Follow the money - NAO

---

The recent flurry of announcements on the subject of 'Reunification
of the Chess World' saw joint statements by sponsors unknown to the
chess world a year ago...

A joint proposal from the Einstein Group and Madame Nahed Ojjeh, 25
April 2002
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/einsteinp.html

Statement on behalf of Madame Nahed Ojjeh and Einstein Group, 31 May
2002
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/einstein2.html

...Along with specific proposals by the two parties, the May
announcement mentioned, 'The Candidates Tournament at Dortmund will
be supported by NAO Chess and Madame Nahed Ojjeh. Madame Nahed Ojjeh
is pleased to announce that she will provide an increased prize fund
at Dortmund of Euro 300.000 (net of taxes).'

Who is Madame Nahed Ojjeh? Two pages at the official website for the
World Championship Candidates' Tournament, Dortmund, July 2002,
provide some background information...

Who exactly is Madame Nahed Ojjeh?
http://www.chessgate.de/dortmund/e/candidates/nao/

...'Born in Syria she is living in Paris where she dedicates herself
to the promotion of the royal game and is now regarded as the
greatest international sponsor of chess.'...

Madame Nahed Ojjeh about her commitment
http://www.chessgate.de/dortmund/e/candidates/nao/nahedojjeh/

...'I have often asked myself why chess is so neglected in education.
In almost all schools in this world children are taught music or art,
whether they like it or not, whether they have talent for that or
not. But there is no school program, in which they have the option to
decide for chess instead. To change this is not unimaginable. Instead
of suffering at a piano or an easel a lot of children would blossom
at the chessboard, future Capablancas, Alekhines or Karpovs possibly
among them.'

Euro 300.000 ('net of taxes') is not chump change. Let's follow the
money.

---

The chess part of the story started September 2001...

In Memoriam Chantal Chaudé de Silans
http://www.sportechecs.com/article/article.php?IdArticle=190

Sun-Herald Chess Column for February 17 2002, by GM Ian Rogers
http://www.auschess.org.au/columns/sh/rp17020g.htm

...with the death of Chantal Chaudé de Silans (1919-2001) after a
long illness. Madame Chaudé de Silans was Women's Champion of France
in 1933 at the age of 14; led for two-thirds of the Women's World
Championship Tournament, Moscow 1949-50, before falling ill and
finishing 5-7th (out of 16); and competed in three subsequent Women's
Candidates Tournaments, where she finished 8-10th (out of 16) at
Moscow 1952, 10-13th (out of 20) at Moscow 1955, and 12-14th (out of
17) at Vrnjacka Banja, Yugoslavia, 1961. In 1950, she represented
France in both the men's and women's Olympiads. Two videos at...

Hommage à Chantal Chaudé de Silans
http://nyxxo.free.fr/Planete/planete.htm

...show her in action. Since 1970, she had been president and guiding
light at the Caissa Chess Club in Paris. Boris Spassky gave a eulogy
at the memorial mass in Paris, which was attended by players who had
passed through the club and later became GMs -- Renet, Lautier,
Nataf, Relange, and Apicella.

Among the names inscribed on the Caissa Club's frontispiece was Nahed
Ojjeh, who had recently become the benefactress of the club. A month
after the mass, over the objections of some long-time supporters, the
club changed its name to 'NAO Chess Club'. NAO was an acronym
for 'Nahed Ojjeh'; the club was about to leap into the 21st century.

The first big event was in February 2002, when the 1st NAO Chess
Masters, a category 18 tournament, took place at Cannes. Topalov and
Gelfand finished with +3-0=6, 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the
field. Karpov finished at 50% and Alexander Morozevich placed last
with +1-5=3.

The club's French language website at...

NAO Chess Club
http://www.nao-cc.com/naocc/index.html

...supported by two full-time webmasters, has extensive news on the
club's activities. 'Les joueurs' (players), lists the members of the
club. Those rated over 2600 start with Kramnik, Grischuk, and
Svidler, all from Russia, and are followed by Lautier, Bacrot, and
Fressinet, all from France.

The 2nd NAO Chess Club event (IM tournament, category 5) took place
at Paris in May 2002. IM Marcelin won the event with 6.5/9, ahead of
Japan's Yoshiharu Habu, a super-strong Shogi player and a big star in
his home country. His 50% score placed him 5-6th with former world
champion candidate Mark Taimanov. The Shogi connection is probably
due to Lautier, NAO General Secretary, another keen Shogi player.

At the end of April, the NAO club placed 5th in the strong (Kasparov
played in 1993) first division French league, after getting off to a
slow start. One month later, the club's team -- Kramnik, Bacrot,
Spassky, and S. Maze -- defeated Montpellier to win the Coupe de
France and qualify for the European Cup this month.

