AJEDREZ DEMOCRÁTICO

We are publishing in this page the correspondence Salov-Seirawan, in which they write about interesting matters for the world of chess.

>Dear Chess Friends,

I've recently sent the FIDE President the enclosed message. The word file
is the same as the text below. As you will see from my e-mail below, I am
extremely critical of the policies of the current FIDE President. I believe
that his actions have brought chess into ill-repute and if allowed to
continue chess will suffer even further harm. I am prepared to forego my
invitation to represent the US in the FIDE Championship 2000. (I will not
sign an agreement which has even the potential of forcing myself to play in
Iran.) This decision is a unilateral one and I leave it up to others to
make their own decisions.

Please feel welcome to publish/distribute this letter as freely as you'd
like.

Sincerely,

Yasser

-----Original Message-----
From: Yasser Seirawan [<mailto:yasser@insidechess.com>]
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 12:17 PM
To: 'FIDE'
Cc: 'Emmanuel Omuku'
Subject: Open Letter To President Iljumzinov



An open letter to the FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzinov from Yasser Seirawan,
three-time United States Chess Champion


Enough is enough

Dear Mr. Iljumzinov,

The purpose of the present open letter is to register my despair and disgust
over the current plight of FIDE and to highlight the urgent need for
wholesale changes and a fresh start.

No international organization can ever hope to satisfy all of the people all
of the time, but the key problem today is infinitely more serious: FIDE is
no longer satisfying any of the people any of the time. When did FIDE last
take an imaginative, workable initiative that received even a modicum of
support from the chess world? When did it last deal with a major issue or
event without shooting itself in the foot? Why has it stood by impotently
as support and respect for it has evaporated, even amongst its traditional
supporters? When did it last show any respect for the prestige of a game,
which is many centuries old? Above all, why has it allowed itself to become
a laughing-stock through its serial incompetence?

The full catalog of disasters in recent years is too grimly familiar to need
repeating here. The bouncing checks of Las Vegas and your unpaid
promissory notes are just two well-publicized scandals from the past year
that have made FIDE look clownish and tawdry. The latest debacle has been
described by Peter Parr of Australia. As you are aware, he has explained in
gruesome detail how the credibility of the entire FIDE title system is being
further undermined, but the Australians aren’t the first abusers of the
loophole mentioned by him. It was, I believe, first discovered by the
Mexican Chess Federation, which contrived to create dozens of new
FIDE-titled players by that particular abuse. With all this coming on top of
the Myanmar ratings scandal, why does FIDE seem so unconcerned? If FIDE
does not properly respect and protect its titles, why should anyone? Don’t
fairness and rectitude count any more? Is FIDE really prepared to stand
idly by and permit the wholesale destruction of its title system? Titles
awarded by FIDE used to mean something. The way things are going, in a few
years’ time I may feel obliged to ask FIDE to take back my GM title, as such
titles will not only be worthless but their recipients will find their
integrity questioned.

Credibility is hard won and easily lost. The recent fiascoes involving FIDE
have been astonishingly numerous and various. Not all, I concede, are
altogether FIDE’s fault. Top chess masters are strong willed and there will
always be disagreements and tensions between players and any governing body.
Even so, how on earth has FIDE allowed itself to get caught up in multiple
litigation, highly damaging whatever the outcome, with leading players
Anatoly Karpov and Zsuzsa Polgar? Was it not your own election pledge to
rectify the estrangement of Kasparov from FIDE events? Would it be unfair
of me to suggest that besides the players just mentioned, Anand, Kramnik,
Shirov, Morozevich, Gallimova are amongst those with angst towards FIDE?
Are Champions Jun and Khalifman supportive of FIDE and its policies? For
whom pray tell is FIDE working?

Your recent manifesto calling for the formation of a for-profit company to
monopolize chess events hit an entirely new low. It was so ill advised and
met with such unanimous derision throughout the chess world that serious
questions again arise about the judgment of those behind a harebrained idea
that was such an obvious non-starter. A FIDE organization which is so out
of touch with the actual needs and interests of the chess world becomes more
or less worthless, and at times it seems that FIDE’s prime concern is to
antagonize as many people as possible and to expose itself to maximum
ridicule. The fact that FIDE’s current Executive Board continues to support
your ridiculous manifesto is prove positive that something is seriously
wrong within FIDE’s cozy confines.

