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Thread: 4. Executive and Officer reports

  1. #1
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    Default 4. Executive and Officer reports

    4. Reports

    (Executive members and Officers please post your reports in this thread titling your report as follows: 4A President, 4B Vice President, 4C Secretary etc.)

    A. President
    B. Vice President
    C. Secretary
    D. Past President
    E. FIDE Representative
    F. Youth Coordinator
    G. Masters Representative
    H. Reports from Board Members at Large
    I. Woman’s Coordinator
    J. Rating Auditor
    K. Chess Foundation of Canada
    L. Kalev Pugi Fund
    M. Treasurer
    N. Executive Director: Financial Report

  2. #2
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    4B Vice-President

    The year became a transitional from no OTB chess to the full blast. Even my local small tournament got a long waiting list of players eager to be back to the OTB.
    As the VP my involvement was a participation in meetings/talks/communications; (and that went on 4 years.)

    I'll be not seeking re-election as a VP, as decided to spend the "chess" energy/time on restarting the town's club, do more local tournaments, and elsewhere. Though, I'll be around as a voting member
    .*-1

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Montreal
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    Default

    4H member at large

    As members at large do, I have participated in all meetings of the executive.
    I suggested and had applied ZOOM meetings of the executive with an agenda and hope this efficient way of running board meetings will become more common. I also participated in reviewing the Regs if the CFC.
    In general, my goal was to help facilitate, whenever possible, the work of the board.
    On a side note, I am trying to develop the program Chess For Life as it concerns restorative Justice.

  4. #4
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    Default 4A President's Report

    I don't want to go too top heavy on the Olympiad but a major frustration this year was the visa procedure for India where the 44th FIDE chess Olympiad was held. In Canada we have to go through the visa service contracted by the Indian government (BLS) if we have a Canadian passport. This was the most frustrating process that we dealt with in some years. I believe that Canadians and Britons had to get a paper visa whereas everyone else could apply for an e-visa which involved a very quick approval process. The players and coaches with dual passports used their secondary passport for quick approval whereas those on a Canadian visa had to go the paper visa route and follow the opaque rules.

    On Thursday July 22nd morning, five days before most of us were flying out, we did not have enough players with visas for either an open or a women's team or for the head of delegation/FIDE delegate (myself). A few days before this Victor Plotkin sent an email casting doubt on the probability of Canadians participating without some significant intervention by the Indian organizers or FIDE. I believe that we got that intervention and most of our team managed to attend though Rachel Chen and her mother who were applying from the U.S. were not able to obtain visas.

    I sent in my application and my passport more than five weeks prior to the departure date and waited 16 days before my application came back as a refusal because they claimed that the business visa that I was applying for was the wrong visa. I should have applied for a conference visa. This conclusion came despite a letter from the Indian government and the Indian organizers instructing us to apply for business visas which was included in the package that I sent them but I have doubts that they read.

    We were all comparing notes as we went through the visa approval process so we had the advantage that as each new piece of information in which we were allegedly deficient came out we were able to add it to the package for everyone.

    While at the CYCC/Canadian Open I went to the Indian Consulate in Toronto but I was blown off and instructed that I needed to return to BLS. They refused to see me without an appointment. Their phone and email address posted on the consulate website did not work or bounced back. At a certain point, I called BLS and they gave me a glimmer of hope on the day when I was paired with my former student Rohan Talukdar who was just awarded the IM title. We drove to the BLS office in Brampton with Rohan navigating. When we we got into the office after an hour and a half waiting in line with only 15 minutes to spare they were rather intent on refusing me again but thanks to the Groundhog Day experience of the collective Canadian players on Canadian passports, I had all my papers in order.