In June, Kramnik won the NAO-sponsored 3rd Grand Prix du Senat,
beating Laurent Fressinet 2-0 in the final match. It was the first
time that Kramnik had played in France since winning the world
champion title from Kasparov.

Bacrot, who finished last in the four player Senat competition, made
up for the setback in August by winning the French Championship for
the fourth consecutive time. He beat Lautier in a two game tiebreak
match.

---

NAO : what does the 'A' stand for? A web search on 'Nahed Ojjeh'
gives her full name as Nahed Tala Ojjeh, but web searches here are
somewhat tricky. Alternate spellings of the family name are Ojeh,
Oijeh, Oujje, and Ojjjeh, where that last possibility is undoubtedly
excessive enthusiasm for 'J's. As far as I can tell, the 'A' is
simply the second letter in 'Nahed'.

In the course of these searches, three related facts appear again and
again. Ojjeh is:-
- the daughter of Mustafa Tlass, Syrian Minister of Defense,
- the widow of Akram Ojjeh, a Saudi arms' dealer, and
- wealthy.
Depending on the source, her wealth places her in the category of
multi-millionaire or billionaire, although the currency is never
mentioned. It goes without saying that wealthy individuals and
families don't leave a lot of personal information in public places
like the Internet, but the available details provide an intriguing
outline of Nahed Tlass-Ojjeh's past.

***

A biography of Tlass (b. 1932), whose political power helped open
social doors for himself and his four children, can be found at...

Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass, Syrian Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime
Minister
http://www.meib.org/articles/0007_sd2.htm

...Following is a summary of that page.

'In 1952, Tlass enrolled at the Military Academy where he met Hafez
Assad, a pilot who was to become his life-long companion. After a
military coup d'etat in 1966, the new leadership included Hafez Assad
as Minister of Defense. Tlass was known to be Assad's protégé.

'Following the War of 1967, the ruling party split with Assad on one
side and Salah Jadid on the other. Each side blamed the other for the
defeat, and the hostility became public. To increase his political
clout, Assad dismissed a Jadid loyalist from the post of Chief of
Staff and appointed Mustafa Tlass instead. He also appointed Tlass
Deputy Minister of Defense.

'In November, at a meeting of the Party Command, resolutions
orchestrated by Jadid were passed to strip Assad and Tlass of their
government posts. No sooner had the resolutions been passed than
Assad's forces took to the streets, arrested President Noor al-Din al-
Atassi, Salah Jadid, and anyone who had the slightest connection as a
supporter. Both Atassi and Jadid were imprisoned, where they died in
1992 and 1993, respectively.

'In November 1970 Assad declared that he had assumed leadership of
the nation. In 1972, Tlass was appointed Minister of Defense, Deputy
Commander in Chief of the Syrian Army, and Deputy Prime Minister for
military affairs.

'Assad's death in 2000 left Tlass and the entire Syrian team in
chaos. For a few hours following the death, it was even rumored that
Tlass had assumed the presidency, but it was eventually established
that his son Bashar Assad had secured it with the blessing of Tlass.
The 9th Congress of the Party Command voted Tlass to the six-man team
responsible for aiding Bashar in his duties as Secretary-General of
the Baath Party.'

***

As for Akram Ojjeh, calling him a 'Saudi arms' dealer' is an
oversimplification of his story. Syrian-born Ojjeh (1923-1991), made
a large fortune in oil, hotels, and real estate, as well as arms, and
is described variously as a financier, businessman, and art
collector. Quoting loosely again, this time from a page on the
McLaren website...

http://www.mclaren.com/mclaren/features/smooth.html

...we learn that, 'As a boy in Syria, Ojjeh won a scholarship to be
educated in France, but was caught there when World War II broke out.
He earned a living at everything from beach masseur to Arabic
Resistance radio announcer, and married a French girl. Soon he was
trading in perfume, trinkets, and cloth between France and Syria.

'When the war ended, he became fascinated by the potential of taking
Western technology to the developing countries of the East and began
to build up contacts with Saudi Arabia, which was 'mostly just empty
desert then.' He became friendly with the Saudi royal family and took
Saudi nationality in 1948.

'His son Mansour, one of seven Ojjeh children, was born in 1952.
Business boomed and the family moved to Egypt. When President Nasser
began his policy of nationalisation, Akram lost everything. He moved
to Switzerland, sold his wife's jewelry, started again, and prospered
once more. The trading links with Saudi Arabia continued. In 1975, he
set up Techniques d'Avant-Garde (TAG, 'advanced technology'), a
Luxembourg based company with headquarters in Paris and Geneva.'

In 1985, the TAG group bought 52% of the Swiss watchmaker Heuer,
which became TAG Heuer. TAG was instrumental in the revival of the
Heuer watch company ('synonymous with Formula One (F1) racing and
specialists in counting and timing all sorts of things'), although
TAG Heuer is now independent of the main TAG group.