To quote another prime example, the recent announcement of Tehran as the
site for the upcoming FIDE Championship Finals is a travesty, which has left
me, and many others, barely able to contain our rage. If FIDE insists on
Iran hosting the Finals, it should not be surprised by the inevitable calls
to boycott the event, which in turn will diminish the standing of the
eventual winner. In whose interest is that?

Your choice and the FIDE Executive Board’s acceptance of Iran is a forcible
reminder of your 1996 announcement of Baghdad as a site for the Karpov -
Kamsky FIDE Championship. Then too, the choice of Baghdad was roundly
criticized throughout the world. Eventually, you would retreat from this
position explaining that it had all been a ruse to gain publicity for chess.
This knuckle-headed deception was a horrendous decision. Yes Virginia,
there is such a thing as bad publicity. Even while you were hoodwinking the
world’s media you had informed challenger Kamsky that he faced forfeiture
for violating your edict that he contest the match in Iraq. Such mendacity
by you played a not inconsiderable role in Kamsky quitting the chess world.
Chess had sunk to a new low. In preceding interviews you would explain that
Iraq owed a great deal of money to Russia and that a chess match could be
used as an inroad to meeting with the Iraqi regime at the highest levels to
address that debt. That may be true, but FIDE exists to serve chess, not
Russia’s debtors. Nor is FIDE there for its President’s personal gain.
Whether in Iraq or Iran, your using chess for such purposes is a clear
conflict of interest and a violation of your fiduciary responsibility as
FIDE President.

It surely hasn’t escaped your attention that the reality today is that FIDE
is cheapening and destroying almost everything it touches. Its credibility
in its titles, its rating system, its electioneering, its methods of
governance, its public announcements, its own statutes are now perilously
close to zero. The current FIDE leadership has so clearly proven itself
incapable of proper governance that there is, once again, renewed discussion
of a replacement organization.

Six years on, your legacy is all too clear. Never has FIDE been in such
chaos. Never has its reputation sunk so low. Never has it been so isolated
from reality. Never, in short, has there been a greater or more urgent need
for a fresh start. The disastrous processions over, which you have presided,
have not happened by accident. We cannot simply wipe the slate clean and
pretend that none of it ever occurred. All those responsible within FIDE
must assume the consequences of their conduct and pay the price for the
state in which organized - or disorganized - chess now finds itself. After
six years of mistakes piling upon one another, it is time to say enough is
enough. The time has come when the interests of chessplayers can be
furthered only if the full present FIDE leadership - and you first and
foremost as President - resign your posts. I urge you to do so with
immediate effect. It will then be the mammoth task of your democratically
elected successors to begin work on re-establishing FIDE as a respectable,
and respected, organization, which helps rather than hinders the development
and seeks to restore the dignity of chess worldwide.

On a closing, personal note, I stress that I have no ax to grind about the
past, or any political ambition for the future. My sole concern remains what
is in the interests of chessplayers of all levels throughout the world. The
record shows that although I have never hesitated to criticize FIDE when
necessary, I have sometimes found myself almost alone among masters and
writers in defending it. Mr. President, it is time for yourself and your
board to step aside.

On behalf of chess,

IGM Yasser Seirawan

Seattle, Washington, United States of America
June 12th 2000.<

>A private letter (that may become open if necessary) to Grandmaster
Yasser
Seirawan from GM Valery Salov, President of the WPC.

In AF is in AF

Dear Yasser,

You are the old friend of mine and first of all I would like to thank you
for choosing me as one of your addressees and for sharing with me the
content of your open letter to FIDE. I have a few remarks about it.

In my opinion it's an utterly irresponsible, rude, unfair, callous, wild,
shortsighted, demagogic, berserk, biased, prejudicial, arrogant,
unmarketable, mistaken, perfidious and - forgive me for being tough with
you - a totally mendacious document. You must have been tragically
misinformed by someone (probably by some unscrupulous members of the
American Federation - AF) and used as a battering-ram in a disingenuous
political game, aimed at destroying FIDE, chessworld and consequently the
lives of your colleagues.
Yasser, please, don't force me to scrutinize your letter clause by clause,
save my time and your own reputation, don't get involved into a dirty
political game which may only have a disastrous outcome for all of us. Tell
people who are pushing you to contribute to the widening of a schism between
the chessplayers that they are doomed to failure in their intrigues, that
you have changed your mind on second thoughts, that you had a better
judgement. Be a man, Yas, withdraw your letter immediately, repudiate it!
Let's collaborate with FIDE, let's help it, let's provide our expertise to
it - for the common benefit of all the chessplayers instead of trying to
destroy everything! Don't degrade yourself to the level of a cheap and
amateurish politico. Gens una sumus.

