Sunday Coffee
Sunday Coffee
Good day, Sunday! It’s been kind of quiet this past week (ignoring Trump’s narcissist behavior, of course) and that has allowed me to catch up on some things that I had left lingering. The older I get the more I realize how important it is to use a planner.
Coffee and Sleep
I am one of those people who has no problem sleeping. I can sleep anywhere, independent of light, noise or time of day. Just put a sofa infront of me, and voila! That being said, however, I don’t overindulge in my sleeping habits…and probably sleep less than the average person.
Do I think that my drinking so much coffee during the day has shaped my sleeping habits? I don’t think so, or atleast certainly not in a negative way. I find that I am most productive in the first few hours after getting up, and then again late in the evening. That is, I have two very productive (and let me add creative) periods during a normal day.
I might take a short nap during the day, but not always. Coffee, for me, is a pleasure. I don’t drink it to stay awake. If I need to finish a project by a deadline, I never drink more coffee to stay awake. Instead, I get more sleep and then I work longer hours.
But I admit that each of us are different. What works for me will not necessarily work for you. And vice versa. It is important to find your own rhythm.
2018 FIDE election update
It’s also been a relatively slow week with respect to the 2018 FIDE presidential election. After Makro created his twitter account last week, he appears to be reluctant to use it. Atleast so far, anyway.
Short, having spent most of his time at the Kolkata tournament (Nigel finished 3rd; Congrats!) he has only this weekend shot off to Africa to visit some 7 countries. Sponsored by Kasparov’s foundation, Nigel will also combine this visit with some coaching.
And Kirsan? A quieter than usual week for him on the social media, Kirsan can still be found visiting more countries, most recently Ghana and UAE, allegedly for business, but no doubt trying to win votes for the October FIDE Congress in Batumi. I hear that there might be some sort of an important announcement from his election team in the next couple of days.
FIDE treasurer’s letter: more controversy?
Readers need no introduction to Dr. Adrian Siegel, FIDE’s treasurer. Siegel was kind enough to write to me several months ago to help clarify the UBS situation. I consider Siegel to be a perfect gentleman, honest, competent and very practical. (FIDE is lucky to have such a qualified person to be working for it.)
In recent weeks, since Nigel Short announced his intention to run for FIDE president in October, Siegel has become target practice for the English grandmaster on his twitter.
In my opinion, and in what appears to be that of the vast majority of onlookers, Short has very ungentlemanly insinuated that Siegel has acted in any way other than the true professional that he is. I don’t think that Short is gaining any votes with this behavior, or doing himself any favours.
It is not a crime, or even improper, for Siegel to not seek Short’s approval before he performs his duties on behalf of FIDE. And as Siegel has repeatedly pointed out, Short – like any other interested individual – should contact the FIDE office if he/she/they have any questions about FIDE’s finances. Siegel, for anyone who has been following the UBS controversy, has been 100% transparent, often informing the chess community via the FIDE website with great detail.
HOWEVER, while I have a very high opinion for Siegel’s work, he is also a politician. This is only natural, and is not intended as a criticism of Dr. Siegel. As I indicated in my response to his letter to me several months ago, Siegel , from time to time, colours his letters with slight distortions of the facts, no doubt certainly for direct political purposes/advantages.
Case in point, in Siegel’s May 22 reply to Nigel Short , he ends a really informative letter with a bit that really surprised me:
I remind Nigel Short and member nations that despite the problems, the FIDE finances are in much better shape since Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was stripped of executive authority.
This is completely distorting the timeline of Kirsan’s voluntarily stepping back from the day to day financial operations of FIDE when the US treasury sanctioned Ilyumzhinov back in 2015. Besides, none of the people – including Dr. Siegel – were elected in 2014 in the same sense as Kirsan was. They don’t have the right to strip authority from anybody who is elected, let alone a sitting president.
Writing such is just electioneering. Dis-information. In the US it would be called, most probably, fake news. Hopefully, this will be corrected in the near future.
To be continued….