Decision of Ethics Committee about Kees Thijssen

[anatoli gantvarg]

Puppets and puppeteers

Laws and lawlessness in draughts` sport.



Prior to start answering questions pertaining to previous part of my article I would like to focus on the most important conditions in any sports of activities of any International Federation. Most of them have lawyers and/or legal counsel to monitor the observance of Statute and rules of Federation with respect to regulations of championships. All these documents are in fact contracts between FMJD, in our case, and national federations as well as players. That is, if a player received a call on a mobile phone during the game or violates any other rule(s), he always receives an appropriate punishment. And how so called "leaders" of FMJD comply with the above mentioned contracts? In any respectable Federation, any violation of Statutes,Bye laws and rules is a nonsense. The FMJD officials violate our Statutes,Bye laws and rules by dozens. I wrote about it earlier and Ethics Committee confirmed numerous violations, ignoring rights of many players, and in particular ignoring rights of K. Thijssen. It was not always like that. I remember the time when FMJD were headed by famous in the world of draughts men, such as Mr. A. Ivens, Mr. P. Roozenburg, Mr. R. Piсard, who followed the implementation of the rules with pride.
So, how KNDB, the most influential Federation in FMJD, respond to such violations?
How KNDB helped to respect the rights of players? Consider the example of K. Thijssen.
In 2009, Kees qualified the World Championship planned in Brazil.
He qualified in the hardest fight against A. Balyakin and P. Meurs for the only place.
You can imagine a psychological trauma he and many other participants suffered because the World Championship was not held in 2009.
L. Markos from Brazil deceived everyone until the last moment; this caused a huge financial damage for the FMJD and national federations.
H. Otten also demonstrated complete incompetence.
In any case, he still had time and could have organized the World Championship in another country and ensure that the minimum financial obligations guaranteed for the players by GA solutions are met.
Instead of it, he fed everyone his usual promises until mid-2010 and after receiving a post of the FMJD President decided not to overwork. KNDB kept silent
Only at the end of 2010, Kees recovered from his psychological trauma and won a very strong tournament in Groningen where A. Shvartsman, A. Chizhov, A. Balyakin, etc. participated. This victory created an appropriate frame of mind for preparation to the 2011 Dutch Championship.
According to the regulations, the winner of this Championship together with A. Balyakin, the winner of 2010 Championship, receives the right to play in the World Championship in 2011.  At this moment, however, the masters of intrigue took charge.

Everyone understand that in sports matters J. Krijenbrink is the most influential figure in KNDB. We cannot see who else in KNDB can invade the sphere of high-level players on the level of competence. It is obvious, that J. Krijenbrink predetermines many issues, including respect for the principles of sports for the qualify to official tournaments.

The participants of the Dutch Championship were told that in accordance with the FMJD rules, the organizers of the World Championship in 2011 require that the names of the players be provided six months in advance. In view of this, the KNDB decided to assign the second spot of the 2011 World Championship to the 2nd number of 2010 Dutch Championship R. Boomstra. This decision made with full knowledge that two participants from the American Continent were to be determined at a Championship in March, just 2 months before the start of the World Championship.  In other words, it is possible to make an exception to 2 players from the American Continent but not to one player from the Netherlands.  This regulation became known after the 2009 GA, however, M. Kosters and KNDB should have known about the regulations of the Dutch Championships that were in operation for many years.  How about the Dutch representatives at FMJD Board, didn’t they know about it either?  All of them are responsible for breach of Regulations (contract) with players.
Next qualification for the World Championship in 2013 and again ignoring the principles of sports for the qualification and the rights of the players. Shortly before the Dutch Championship 2012 participants received a message, announcing R.Boomstra and P. P.Meurs can take 5-6 places to qualify in Korbach. In this case, only 1st place gave guarantees to qualify in the Korbach for other players. It is a kind of double entry bookkeeping, the tournament with a handicap. Again, I go back to the observation, that for more than 50 years of my practice of participating in personal qualifications, I did not meet such things. In draughts and chess, it is impossible. Almost all participants of the Dutch Championship wrote letters of protest, but it has no result. For J. Krijenbrink they are the 2nd grade dolls, which can be ignored. He has all opportunities to create conditions for his favorites, but do not have the authority to violate the rights of other players. This attitude alienated players of very high level such as K. Thijssen, R. Heusdens, M. Dolfing, J. Akker,A.Scholma from KNDB. I heard that the Netherlands refers to the democratic countries. Then, how should we understand such tricks?
Kees painfully perceived as inexcusable invasion of sports principle. Then it was Korbach and fraud with the World Championship in Ufa.