Yours respectfully,
Valery Salov

Madrid, Spain, European Community
June 14th, 2000<

<Dear Valery,

LOL. I read the opening sentences of your response and just knew I was
going to have an enjoyable evening. Thank you so much in advance. Good!

Let's get to it! I accept the opportunity to joust with you -- with
pleasure -- by annotating your response below.

Good Luck!

Yasser

A private letter (that may become open if necessary) to Grandmaster
Yasser Seirawan

"Okay, but, this is slightly unfair. We should be clear what is private and
what is not -- up front. Since, I accept your terms, I will write as if we
are having an "open debate." In that case you should agree to publish all
comments and not just those with which you might be successful."


from GM Valery Salov, President of the WPC.

In AF is in AF

Dear Yasser,

You are the old friend of mine and first of all I would like to thank you
for choosing me as one of your addressees and for sharing with me the
content of your open letter to FIDE.

"Salute, Valery!"

I have a few remarks about it.
In my opinion it's an utterly irresponsible, rude, unfair, callous, wild,
shortsighted, demagogic, berserk, biased, prejudicial, arrogant,
unmarketable, mistaken, perfidious and - forgive me for being tough with
you - a totally mendacious document.

"You forgot "bombastic." A forgivable oversight. I consider my letter a
part of my charm offensive."


You must have been tragically
misinformed by someone (probably by some unscrupulous members of the
American Federation - AF) and used as a battering-ram in a disingenuous
political game, aimed at destroying FIDE, chessworld and consequently the
lives of your colleagues.

"I surely hope not. If I knew who this perfidious agent might be I'd pass
forward the name for a stripping and a beating. Sadly, my conspiracy totals
one person. Me. I take full responsibility myself."

Yasser, please, don't force me to scrutinize your letter clause by clause,
save my time and your own reputation, don't get involved into a dirty
political game which may only have a disastrous outcome for all of us. Tell
people who are pushing you to contribute to the widening of a schism between
the chessplayers that they are doomed to failure in their intrigues, that
you have changed your mind on second thoughts, that you had a better
judgement. Be a man, Yas, withdraw your letter immediately, repudiate it!

"If only I could. It brought me absolutely no pleasure to write such a
letter. In truth, I'm not a confrontational person, I shy away from it. I
take no pleasure in pointing out the failings of FIDE and am anxious for
FIDE to right its sinking ship and to return to being a positive influence
and a respected organization. My letter, was in truth, quite limited in its
scope. I've no desire to list the full extent of FIDE's failings only to
point out some of its major policy blunders. I had to write in great haste
and should have spent time to include two more issues:

1) Open and Honest Debate;
2) The "copyright" issue of Chess games

Would you suggest that there is honest debate at FIDE's meetings? Even its
most ardent supporters happily admit there is no such thing. That my dear
friend is damning enough. As you are a person who deeply enjoys the art of
free speech I'm sure you would not enjoy being muzzled. Or physically
threatened. May I suggest you have a nice conversation with GM Kouatly?
Also, I'm happy to report to you that GM Karpov did not have his legs broken
as he was threatened with in FIDE congress during open assembly. Does it
not frighten you to know what could possibly go on behind CLOSED doors?

As for FIDE trying to proclaim themselves the owners of the scores to the
games ... Kind of makes you shudder for a moment doesn't it? Well it does
me! In fact ice up the spine is how it chills. FIDE owning the rights to
all of Salov's games? I'm sure you'd get your royalty checks! I just hope
they wouldn't bounce. By the way, please do not try FIDE's trick yourself.
Please! In America such check "kiting" is illegal and when done consciously
as it was in Las Vegas, this constitutes fraud. A criminal offense. As
soon as Zsuzsa Polgar wins her case for breach of contract, I can only hope
she will not have to collect her judgement from Elista."

Let's collaborate with FIDE, let's help it, let's provide our expertise to
it - for the common benefit of all the chessplayers instead of trying to
destroy everything! Don't degrade yourself to the level of a cheap and
amateurish politico. Gens una sumus.

