7/9/2010 – Yesterday we went through the Ilyumzhinov election site, today we look at recent
Karpov2010 campaign efforts –
in the Caribbean. There is some remarkable video of a vote being taken in Puerto
Rico to support the challenger's ticket. We also learn that Presidential candidate Karpov
is taking up his opponent's challenge with a $100,000 sponsorship package to promote chess in Central America.
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Democracy in Action: Puerto Rico Adelante!
It was a wonderful sight in Puerto Rico last weekend, as people power worked
for the future of chess in beautiful Puerto Rico. When the Federation’s
leadership balked at an open debate over whom to support for FIDE president,
an Extraordinary Assembly was called. As the remarkable videos show, well over
100 members came out to vote! The result was a clear win to support the ticket
of Anatoly Karpov, and the Assembly also supported the candidacy of Puerto Rico’s
own chess dynamo, Rafael Ortiz Bonilla, for General Secretary on the Continental
Americas ticket of Marvin Guevara, along with Francisco Guadalupe, which is
supported by the Karpov2010 campaign.
Here’s the vote count in action progress. The voters didn’t fit
into the meeting hall so the Assembly had to go outside the building! Our thanks
and congratulations to Rafael Ortiz and Federation president Omar Añeses
for this heartening display of democracy in action.
Here's
a full YouTube page of videos on the proceedings of the Extraordinary
Assembly of the Puerto Rican Chess Federation
The vote took place just weeks after the visit of Garry Kasparov to Puerto
Rico, where he was very well received. Kasparov was impressed with the passion
for chess on the island and especially by the Casa del Ajedrez, an amazing institution
that the Karpov campaign has pledged to turn into a Latin American / Caribbean
operations center. As Rafael Ortiz puts it, “it makes perfect sense because
Puerto Rico is the e4 square on a board that spans Argentina to Canada!”
And who knows better than Karpov about controlling the center of the board?
We are told that the vote count was 76 to endorse Karpov immediately and 59
not to endorse immediately. 45 of the 59 "no" voters said they also
supported Karpov, but wanted to hear more from Ilyumzhinov first. Sr. Ortiz's
answer was, "Kirsan has had 15 years not just to say something, but to
do something!"
Four, five, six or seven continents? It all depends on how you count
them [see Wikipedia]
A tangential word to our readers about the Continental elections, of
the American continent in this case. On most of the planet, every child's
schoolbook says there are five continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia,
America. Note, for example, the five Olympic rings. In other places, Antarctica
has been added to the list to make six. Then there are the few that want
more and where America is chopped into two continents, North and South.
We have found in our extensive travels that "how many continents
are there?" is a seemingly innocent question that can lead to passionate
arguments about imperialism, education, and plate tectonics.
Karpov's visit to The Bahamas
Near the end of June, Anatoly Karpov paid a two-day visit to the city of Nassau,
the capital of the island nation of The Bahamas, where they are just beginning
to develop a serious chess presence. Karpov’s arrival coincided with the
launch of the Sub Zonal 2.3 tournament, the first time it has been hosted in
the Bahamas. Representatives of Barbados, Venezuela, Jamaica, and many more
regional federations made up the field. In the end, the winner was Jomo Pitterson
of Jamaica.
Karpov at the opening ceremony of the Sub Zonal with several promising local
players.
In the center, wearing a tie, is Education Minister Desmond Bannister.
Bahamian chess federation president Kean Smith alongside Bahamian Minister
of
Tourism Vernice Walkine, who makes the first move.
Several federation presidents also participated in the event. Octavio Croes
(right) leads Aruba.
The eventual winner, Jomo Pitterson, on the left in the orange shirt, shares
a joke
with the "Caribbean Tal," Barbados' Philip Corbin, on the right, before
round two.
Aruban representatives Jasel and Juste Lopez. "We never get to play
anyone strong
at home," lamented Juste. Unless you are a veteran of the region it can
be a little
startling to hear Dutch being spoken around you.
The stresses of organizing this international tournament, and, sadly, of politics,
created a strange atmosphere for the arrival of the 12th World Champion. There
was no media prepared for his appearance, though meetings with the Ministers
of Tourism and Sport were arranged at the last second, and he met Desmond Bannister,
Acting Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture and Minister of Education, briefly
at the opening ceremony of the tournament.
In the above picture we see Kean Smith, President of the Bahamas Chess
Federation; Anatoly Karpov, Minister Vanderpool-Wallace, Ms Walkine, Nicole
Campbell, Permanent Secretary of Youth, Sport and Culture, and Tyrone Sawyer,
Director of Sports Tourism. Image by courtesy of the Bahamas Tourism
Today web site, which also has a
report.
Errol Tiwari is the president of the Guyana chess federation and he also
played in the Sub Zonal. Karpov was interested to learn that some of the world's
best rums come from Guyana and even more impressed to receive a bottle. Traditionally,
though, the candidates are the ones giving gifts to the delegates?!
The attendance at the event of Mr. Jorge Vega, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s Continental
President, seemed to create an unfortunate tension. Instead of uniting to promote
chess and to take advantage of the presence of a former world champion, a negative
spirit of competition was instead present. Karpov’s attempts to host an
open discussion with the regional federation heads in attendance and the executives
of the Bahamian federation about how to advance chess in the Caribbean were
actively fought. Even an invitation to have dinner with the world champion was
challenged by Mr. Vega. And while we understand the difficult situation these
intimidation tactics can create for the representatives, we insist that it is
possible to promote chess for the benefit of all and hold a political
campaign at the same time. The Bahamian chess community and the entire region
were cheated of a unique opportunity.
English GM David Norwood, who resided for some time in The Bahamas, was one
of the major sponsors of the Sub Zonal tournament. He expressed his disappointment:
“When I heard that Karpov would be attending the Caribbean Sub-Zonal
I was obviously delighted. Whatever one’s politics, I thought this was
a fantastic opportunity for Bahamas chess and incredible publicity for the
tournament. However, I was horrified to hear that while in Nassau he had been
snubbed to the point of rudeness. It’s no way to promote chess and it’s
no way to treat one of the game’s greatest players. That will be the
last of my money going into Bahamian chess until they decide to put chess
before politics.”
In February this year Norwood played a chess simul and made a
major donation to the Bahamas Chess Federation, as Kean
Smith reported.
David Robert Norwood, 41, is a grandmaster, writer and businessman
who joined the city investment bank Banker's Trust in 1991 and became
the director of Special Projects at IP Group plc. He earned his IM title
in 1985 and became a full grandmaster in 1989.
In addition to being an Oxford graduate, David is the author of
two chess books and is a former chess columnist at the Daily Telegraph.
Today he lives on an island far away from the mainstream of chess,
business, or in fact society in general.
National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. There are more pictures from Karpov's
visit
in the Caribbean Chess Sub Zonal 2010 report on the FIDE
web site.
Karpov Campaign announces $100,000 for Central America
The Karpov2010 website has published this letter from software CEO (and strong
chessplayer – a former World Open winner) Alan Trefler. In it, he expresses
his interest in the future of commercial chess sponsorship for his company,
but says "the current environment at FIDE is inappropriate for us."
Along with the letter, the Karpov
campaign announced they have secured $100,000 to promote chess in Central
America over the next four years – presumably under a Karpov FIDE administration.
Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras were early supporters of Karpov's campaign.
The release continues, "Similar projects are coming next to the Caribbean,
South America, Asia, and then Africa as soon as the appropriate partnerships
and entities are finalized. Localized arrangements in Europe and the Middle
East will also be announced. In the next ten days you will hear the details
of several more major sponsorship packages, on a region-by-region basis."
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