Agon's Paulson at the FIDE General Assembly

The link to the series of Youtube videos that I noted in 83rd FIDE Congress isn't the only video resource available for that gathering. It turns out that the same camera man, Sevan Muradian, has extracted some of the most important sequences to separate videos. For example, below is a clip covering Andrew Paulson's appearance in front of the General Assembly. If you're not familiar with Paulson, he's the white knight to whom FIDE has given the contract for the next few World Championship cycles. I covered his swift ascent to FIDE center stage in two recent posts: Evolution of a Press Release and C25 Candidates & C26 Grand Prix.

Agon (47:27) • 'Published on 19 Sep 2012 by North American Chess; no description available'

Although the clip is over 47 minutes long, Paulson's main presentation lasts for only three minutes near the beginning. Here's a highlight:-

I'm often asked by journalists, do I really think that I can make chess as big as it was 20 or 30 years ago, and I point out to them that chess is bigger than it was 20 or 30 years ago. It's simply that media attention -- the eye of the camera -- has been elsewhere. So in fact a major part of our strategy is to bring back media attention to the events themselves. It's not a major transformation. I don't have any revolutionary ideas. I simply plan on doing everything a little bit better and I think that's the core of our plan.

The rest of the video is a Q&A featuring various FIDE heavyweights, epsecially FIDE Deputy President Makropoulos. FIDE President Ilyumzhinov remains silent throughout. My favorite segment is an exchange between Paulson and Vice President Ilya Levitov, who also happens to be President of the Russian Chess Federation, on the withdrawal of the Chelyabinsk organizers from the first Grand Prix event, which was hastily reorganized in London. Another portion worth excerpting is Paulson's response when asked about 'media channels' at the London Grand Prix:-

The first two Grand Prix's, which were supposed to be in Chelyabinsk and Tashkent, we had no major plans for innovation. We signed the contract six months ago and there was still an amount of uncertainty around it. Our plans are to make a big, let's say, a transitional moment during the Candidates which will also be in London in March.

Toward the end of the video, Makropoulos explains the importance of the contract to FIDE:-

I'm proposing to approve this contract, because it's very important for FIDE at this moment. It's the first time in our history to have our events for the World Championship cycle, very expensive events; it's the first time in our history to have someone who can guarantee these events.

If you are also interested in the CNC presentation, which preceded the Agon time slot, see CNC, on the same Youtube channel.

The Philippine Connection

While writing yesterday's post on my main blog, The Match That Never Was, I had a vague recollection of another fabricated Fischer - Karpov game from a few years ago. Sure enough, I found it on Chessbase.com and added the relevant links to the 'Never Was' post.

One unfabricated fact about the game didn't seem right: that the main negotiations between Fischer and Karpov occurred in the Philippines. The one reference by Chessbase -- Russians vs. Fischer, by Plisetsky and Voronkov (1994), p.366-367 -- mentions only meetings in Tokyo and Cordoba. Then I turned to Kasparov's volume on Fischer, My Great Predecessors IV, where starting on p.467, there is a long, detailed account titled 'Abdication'. Here is a timeline derived from that account.

1972-09	•	Reykjavik: Fischer wins title from Spassky
1972	•	San Antonio: Fischer visits tournament; meets Karpov for first time
1973	•	Manila: Fischer visits tournament; meets Marcos, Campomanes
1973-09	•	Helsinki: FIDE Congress, Fred Cramer presents Fischer's proposals
1974-06	•	Nice: FIDE Congress; Fischer resigns title
1974-11	•	Moscow: Karpov beats Korchnoi in Candidates final
1975-01	•	Philippines offers $5.000.000 for match
1975-03	•	Bergen-aan-Zee, Holland: Extraordinary FIDE Congress
1975-04	•	Euwe declares Karpov World Champion
1974(?)	•	Campomanes takes role of intermediary between Fischer & Karpov
1976-07	•	Tokyo: First negotiations
1976-08	•	Cordoba: Next meeting
1977-10	•	Washington: (1) restaurant, (2) Philippine embassy

There are some gaps in that table, especially months and venues, which I'll fill in from other accounts.

Notable Resources

A few resources worth mentioning;-

• Chess Notes Factfinder • Controversies, anecdotes, and trivia from Chesshistory.com; search on 'world' or player's name works well.
• Video History of the World Chess Championship • Produced for the 2012 Anand - Gelfand match; link from my main site to Youtube; lots of vintage footage.

I also created a new category for 'Resources'.

C25 Candidates & C26 Grand Prix

Working on the previous post, Evolution of a Press Release, I realized that I didn't have a good grasp of the events leading to the forthcoming start of the Grand Prix in London. Following is a series of relevant articles from Chessvibes.com. I prefer Chessvibes over the other main chess news services because it incorporates visitor comments.

C25: Candidates

• 2012-02-10: The Candidates' in London; is FIDE selling its World Championship cycle?
• 2012-02-15: Tournament organizers and players not happy with Candidates Tournament dates
• 2012-02-21: FIDE confirms agreements with CNC/Agon and Tretyakov
• 2012-02-26: Danailov to FIDE: "I will not allow such a mockery"
• 2012-02-27: Official request from Bilbao organizers to FIDE to change Candidates dates
• 2012-03-07: FIDE confirms London Candidates, announces 4-year schedule - players' comments
• 2012-03-19: Silvio Danailov: "Our lawyers are studying the case"
• 2012-03-16: Some thoughts on Keene's interview with Andrew Paulson
• 2012-03-28: FIDE Candidates Tournament postponed until March 2013 - comments from key stakeholders
• 2012-04-05: Ilyumzhinov turns 50, signs agreement with Azerbaijan

C26: Grand Prix

• 2012-05-25: Meanwhile, FIDE announces new Grand Prix series, contracts to be signed before June 1st
• 2012-06-21: Andrew Paulson's big plans for chess
• 2012-07-18: FIDE/Agon announce Grand Prix 2012-2013 participants
• 2012-07-21: London's historic Simpson's-in-the-Strand to host first Grand Prix

Given the many things that have gone wrong with world chess in the last decade, I'm not easily impressed by FIDE, but the accomplishments of the past six months are taking the organization in a new direction. If the London Grand Prix is even moderately successful, we can expect great things to follow.