"Fear not about my being an amateurish politico. I happily renounce all
ambitions to FIDE's offices. I'd be pleased to collaborate and work with a
new FIDE in an unofficial capacity. In all fairness, the FIDE that exists
today is barely alive, barely audible in fact. Its every announcement is
met with doubt and suspicion. Dare I suggest derision? FIDE's sole
financial supporter is its President Iljumzinov. Is this a healthy
institution to which we should all lend our support? I suggest not. Indeed
we can and must do better.

Valery, as chairman of the players council to FIDE, I say you should do one
simple thing, just one, do not waste your time jousting with me. You will
lose. Rather, poll our colleagues as best you can. Please! Get as much
feedback from them as possible. It is the players, the fans who matter, not
the FIDE officials. Boldly state your results to FIDE's officers. Be
honest with yourself and with FIDE's officials. If my views are held to be
in extremis you and FIDE can happily ignore my views. If our colleagues
think that by and large my views are accurate, would you not then please
JOIN with ME and ask FIDE's officers to step aside? As the official
representative to FIDE of the players, please awaken those at the FIDE helm
and tell them to jump ship.

Forgive this hastily written response. You see, I'm actually trying to help
organize the US Championships. A FIDE Zonal by the way.

Yours respectfully,

"And yours, Yasser"

June 16, 2000<

>Dear Yasser,

It's always a pleasure to chat with you, but jousting?- save God! No doubt, i'll lose, because i know only too well who the arbiters will be!

It's a pity you don't show any signs of contrition over the heaps of ungrounded accusations piled up by you against the present highly democratic FIDE leadership. Instead you prefer to add the new ones, even more outrageous than before. What kind of reaction do you expect from me?

>1) Open and Honest Debate;

Would you suggest that there is honest debate at FIDE's meetings? Even its
most ardent supporters happily admit there is no such thing. That my dear
friend is damning enough. As you are a person who deeply enjoys the art of
free speech I'm sure you would not enjoy being muzzled. Or physically
threatened. May I suggest you have a nice conversation with GM Kouatly?
Also, I'm happy to report to you that GM Karpov did not have his legs broken
as he was threatened with in FIDE congress during open assembly. Does it
not frighten you to know what could possibly go on behind CLOSED doors?<

FIDE, to the contrary, is surprisingly democratic in this respect (apart from the always present attempts of the american delegates to hush up the discussions unsavoury for them).

You have mentioned an episode with Mr.Karpov during the FIDE Congress in Moscow in 1994, being perfectly aware that the present team came to the office only in 1996. It's a low, forbidden blow, Yasser. You must be aware as well that it was Andrei Makarov (Rosenblum), Kasparov's pal who had threatened physically to Mr.Karpov.

What you are trying to achieve with your letter is exactly that - to bring back to FIDE the very same Kasparov's cronies, all these rogues, ruffians and cheap demagogues, so that they can start afresh blacklisting players, introducing Gag Rules and breaking legs to the puniest of us.

I was deeply impressed, Yasser, by the characteristic given by you to the ex-world champion Kasparov:

>The reality today Boris is we must recognize that Garry is the greatest
chess player who ever lived. His results speak for themselves. He is
eloquent, he has raised sponsorship, he is an activist. He must not, he
cannot be ignored. He must be invited to rejoin the mainstream of chess for
all our sakes. Including his own.

Fortunately, Garry is a clever person. He is driven by an extraordinary
strong will that has in the past prevented him from backing up and admitting
a mistake. In the summer of 1998 in Prague I watched Garry make a dinner
speech of contrition to Bessel (regarding the GMA) which was simply
magnificent. The best speech that Garry ever made and I looked at him with
new eyes. I was very proud of him. I know Garry respects Bessel and would
work with him.

Garry has stated that he wants his scholastics efforts to his legacy. This
is ridiculous. Garry needs to be the person that brings FIDE into the 21st
century. We are at the cusp of a historic moment! It is a new age, a new
millennium, Garry's legacy should be that he showed how GM's can cooperate
and work with organizers and organizations for mutual benefit. He must
raise the profile of chess by working with the existing infrastructure.
That, along with the games he has played would be a magnificent legacy.<

Have you passed through some advanced teaching program on the intensive ass-licking? It's not Yasser whom I used to know and respect, have you suddenly forgotten all our experience of the past two decades?

