PDA

View Full Version : 5b. FIDE Report



Hal Bond
01-02-2012, 07:38 AM
FIDE Report January 2012:
There have not been many developments since my report in late November.

The Sport Accord World Mind Games took place in Beijing from December 8-17. Three competitions were organized for 16 elite men and 16 elite women . A 7 round rapid event was followed by a blitz round robin and a 7 round blindfold tournament was the finale, for a total of 58 rounds. I was the Chief Arbiter for the events and found the experience intense but satisfying. Sport Accord has confirmed that the games will take place again next year and unofficially for another 2 years thereafter.

Istanbul Olympiad: We are still without an Olympic Co-ordinator so these duties are being spread out between Ilia Bluvshtein, Michael von Keitz, Fred McKim and myself. The main task remains one of fundraising for our teams. We are not alone in our elusive hunt for dollars. During my stay in Beijing, Turkish Federation President Ali Yazici advised that the Turkish Government has reduced their contribution to the Olympiad. The event itself is still solid according to FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg, but a more modest production will be the likely result.

If any of you have ideas for Olympic fundraising please let me know. For the moment the fundraising activities are essentially comprised of donations and designated tournaments. Again I encourage all of you to be in touch with prospective donors and organizers in your area to promote our Olympic efforts.

2016 Olympic Bid: As you know, seed capital was acquired from the provincial government by a group in Toronto to prepare a bid for the 2016 Olympiad. In December the committee was restructured and most of the fundraising personnel have left the team. David Cohen was the instigator of these changes and continues to work on the project. As FIDE Rep I remain in regular contact with David. His activities are currently centred around the “bid book”, which is part of the contractual obligation to the province. David intends to use the bid book as part of his pitch to corporations, which is planned to commence in February. The proposed budget of $25 million is ample for both the World Cup and the Olympiad, but task is daunting nonetheless. The bid deadline is May 31. The CFC will have to be satisfied with the fundraising/sponsorship progress in order to support the bid.

Egidijus Zeromskis
01-02-2012, 09:25 AM
What is a current status of the A. Kovalyov fedeartion-change application?

Hal Bond
01-02-2012, 12:35 PM
Argentina has objected, which means we must wait them out in order to avoid huge transfer fees to them. So his transfer will still go through within the same 2 year time frame as originally foreseen. He is eligible for our Zonal next year (but not the Continental) because the World Cup is in 2013.

Fred McKim
01-02-2012, 12:55 PM
Argentina has objected, which means we must wait them out in order to avoid huge transfer fees to them. So his transfer will still go through within the same 2 year time frame as originally foreseen. He is eligible for our Zonal next year (but not the Continental) because the World Cup is in 2013.

Do you know the exact date he can play for Canada ?

Hal Bond
01-02-2012, 03:40 PM
No I don't. It will be sometime before the end of July 2013. The rules have been changed again, so it could be as early as May 1st.

Michael Barron
01-02-2012, 10:35 PM
If any of you have ideas for Olympic fundraising please let me know. For the moment the fundraising activities are essentially comprised of donations and designated tournaments. Again I encourage all of you to be in touch with prospective donors and organizers in your area to promote our Olympic efforts.


Thank you, Hal, for your work representing our Federation in FIDE!

I have a couple of ideas for Olympic fundraising:
1) To register CFC as RCAAA eligible for tax exemption.
2) To adapt more friendly policies. When prospective donors and organizers hear about such policies as "use it or lose it", it's become very difficult to convince them to support such organization... :(

Lyle Craver
01-03-2012, 01:49 AM
"Use it or lose it" are you referring to the right to represent Canada at international events?

I've never heard it stated in this way before but if a player who has the right to represent Canada abroad chooses not to we can hardly compel him / her.

For me it's a 'no-brainer' that the financial support of the Federation to pay for or assist to pay for such representation should go to the one who actually goes as our representative whether it be the champion or a designated substitute.

Or have I misunderstood what you are saying?

Vlad Rekhson
01-03-2012, 01:53 AM
Argentina has objected, which means we must wait them out in order to avoid huge transfer fees to them. So his transfer will still go through within the same 2 year time frame as originally foreseen. He is eligible for our Zonal next year (but not the Continental) because the World Cup is in 2013.

Hi Hal, thank you for the work that you are doing in representing Canada with FIDE.

I have a couple of questions:

Do you know if Wesley So might want to become Canadian?

Also, I have a question about the IO title? I didn't apply for it, and I know that from now on there will be a requirement to attend a seminar to get it. I didn't really want to get it because it will be accompanied by a fee which will have to be paid every few years, but I am worried that there might be some new regulation indicating that tournament organizers of norm events would have to be IOs. Was there any discussion to that effect?

