Fine words

Over on the Forum, whilst the termites witter on, ad infinitum and definitely ad nauseam, about the ECF / FIDE court case (now confirmed as lost by the ECF), one of their number attempted to draw to their attention a major scandal, concerning the Turkish GM, Suat Atalik. He has recently been banned from playing in a Greek tournament, at the behest of the Turkish Chess Federation (read: Ali Nihat Yazici, he of "No English arbiters at the Olympiad" fame), with whom he has fallen out, and which has taken it upon itself to ban him from playing anywhere in the world.

In support of his case, Atalik has issued an open letter, which was quoted on the Forum. The letter includes the following extract from the FIDE statutes:

HANDBOOK
Boycotts
Resolution
Approved by the 1979 Congress. Amended by the 1994 Congress.
Moral principles of FIDE for non-FIDE chess competitions.
1. The organizers and the players must be guided by the highest principles of the FIDE Statues:
1. FIDE is concerned exclusively with chess activities.
2. FIDE rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of sex.
3. FIDE observes a strict neutrality in the internal affairs of the national chess federations.
2. In accord with its Statutes, FIDE reaffirms its commitment to the right to play chess and opposes all organized actions that would hinder that right.
3. It is understood that:
1. An organizer of a chess competition has the right to invite any chess player he chooses. Once an invitation has been issued and accepted, it must not be withdrawn.
2. Each player accepts an invitation only on his own free will but in strict accordance with the statutes and resolutions accepted by FIDE.

Fine words indeed, and ones with which few would disagree. Even the termites have not taken issue with the principles expressed.

But how shocked and appalled the termitic brotherhood would be, if only they knew the truth, namely that the words quoted above were drafted by .... Ray Keene!! Yes, indeed - some 30 years ago, following a series of regrettable incidents in which players had tournament invitations issued and then suddenly withdrawn (as happened to Ray at Biel 1979), and players accepted invitations to a tournament, only then to withdraw, when they received a better offer from another event (as another British GM did around the same time), Ray decided that something should be done to stamp out such iniquitous practices.

Taking time off from his busy schedule (which, as the termites will tell you, included spreading the Black Death, carrying out the Whitechapel murders and bombing Hiroshima...), Ray got together with the head of the Soviet Chess Federation at the time, the former cosmonaut Vitaly Sevastyanov, and drew up the words above. Ray recalls that clause 3.2 was not as tough as he would have liked (he wanted to spell out that players were not permitted to accept an invitation and then withdraw in favour of another event), for the simple reason that he found it impossible to make Sevastyanov's interpreter understand him (!), but he got 90% of what he wanted. The draft clause was subsequently brought to FIDE and adopted as part of the organisation's official statutes.

Ray Keene, pictured shortly after assassinating JFK.

Naturally, adopting rules and actually following them are two very different things where FIDE are concerned, but at least the right principles were embodied in the rules. How many of the opinionated, self-righteous Keene-bashers in termite land can boast of even having attempted to make such a contribution to the chess world, let alone having succeeded?

"Of course, if Yuri Gagarin had consulted me initially, he could have gone into space many years earlier".