    They tried to refuse my application by saying, "You don't have the registration for the Canadian Company." I dropped the CFC continuation papers from 2014 on the table.
    "You don't have the PAN number for the Indian Company." I dropped the scan of the PAN number on the table.
    "You don't have the registration for the Indian company." I dropped the registration of the All India Chess Federation from their website.
    "You don't have the proof of residence." I dropped the proof of residence.
    On and on it went with each passing hurdle falling one by one, and the confidence of the gatekeeper was clearly shaken.
    "You should apply for a conference visa." I dropped the final letters being the letter from the organizers and the Indian government telling us to apply for business visas.
    Shaken but still defiant, the woman at the counter sent me to the security guard, who gave us the secret to getting an appointment at the consulate which was an obscure webpage on the consulate website that asked you to apply for the Open House on Wednesdays. I went home and applied but had just about given up on the process.

    I went back to the Canadian Open and learned that I had taken a forfeit against Rohan for the game which we had not played.

    On the Tuesday after the Canadian Open, I got an email somewhat late in the day, instructing me to attend the embassy the following day. I let Omar Shah who was having similar difficulties in his quest to be an arbiter at the Olympiad know about the secret webpage. I wish I could say that I got the visa, the next day but there was not going to be anything that simple. Near the end of the day I got into see someone at the embassy and started to show him all my documents and proof and evidence and letters. He asked to see the rejection letter and then I showed that and I showed the letter from the Indian government and started to make my case but he cut me short. "You are from FIDE."

    "Yes."

    "You will have your visa today." I shut up.

    Alas through no fault of that individual, I had to come back the next day because the embossing machine that stamped the visas was broken. This necessitated an over night stay in a hotel. I had brought a change of clothes just in case. They did waive the visa fee which was almost the same as the cost of the hotel but I was going to India. I called Victor Plotkin to let him know. The logjam with most of the players broke on just about the same day.
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 09-16-2022 at 03:19 PM.

  5. #5
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    Default 4A President's Report continued

    I thought the FIDE Congress went well and the Olympiad went well though it wasn't without its unpleasant moments. I was sick for the early part of the Olympiad when I let my guard down and consumed some orange juice (I suspect that this was the source of my illness) which sent me to the bathroom quite a bit. They had doctors on site for the Congress but still it took three days before I could venture far from the Congress hotel and even after that I had a recurrence. Fortunately, the Congress had not yet started and the only thing I missed was making the long trip to the Olympiad site for several days. I didn’t really miss any of the Congress meetings aside from having to choose which of occasionally multiple meetings occurring simultaneously I would attend. I lost sixteen pounds in sixteen days. Of course, I have put almost all of those pounds back on recently.
    We made some new contacts and met some people who previously had only been email contacts. We have several new people who I can approach on the CFC behalf as a result of attending this FIDE Congress. I got to meet several of the women who make the FIDE office work so well these days and they were in contact when we were trying to get Rachel Chen a visa, unsuccessfully. Of course, I have a direct channel to President Dvorkovich who has invited me to use it whenever needed. Victor has already established good contacts of his own so we should be well covered.
    My impressions were that the organizers and FIDE did everything they could to make this Olympiad and Congress work well. I will not go into the bad experiences of which there were a few.
    The illness from the food/drinks was expected though I did hold out faint hope that the Dukoral prescription would mitigate any problems and maybe it did as I was largely able to function even during the illness. The Arkady Dvorkovich ticket won over 90% of the votes which was not unexpected. They have done a good job over the last four years and if the invasion of Ukraine hadn’t happened, the result would have been even more decisive.

    Alexandra Botez won an award for the Americas her online social media presence. It appeared in my hotel room and I managed to bring it home without it being damaged. Hopefully it got to Alexandra without being damaged as well.
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 09-18-2022 at 01:30 PM.

  6. #6
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    Dec 2016
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patricia Gamliel;42As members at large do, I have pa202
    4H member at large

    On a side note, I am trying to develop the program Chess For Life as it concerns restorative Justice.
    Chess for Life was started in Lethbridge AB a few years ago, where I believe it was quite successful. They are now trying to start it in Edmonton. See ACA website homepage at http://www.albertachess.org/home/ for more details. I think it is a great idea.

