FIDE’s Winning Lady in Red

“Today was a Great Day for Chess”

So wrote Yuri Garrett, of FIDE’s “Fair Play” Commission when a similar photo to that of the young woman above (but of Igor Rausis) in a public washroom went viral. I REFUSE to publish the Rausis photo.

Any one who does risks being sued. It is a grotesque violation of grandmaster Rausis’ privacy, let alone probably being completely illegal to photograph someone in a washroom without his knowledge or consent.

I think Yuri Garrett, who has since back tracked on his initial comments (but nobody believes him) and his infantile bursts of enthusiasm, should RESIGN. From his FaceBook account of the timeline of events leading to discovering Rausis’ violation of ethics, it is clear that he took FULL CONTROL of events. Garrett even bragged about it on his FaceBook page:

At this point the Chair of ARB consults with the Secretary of FPC and a procedure is devised and applied. Trust me, the guy didn’t stand a chance from the moment I knew about the incident: FPC knows how to protect chess if given the chance.

Privacy issues far out weigh any ethics violations that Rausis might or might not have committed. FIDE should have recognized the difference, but  they did not. If Rausis wishes, he could probably launch a criminal case against Garrett and the ‘Fair Play’ Commission.

FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich should not tolerate over-zealous and fanatic individuals on its Commissions who think nothing of engaging in reckless criminal behaviour in the exercise of their duties, and then bragging about it on their FaceBook accounts.

A parody of Yuri Garrett and the rest of the FIDE ‘Fair Play’ Commission sneaking up on a suspected cheat…

A small selection of ‘Lady in Red’