CFC FIDE Representative election - Feb 2021

[Fred McKim]

Hal Bond has posted his side of the story on the public forums. I'm going to quote it here because I think it's important to get it into the official meeting record.

I think it might be relevant to confirm or contradict some of Hal's story, as it might be critical to how some of you choose to vote. Normally, it's not my place to talk about matters that take happen between the Board of Directors.

To the best of my knowledge none of the rest of the Board knows who seriously altered the 2018 letter Hal sent to the CFC Board, which was then somehow shared with FIDE Management Team (we still don't know how that happened). I do believe that FIDE knows and Hal may have found out.

I don't recall the vote tally to censure Vadim, then CFC Publicity Officer, in some way, from about one year ago, being unanimous, but it clearly passed. Vlad refused to issue a letter, as suggested by the board. I discussed the matter with our Lawyer, Les Bunning. He suggested we could be leaving ourselves open to litigation just as Vlad suggested, and to just wait and eliminate the position at the 2020 AGM.

The rest of Hal's comments are correct, to the best of my knowledge. I'm hoping this election will soon pass and we can move on in unison, with a healthy election this summer.

Fred

[Michael Barron]

I will vote for Vadim Tsypin because he his the most qualified person for this position. He has numerous contacts within FIDE and foreign Federations that could greatly improve chess in Canada. His position within FIDE is an advantage, not a conflict of interest. FIDE works for its member Federations, not against them. Furthermore, he his the only candidate with a real published program.

Dear Voting Members,

We have 2 good candidates for FIDE Representative position and can choose the best of the best!
It's a rare occasion nowadays...

Let's keep in mind the best interests of Canadian chess and elect FIDE Representative who is able to create more opportunities for Canadian chess players, arbiters and organizers!

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Perhaps I need to contact Kevin Spraggett and ghost write his expose on Canadian chess (at least 7.5 years of it) with particular attention to the role of Hal Bond over the years. The problem is that documenting everything would double the length of this thread.

That is not the purpose of this meeting and thus I shall refrain.

[Victor Plotkin]

For some reason, our president decided not to post endorsement letter from Canadian Champion GM E.Bareev. Unfortunately, I have no choice but post it myself.


Dear Vlad,

Could you please give my vote to Victor Plotkin as FIDE representative.
I explain my positions below. Unfortunately I am busy for the next two days and cannot present in meetings. Could you please share my concerns with CFC members.

Tomorrow we are going to vote for a new Canadian FIDE Representative.



As Canadian national champion I also have the right to vote and would like to share my concerns about what may happen.



I worked in the FIDE commission at K. Ilyumzhinov terms and with FIDE President A. Dvorkovich in Russian chess Federation in 2010-2014, so I know the inner kitchen and it is not genuinely nice. I have been criticizing FIDE's decisions for the last year. I do not see much support for chess players at these hard times. At the same time, I know that FIDE representatives are preparing for new elections extensively.



One candidate Vadim Tsypin is working in FIDE. He has rather high positions there. What I know about him I know only from someone’s words and I cannot completely rely on that information. Nevertheless, his position in FIDE depends on CFC voting on new elections. In case CFC supports any other candidate than A. Dvorkovich in interests of V. Tsypin will be voting for A.Dvorkovich. In my opinion, it is an obvious conflict of interests. I have doubts, reasonable doubts that he will stand the temptations. In my opinion V. Tsypin should not be among candidates for this position at all. I also know that he wants this position so the only possibility left is to support any other candidate to exclude giving Canadian voting ballot in advance to A. Dvorkovich. After all, another candidate may run on election and we need a choice.



Sincerely,

GM E.Bareev

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I think it might be relevant to confirm or contradict some of Hal's story, as it might be critical to how some of you choose to vote. Normally, it's not my place to talk about matters that take happen between the Board of Directors.

To the best of my knowledge none of the rest of the Board knows who seriously altered the 2018 letter Hal sent to the CFC Board, which was then somehow shared with FIDE Management Team (we still don't know how that happened). I do believe that FIDE knows and Hal may have found out.

I don't recall the vote tally to censure Vadim, then CFC Publicity Officer, in some way, from about one year ago, being unanimous, but it clearly passed. Vlad refused to issue a letter, as suggested by the board. I discussed the matter with our Lawyer, Les Bunning. He suggested we could be leaving ourselves open to litigation just as Vlad suggested, and to just wait and eliminate the position at the 2020 AGM.

The rest of Hal's comments are correct, to the best of my knowledge. I'm hoping this election will soon pass and we can move on in unison, with a healthy election this summer.

Fred

I disagree with many of his comments. If I had fifty hours of free time, I could document every one of them but don't feel the energy or the need.


It did not seem in talking to Berik that Hal Bond stepping down was a requirement to proceed with this funding but more of a strong preference.

[Nikolay Noritsyn]

I disagree with many of his comments. If I had fifty hours of free time, I could document every one of them but don't feel the energy or the need.


It did not seem in talking to Berik that Hal Bond stepping down was a requirement to proceed with this funding but more of a strong preference.

Berik did not try to bribe me, Berik only offered me money?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

For some reason, our president decided not to post endorsement letter from Canadian Champion GM E.Bareev. Unfortunately, I have no choice but post it myself.

Sincerely,

GM E.Bareev

The last paragraph was a problem for me.

[Nikolay Noritsyn]

The last paragraph was a problem for me.

You can pick and choose which endorsements to post and which not to?

Re "That is not the purpose of this meeting and thus I shall refrain." It may be relevant to this election, and also Hal Bond's comments are relevant for the future of the CFC Executive - the way he describes events, many people's actions are put into question. I think its in your best interests to tell your side of the story. Plenty more days for this meeting

[Christopher Mallon]

The last paragraph was a problem for me.

I wasn't aware that censoring the Canadian Champion (who I think is a VM as well?) was part of your job description?

[Victor Plotkin]

Initially, I had no intention of contacting Bareev about this election. This morning, after I got information regarding attempts to put pressure on me to resign, I changed my mind. I sent a short message to Evgeny, asking him to call me. In our conversation, he fully believed my story about the threat, which I had received from Russia. I asked for his advice, and he offered to send an endorsement letter in my favor himself.

8:03 - His endorsement email arrived into mine and Vlad's inboxes. Usually, Vlad posts endorsements after a very short time, so I was surprised to see such a long delay.
8:45 - I sent an email to Vlad, reminding him to post E. Bareev's email.
9:09 - Vlad replied to me, saying: "I cannot post something defamatory that would open things up to a lawsuit against myself and the CFC."
9:13 - I sent an email to Vlad, saying that at 9:30, I would post Bareev's letter myself.
9:33 - I posted Bareev's email.

I have to say that I don't see any defamation in Bareev's email, just a very negative opinion on one of the candidates, which, I remind you, is very legal, and typical. The refusal to post such a letter written by our champion and the best ever Canadian player is absolutely unacceptable.