Ethics in Chess Politics - Cases

The topic of ethics -- or lack of it -- is a growth industry. Everywhere you look someone is accusing someone else of some sort of ethical slip and international chess is no exception. In the nearly two years since I last looked at the FIDE Ethics Commission in Ethics and Cheating (December 2013), the commission has not stood still.

As I recently mentioned in The Resurrection of Agon,

A few months ago I prepared a short series on Spectating the 86th FIDE Congress (September 2015), with closer looks at two topics of particular interest: Chess in Schools and the Journalist Commission. FIDE has just released a new batch of documents.

Those new documents include two annexes of particular interest:-

46. Minutes of Anti-Cheating Committee.
[...]
52. Minutes of Ethics Commission.

For some reason Annex 52, covering 23 cases involving ethical accusations, has been released as a scanned document. It starts like this...

Annex 52

...In order to make some sense of its terse, legalistic content, I'll start by transcribing (that's a fancy term that means running OCR software) its summaries of the most interesting cases. Then in another post I'll match those cases back to reports that documented the original ethical question. These cases are often reported in the chess press without a follow-up, which some might consider an ethical lapse in itself.

For me the most interesting cases are those that involve some sort of political angle. For example, here is closure of an infamous case involving computer chess that I looked at last month in The Rybka - ICGA Ethics Judgement. Annex 52 informs,

Case 2/2012: Complaint of Mr V Rajlich and C Whittington against International Computer Games Association (ICGA) regarding alleged ethical breaches during internal disciplinary procedure -- Respondent found guilty and sanctioned with a warning (judgment prepared by Roberto Rivello).

Here are other famous, infamous, and not-so-famous cases involving chess politics.

Case 5/2014: Complaint of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov against Ignatius Leong and Garry Kasparov regarding agreements for cooperation in the FIDE elections and the payment of consideration in exchange for written pledges or proxies -- Respondents found guilty of breach of par 2.1 of FIDE Code of Ethics; procedure for sanctioning pending.

Case 7/2014: Complaint of the Philippines and Kenya Chess Federations against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov alleging the FIDE President no longer inspires the necessary confidence or has become unworthy of trust -- Respondent found to be not guilty and case dismissed.

Case 8/2014: Complaint by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov against Garry Kasparov regarding an unsigned / proposed agreement for the support of the Salvadorian Chess Federation of Mr Kasparov in the FIDE elections and chess development in El Salvador -- complaint withdrawn by Mr Ilyumzhinov.

Case 10/2014: Complaint of Garry Kasparov against Margaret Murphy, Darcy Lima and Bharat Singh regarding alleged irregularities in Electoral Commission -- complaint held to be not admissible.

Case 13/2014: Complaint of European Chess Federation against S Danailov, V Sakotic and S Stoisavljevic regarding the organisation of the 2013 European Youth Championships in Montenegro -- complaint held admissible and respondents appealed to CAS; appeal pending.

Case 14/2014: Complaint of Montenegro Chess Federation against V Sakotic and S Stoisavljevic regarding the organisation of the 2013 European Youth Championships in Montenegro -- complaint held admissible and respondents appealed to CAS; appeal pending.

Case 3/2015: Complaint by Michaela Sandu against Natalia Zhukova and 14 other players for false accusations of cheating -- matter awaits appointment of Investigatory Chamber.

Case 4/2015: Complaint by K Georgiev, S Stoichkov and M Stoynev against Bulgarian Chess Federation for failure of fundamental justice in internal disciplinary proceedings -- complaint held admissible and matter awaits exchange of statements regarding the merits.

Case 5/2015: Complaint by Bulgarian Chess Federation against Z Azmaiparashvili and T Tsorbatzoglou (ECU) for alleged interference in BCF's affairs -- decision regarding admissibility held over until outcome of CAS appeal in case 13/2014.

Next post: the stories behind these cases.