a chess related business there is currently no bylaw against it and I don't think there should be.

[Sasha Starr]

Don't be so suspicious. Even if it is a chess related business there is currently no bylaw against it and I don't think there should be.

What's the point to ask it?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

What's the point to ask it?

You are using your business to establish credibility as a businessman. Is it the chess business concept that you are basing your claim of business acumen on? If its not that's fine. I didn't realize that your proposed business concept was top secret. Sorry I brought it up. I'm sure you'll use your concept to revolutionize chess in Canada and the world once you get around to launching it.