The Heuer story is just one example of how the Ojjeh family earned
its wealth. A September 1996 IPO of TAG Heuer followed a $110 million
bond issue. The pair of financings provided a $500 million return on
an initial $100 million investment. The TAG Group still controls 29%
of the TAG Heuer shares.

Other TAG group holdings include the McLaren F1 racing team,
executive jet sales & leases, a California avocado farm, property
development, and banking. Ojjeh also donated to the construction of
mosques in Damascus, Syria, and Evry, France.

Today the TAG group is owned by Mansour Ojjeh, group president, and
his younger brother Aziz, group vice-president. Mansour, the son
mentioned in the biography above, has been involved in F1 and McLaren
since 1982, when he joined with Porsche to design and build TAG turbo
engines for Grand Prix racing.

McLaren was founded in 1966 by New Zealand driver Bruce McLaren (1937-
1970). The team won its first grand prix in Belgium in 1968, but
after McLaren died during a test drive, the company was run by Ron
Dennis, who started in motor racing as a mechanic. In 1982 Ojjeh and
Dennis took over McLaren, owning 60% and 40%, respectively. In the
middle of 1999, DaimlerChrysler acquired a 40% shareholding in TAG
McLaren - 30% from Ojjeh and 10% from Dennis, leaving Ojjeh with 30%
and Dennis with 30%.

---

What does all of this have to do with Nahed Ojjeh and chess
sponsorship? Not much, with one big exception -- she is not mentioned
on any of the pages dealing with TAG, its subsidiaries, or the
current activities of the other members of the Ojjeh family. Reading
between the lines, it appears that the stepmother, who is younger
than her stepchildren, is not involved in the family business, which
is the province of the sons. An occasional reference to a lawsuit
between stepmother and stepchildren leads to speculation that Akram's
heirs are not on the best of terms.

If you're worried that Madame NAO might be forced to panhandle in the
Paris Metro, don't be; stepmom kept the art collection. In November
and December 1999, Christie's conducted an auction in New York,
London, and Monaco of 'la collection Akram Ojjeh'. The sons are never
mentioned in connection with the sale. The references are always
something like, '[Akram Ojjeh's] widow, Nahed Ojjeh, is selling a
variety of Old Master, Orientalist and 19th-century French paintings
and French furniture in a series of sales'.

By all accounts, it was one of the most fabulous collections ever
sold at auction. The 1999 sale fetched $90 million, of which $34
million came from the sale of furniture. Among the art items were an
early Picasso (1881-1973), several works by Corot (1796-1875), a
Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), and a Fantin-Latour (1836-1904). There
was even a piece entitled 'The Chess Game' (1896) by Ludwig Deutsch
(1855-1935). Estimated to fetch $180,000, it sold for $650,000...

Artnet Auction Report by Paul Jeromack
http://www.numarkgallery.com/magazine/news/jeromack/jeromack11-4-
99.asp

...More interesting than the Deutsch work may be that 'Many of the
Orientalist pictures from the Ojjeh collection are more concerned
with titillation than ethnographic accuracy, featuring scantily
veiled "Oriental" women belly-dancing in the street, or languidly
lolling in a seraglio.'

The blockbuster was a painting of an iron bridge across the Rhone at
Arles, 'Le Pont de Trinquetaille' (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-
1890). Estimated at $20 million, it sold for $15.4 million to
a 'mysterious phone bidder'. Ojjeh bought the painting at Sotheby's
in 1980 for $1.6 million.

Another big-ticket item was 'Le Verrou' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
(1732-1806), which sold for $8.5 million, a record for the
painter. 'Geraniums dans une bassine de cuivre' (1880) by Pierre-
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) brought $4.8 million. Somewhat more
affordable was 'Place Saint-Lazare' (1893), showing the streets of
Paris, by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). Estimated at $1.8 million, it
sold for $3.5 million.

The collection of 18th century furniture, which had been kept at the
family's Paris residence since the death of the patriarch, sold for
about double its estimate, setting a record for French
furniture. 'The star lot at the auction was a Louis XVI chest of
drawers made by Adam Weisweller (1744-1820) with ebony panelling and
studded with precious stones'. It sold for $7.5 million. A Louis XVI
commode by Jean-Francois Leleu (1729-1807) went for $6.8 million, and
a suite by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) sold for $6.3 million.

The money from these sales is behind the sponsorship of the NAO Club,
Kramnik's title matches, and the rest. Let's hope that Nahed's money
for chess turns out to be as well spent as Mansour's was on F1
racing. Who said, 'The rich aren't like the rest of us'?

Bye for now,
Mark Weeks

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