Game without rules

I also have to mention another very important point of FMJD illegal activity affecting the results of tournaments. In fact, only J. Pavlicky, sometimes together with F. Teer, changes the FMJD rules how he wants and when he wants, violating the FMJD Statutes. For 80% he reduced the play to blitz or rapid game. These changes are obviously lobbying the interests of Russian players, who grew up on the blitz, and significantly worsen the chances of Dutch players, the vast majority of whom have not a high level of play in blitz. In the FMJD Bye Laws, the order of changing the rules is clearly defined. What J. Pavlicky, F. Teer and H. Otten do with the rules is the lawlessness and usurpation in the FMJD. That fact, that KNDB allowed such lawlessness, prejudicing damage to the majority of Dutch players, shows that they don’t understand or overworked indulging in activities of their colleagues and compatriots from the FMJD Board.
Especially outraged by 3 points:

1. It is obvious, that under these rules about 80-90% of the classic games between strong players, end in a draw(more than in the competition according to the rules FMJD). That means result of such competitions decides mostly in blitz. Why the KNDB keeps silent?
2. It is easy to see from game protocols, that players, who agreed to a draw in the classical rules without a playing, also agree to a draw with the new rules even in games in rapid and blitz, bringing the match to 7:5. Only the former Soviet players do this and I do not blame them. During the day when plays 2 rounds and you have to play 4-6 games it is impossible to withstand the loads, which J. Pavlicky offers. Nevertheless, thanks to these agreements, such players have a huge advantage over the Dutch players, who do not use such “friendly” methods in tournaments.
So, what should the players, like K. Thijssen, who don’t like to play blitz, do? It turns out the paradox: players pay the costs of the World Cup, which are qualifying for tournaments of the SportAccord, and cannot play there by the FMJD rules. Moreover, a game without rules imposed by those, who must strictly enforce the FMJD rules. In addition, these changes significantly affect the results.
3. Results of 12:0, 9:3 etc in official tournaments. Rules of what sport they use, maybe baseball or tennis? The FMJD has no such rules.
There are many reform advocates in draughts sport, including myself. The reason is a large number of draws in games of high-level players. This process requires a deep understanding of the game, players’ psychology, sports knowledge. Without competent opinion of high-level players, any changes are impossible. The FMJD Statutes describes how to change the rules, which requires the participation of National Federations and, through them, of course, grandmasters. Why J. Pavlicky, complete layman in game questions, changing the rules as he wants by himself, completely ignoring the procedure requirements of the Statutes? Actively involved in the issues F. Teer and H. Otten never played at a high level and have a little understanding of the problems of the game at this level. That is, only amateurs have access to these issues. As one of the results, many official tournaments held by different rules. In sports, it is impossible. Judging by his response to K. Thijssen, Y. Krayenbrink as always protects FMJD functionaries in this regard, but the Ethics Committee confirmed the illegality of rule changes.
Why National Federations, and primarily KNDB, allow amateurs to change rules in draughts sport? What is the role of the FMJD Technical Committee responsible for the rules and who is its head?
To be continued.

Anatoly Gantvarg

[Ganesha]

Anatoli, yes, it looks like that KNDB is only interested in good results of Roel and Pim. What is even more pitty that many people know that and they don't care.

If other players than the inner circle have good results- that is not really important for KNDB, no felicitations etc. This is the patron