  7. #7
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    Default

    4.K. Chess Foundation Annual Report (as of 30 April 2022):
    Total Assets: 437,624
    Income Payable to CFC: 14,074
    Portion Allocated to General Expenses: 12,701
    Portion Allocated to Pugi Fund non-gender specified: 923
    Portion Allocated to Pugi Fund for female players: 450
    I am waiting for the CFC to hand over revenue from life memberships purchased in FY 2021/2022. Once I have received that I can submit a detailed annual report and remit the appropriate amount to the CFC.
    Paul Leblanc
    Treasurer, Chess Foundation of Canada
    CFC Voting Member

  8. #8
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    Default

    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
    - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

    )

  9. #9
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    Aug 2021
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    4I. Woman’s Coordinator

    Hello everyone,
    I hope you all are doing great.

    Pease see below my report.
    1. Assisted with sending the National Team to the Olympiad 2022 (revising selecting criteria, calculating ratings of candidates, general inquiries and communication etc).
    2. Assisted with organization of Canadian Zonal including personal invitations, organizing promotion of the tournaments on FIDE social media.
    3. Organized nomination and promoted our nominee for the Year of the Women in Chess Award 2022. Our nominee won the Outstanding influencer/commentator/social media star Americas award!
    4. Participated in all Zoom meetings and discussions.
    5. Completed other general inquiries.

    Best regards,
    WFM Oksana Golubeva

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
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    CFC FIDE Representative Report.

    1. FIDE election.

    The CFC board of directors discussed our stance regarding this election. No one was willing to support alternative candidate Andrii Baryshpolets. Both Vlad and I talked to him many times before the Olympiad in Chennai and during Olympiad as well. We both got a very similar impression: a nice guy, but not ready for this position. Being anti-Russian is a popular point nowadays, but it shouldn't be the only point in a candidate's agenda.

    It was a negative surprise for me that the western world was not able to produce a better candidate. The outcome of the election was very obvious even before the final voting. Still, I expected about 40 votes for Andrii, but he got only 16. Even most Western European federations did not support him.

    The final score shows not only satisfaction with Dvorkovich's presidency, but also the appreciation of his management team. During the last 1.5 years, I regularly contacted many FIDE management team members. I was almost always able to get a quick and helpful reply to our questions and needs.

    2. Travel expenses and Visa.

    India was probably the worst possible place in terms of travel expenses. The price for an economy class ticket was 100-150% higher than for previous Olympiads. During many conversations with A.Dvorkovich and V.Bologan, I tried to explain the CFC's difficult financial situation as a result of pandemic restrictions. At the end, FIDE agreed to partially cover travel expenses for Olympiad.

    Obtaining a visa was another problem. A Canadian passport is usually a very good travel document, but not in this case. Some visa conflict between Canada and India made the holders of Canadian passport ineligible for a convenient e-visa to India. Usually it takes 1-3 weeks to get a regular "paper" visa. Many chess players have the bad habit of starting unpleasant process as late as possible. The problem was that in this case, it could have been too late. 2 National Team players got their visas just 1 day before departure.

    1 week before departure, I contacted E.Sutovsky and told him that it entirely possible that Canada could miss the Olympiad due to visa problems. Maybe it was a little bit too dramatic, but the FIDE took it seriously and made Indian organizers contact the Indian embassy in Canada. I can not be 100% sure that this intervention changed the outcome, but at the end everyone except Rachel Chen got a visa on time.

    3. Qiyu Zhou and Rachel Chen.

    Just 8 days before departure, Qiyu Zhou told me that she would not be playing in India. I immediately sent an email to next-in-line Rachel Chen. She is 14 y.o. girl living in LA, which makes it even more difficult to get a "paper" visa on time. The nearest Indian consulate is in SF, which is a 5 hour drive from LA. It was clear from the very beginning that it would be too late for a "paper" visa without active and powerful FIDE involvement. Unfortunately, in this case the FIDE and Indian organizers were not able to solve this problem; everyone has their own limitations...

    To be continued ...

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