This week’s CHESS IN CANADA!

by kevinspraggettonchess · Published October 6, 2009 · Updated May 19, 2017

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Every Monday evening a weekly column on the state of chess in Canada is posted , called CHESS IN CANADA! ( or CIC!, pronounced sic) where I discuss those topics that have most interested chess players in Canada during the past week…This is ISSUE no.4

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ITEM 1: WHAT FEDERATION?

It has been a VERY quiet week as far as the CFC is concerned. Neither Prez Van Dusen nor sidekick VP Stijn have made any public/chat site posting. Nor on the CFC message board. The same unsolved problems exist as far as the website is concerned…

Not much to report here otherwise, though I am reminded (again and again!) of Van Dusen’s election promise of making communication one of his priorities! I suppose his laptop is broken, again….

In July of this year, Mickey Barron started to send me some hate mail, and so I wrote to Van Dusen asking him to keep him on a shorter leash or I would consider legal action against both Barron and the CFC. I still appreciate Van Dusen’s reply, even if it did take a few weeks to get around to it:

”I apologize for tardiness. Laptop in for repairs. I am at Internet Cafe. You can email me at work…As for Barron, I will get after him. Please send me some examples of his emails to you.

Barron has difficulty in communicating in English both verbally and in writing. Diplomatic, he is not!!!

I actually told him to fuck off at the 2009 Toronto Open. Interestingly, he probably voted for me at the CFC AGM… ”

Must be fun to be on this year’s Executive…(!)

ITEM 2: Karen Richards and daughter Silken evicted; chess community stunned

My readers need no reminder of how prominent members of the BC chess community have tarred and feathered ex-CFC prez Peter Stockhausen’s wife and child. About how Peter’s whereabouts were hidden by this same community from the wife and the RCMP. About how Peter abandoned his wife of more than 20 years and took all of the family’s assets as well as the car…and left them penniless and in a desperate financial situation…

This past week Karen and Silken were evicted from their home. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to get into contact with Karen since then, and her website has disappeared for the time being. Undoubtedly cash is at a minimum and Karen has greater priorities to take care of…

Karen tried desperately to save her situation, keeping her website updated literally to the final hours before being evicted from her home. With dignity and class, and a mother’s sense of purpose. Just a few short hours before this sad finale, Karen sent me an email , thanking me for using my blog to help make public the issue of Peter Stockhausen’s disappearance and betrayal.

‘…I’m not in a good state today. I gotta get back to this other effort. Just in case, please let this grossly insufficient “thank you” stand for now, for all the support you have given. I hope to tell you better, some day, how meaningful this has been.” K.R.

In days since this sad happening, I have received a lot of email from my readers, stunned and shocked at how this remarkable story had developed. No normal person could possibly not be outraged at the indifference and cruelty of the BC chess community:

”I’ve been following your blog for some months now, ever since I found it…I’m glad I finally found the new site as I like it’s content. I’m fascinated at all the material you manage to dig up. You must have quite a collection.

I especially appreciate you following the Stockhausen case as I find it to be very tragic and am completely lost on the logic of the Chesstalk folks. Perhaps that’s why they’ve removed the complete thread of this “discussion”. It’s shameful the way they’ve handled it.” P.F. Canada

‘…and when the facts become better known, and the smoke has cleared, I hope that those responsible for helping Mr. Stockhausen be tarred and feathered in public and be given the lashing that they so richly deserve.” N. D., Canada

”This is all a black eye to Canada.” H.J ,Bogota, Columbia

SPRAGGET ON CHESS

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