Or is it the way you imagine a full-fledged politician should speak: a lot of mendacious and harebrained rhetoric mixed up with a thirty-bucks-per-hour-toady-like bum-licking?

You have forgotten a rule number 1 in politics: never team up with paranoiacs. Don't bother about Gary - he is busy now making savings, he'll need a lot of them to indemnify for the economic damage inflicted to his colleagues.

No one is keeping him away from the mainstream chess, it is him who is doing it to the others.

>2) The "copyright" issue of Chess games

As for FIDE trying to proclaim themselves the owners of the scores to the
games ... Kind of makes you shudder for a moment doesn't it?<

It certainly does not! The introduction of the authors' rights to the chessgames was an initiative of a group of players led by Evgeny Sveshnikov. In my opinion it's a very interesting initiative that deserves our attention. For the moment we, chesplayers, do not have any rights whatsoever. And it should be carefully studied, of course, the exalted emotions are out of place here.

>Valery, as chairman of the players council to FIDE, I say you should do one
simple thing, just one, do not waste your time jousting with me. You will
lose. Rather, poll our colleagues as best you can. Please! Get as much
feedback from them as possible. It is the players, the fans who matter, not
the FIDE officials. Boldly state your results to FIDE's officers. Be
honest with yourself and with FIDE's officials. If my views are held to be
in extremis you and FIDE can happily ignore my views.<

You are mistaken, Yasser, I'm not the chairman of the players council to FIDE, I'm president of an independent organization, called WPC, affiliated to FIDE, and though we are the most representative player's organization in the world of chess, I don't presume of being a representative of all the players, neither dare i speak on behalf of chess (like you do), nor on behalf of chessboard or chessclock.

I don't need to carry a poll to learn the opinion of the members of our council, which is contrary to yours'. You may get acquainted with this opinion by reading our Memorandum on the World Chess Championship.

You'll find it on our page

<http://ajedrez_democratico.tripod.com> and i invite you to publish it on your site as well.

Yasser, i continue to believe in you as a person of high integrity capable of assimilating new information and of adapting to the realities of life. Apparently you have formed now a cosy circle of petty conspirators, at least it follows from your correspondence with Boris. It transpires to me that the reason for your outbreak of detractive activity lies in FIDE's decision to concede the final match of the Championship to Iran.

>the recent announcement of Tehran as the
site for the upcoming FIDE Championship Finals is a travesty, which has left
me, and many others, barely able to contain our rage. If FIDE insists on
Iran hosting the Finals, it should not be surprised by the inevitable calls
to boycott the event<

These are your words, aren't they?

Don't get enfuriated by this decision, better concentrate your attention on your own country.

As you are about to bravely erupt into this cowardly decrepit world of politics, what you need most is a piece of advice from a more experienced friend, from me, Yasser. My advice is: keep cool and, please, read attentively the information below.

>European inquiry finds NATO guilty of targeting Yugoslav civilians:

Representatives from 16 countries gathered in Berlin June 2-3 (2000) for the International Tribunal on the NATO War Against Yugoslavia. After two days of testimony, including dramatic and moving accounts from Yugoslav victims of the 78-day bombing war, the international jury rendered a unanimous guilty verdict against civilian and military leaders of NATO. It was particularly significant that the European-wide tribunal was held in Berlin, capital of the country that has played a role second only to that of the United States in a decade of imperialist aggression in the Balkans. Throughout the two days of the event, the hall of a large church in the Kreuzberg district was packed with hundreds of people.<

>The European Tribunal... presented a mountain of irrefutable evidence convicting the NATO leaders of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity.<

>The indictment was read out by prominent German lawyer Ulrich Dost, a member of the Society for Civil Rights and Human Dignity, which hosted the Tribunal. It charged the 19 NATO goverments with violating international law in their preparations and carrying out the war. This included 37.000 aerial sorties resulting in widespread loss of life, and the massive and deliberate destruction of Yugoslavia's civilian infrastructure.<

My dear friend, similar tribunal hearings were held recently in Italy, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Greece and in USA. Yes, Yasser, yes, Virginia, not everybody is harebrained in the USA! Please, keep reading:

>Guilty!

