Canada broke ranks with its traditional Western allies in this FIDE election and supported the incumbent administration for the first time in 28 years.
Our Federation faced considerable criticism and even disbelief from a very vocal minority who insisted that we were out of touch and an embarrassment to the West. Intervention by US President Obama was one of several projected measures!
While public opinion polls showed strong support for the 13th World Champion, those who actually work for chess – volunteer their time, talent and money in many cases – took a different position.
Not even Europe could provide shelter this time. The world has spoken and Canada got it right.
Garry Kasparov has tangible name recognition. It is tragic that a synergy has not been created together with the FIDE brand after all these years.
I remain hopeful that a new path can be forged which combines the best attributes of Kasparov and his team with the vast programming agenda of FIDE.
Hal Bond
Delegate, Chess Federation of Canada