On Saturday, June 10, 2000, the International Tribunal on US/NATO War Crimes Against the People of Yugosalvia found US and NATO political and military leaders guilty of war crimes. At this people's tribunal meeting in New York, held before over 500 people, a panel of 16 judges from 11 countries rendered this verdict regarding the March 24 - June 10, 1999 US/NATO assault on Yugoslavia.

Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the lead prosecutor at the International Tribunal on US/NATO War Crimes Against Yugoslavia, urged those present and those they represented from the 21 countries participating to carry out a sentence of organizing a campaign to abolish the NATO military pact.<

>The Members of the International War Crimes Tribunal find the accused Guilty on the basis of the evidence against them and that each of the nineteen separate crimes alleged on the Initial Complaint has been established to have been committed beyond a reasonable doubt. These are:

1.Planning and Executing the Dismemberment, Segregation and Impoverishment of Yugoslavia.

2.Inflicting, Inciting and Enhancing Violence Between and Among Muslims and Slavs.

3.Disrupting Efforts to Maintain Unity, Peace and Stability in Yugoslavia.

4.Destroying the Peace-Making role of the United Nations.

5.Using NATO for Military Aggression Against, and Occupation of Non-Compliant Poor Countries.

6.Killing and Injuring a Defenseless Population throughout Yugoslavia.

7.Planning, Announcing and Executing Attacks Intended to Assassinate the Head of Government, Other Government Leaders and Selected Civilians in Yugoslavia.

8.Destroying and Damaging Economic, Social, Cultural, Medical, Diplomatic - including the Embassy of the People's Republic of China and other embassies - and Religious Resources, Properties and Facilities throughout Yugoslavia.

9.Attacking Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia.

10.Attacking Facilities Containing Dangerous Substances and Forces.

11.Using Depleted Uranium, Cluster Bombs and other Prohibited Weapons.

12.Waging War on the Environment.

13.Imposing Sanctions through the United Nations that are a Genocidal Crime Against Humanity.

14. Creating an Illegal Ad-Hoc Criminal Tribunal to Destroy and Demonize the Serbian Leadership. The Illegitimacy of this tribunal is Further Demonstrated by its Failure to Bring Any Case Regarding the Opression of the Romani People, Who Have Suffered the Highest Rate of Casualties of Any People in the Region.

15.Using controlled International Media to Create and Maintain Support for the US Assault and to Demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, Serbs and Muslims as Genocidal Murderers.

16.Establishing the long-term Military Occupation of Strategic Parts of Yugoslavia by Nato Forces.

17.Attempting to Destroy the Sovereignty, Right to Self-Determination, Democracy and Culture of the Slavic, Muslim, Roma and other Peoples of Yugoslavia.

18.Seeking to Establish US Domination and Control of Yugoslavia and to Exploit Its People and Resources.

19.Using the Means of Military Force and Economic Coercion in Order to Achieve US Domination.

The Members hold NATO, the NATO states and their leaders accountable for their criminal acts and condemn those found guilty in the strongest possible terms. The Members condemn the NATO bombardments, denounce the international crimes and violations of international humanitarian law committed by the armed attack and through other means such as economic sanctions. NATO has acted lawlessly and has attempted to abolish international law.<

>The Members further call for full reparations to be paid to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for death, injury, economic and environmental damage resulting from the NATO bombing, economic sanctions and blockades.<

>The Members urge public action and mobilization to stop new and continued sanctions and aggressions by the US against Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Puerto Rico, Asia, Sudan, Colombia and other countries.<

My dear friend, I hope you will be able to draw up the right conclusions after having assimilated the information above. If there ever existed any country on the Earth worth of being boycotted by the chessplayers, its name is United States of America. And yet we decided not to do it last year and play in Las Vegas, and do you know why? Because we had reckoned inappropriate to mix up chess and politics, because we are much better informed than you are, my dear friend, and because we keep cool.

So, Yasser, please, stay indoors, refrain from exposure to sun and drink Coca with ice. And if you want to conspire and need a leader - give me a call.

Yours sincerely, Valery

June 18, 2000

PS: Your joke about unusual funeral was sublime.

<http://ajedrez_democratico.tripod.com> , there is posted a full transcription of my press-conference in León (in spanish), other interesting material, including a letter of support to Shirov from Boadilla del Monte (in English) which our advocates of "open and honest debate" didn't want to publish despite all my efforts. You call it being muzzled, don't you?<

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