Hal Bond
01-03-2012, 09:24 AM
Wesley So currently receives a salary from the Philippines as an elite sportsman. As long as that continues I doubt he will switch.

IO titles - yes there was a discussion about IO titles becoming a requirement. I can't see that happening across the board. Possibly a FIDE calendar event will someday require an IO in the mix. Organizers are the ones who typically find the money though, and FIDE knows that very well.

Hal Bond
01-03-2012, 10:58 AM
"Use it or lose it" was stated in the context of funding. The basic premise is that we pay for the champ if he/she want to go, but no one else. This may be seen as a grouchy way to cut costs, and no doubt there are more progressive, inclusive alternatives. I'm just saying that too often we overlook the need to cover the cost of staying alive - all programs should be subject to this reality to the fullest extent possible.

Bob Armstrong
01-03-2012, 12:57 PM
"Use it or lose it" was stated in the context of funding. The basic premise is that we pay for the champ if he/she want to go, but no one else. This may be seen as a grouchy way to cut costs, and no doubt there are more progressive, inclusive alternatives. I'm just saying that too often we overlook the need to cover the cost of staying alive - all programs should be subject to this reality to the fullest extent possible.

I'm not convinced of the " use it or lose it ".

Whatever the first prize, however defined, it should go to the winner regardless of whether s/he chooses the World Junior or the Pan-Am Junior. We need to make the prize the most advantageous possible, and should not retreat from that on the basis of some cost cutting concept.

Bob A

Christopher Mallon
01-03-2012, 02:21 PM
No Bob, the first prize should BE a trip to the World Junior, and if the first-place player wants to decline that, I don't see why they should get an equal-value prize to some other tournament.

Hal Bond
01-03-2012, 04:32 PM
This is from the FIDE website. The World Senior, Junior and Amateur all have self financing elements which would make them potentially interesting for us:

A. Open for Bids FIDE Events
A. World Junior Championship 2014
B. World Senior Championship 2014
C. World Amateur Championship 2014
D. World Youth U16 Olympiad 2014
E. World School Individual Championship 2014
B. Deadlines:
Deadline for the 2014 events is 1st March 2012

All bids to be submitted by the due dates in sealed envelopes to the FIDE Secretariat.
Address: 9 Siggrou Avenue, Athens, Greece 11743

With effect from 1 January 2012, the following timelines shall be observed:-

• 1 March – Deadline for Bids
• 30 June – Completion of Inspection Visits
• 31 July – Deadline for submission of Evaluation Reports
• General Assembly/Executive Board to Award successful bids.
C. Bid fees:

All bids for 2014 must be accompanied with a bid fee:
2.000 Euro – World Youth;
1.000 Euro – World Junior;
500 Euro – all other FIDE competitions

Bid Fees are not refundable. Bid fees should be paid the latest by 8st March 2012 to the FIDE bank account (free of charges) or to be enclosed in the bid envelope.

D. Deposit fees:

FIDE Congress (General Assembly/Executive Board): 10,000 Euro
Presidential Board Meeting: 5,000 Euro
World Team Championship: 10,000 Euro
World Youth Under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 Championships (see also regulation 17): 30,000 Euro
World Junior Championship: 10,000 Euro
World Senior Championship: 10,000 Euro
World Rapid Championship: 10,000 Euro
World Amateur Championship: 5,000 Euro

Deposit fees should be paid the latest one month after the official notification that a FIDE event granted to a National Federation. Deposit fees can be paid to the FIDE Bank account or by a bank guarantee sent to FIDE without any terms. When the event has been successfully concluded the deposit fee shall be credited to the account of the organizing federation or refunded.

E. Inspections

Inspection Visits shall be made by an Event Inspector (EI) nominated by the Presidential Board (PB) and the EVE. Ideally, the EI shall be chosen from the same continent of the bidder.

The cost of Inspection Visits – travel and per diem – shall be covered by FIDE. The bidder shall be responsible for hosting the EI with a double-room and meals for the duration of not more than two working days.

Lyle Craver
01-03-2012, 04:59 PM
So to merely bid for an Olympiad costs 500 Euros?

Does FIDE intend to charge for Zonals?

Seems like an impressive money grab to me...

Pierre Dénommée
01-03-2012, 11:43 PM
I have read the minute of the last FIDE meeting. The legality of half-point byes for Swiss tournaments was on the agenda but I did not find any decision on this matter in the minutes. Are the minutes right?

This was the original agenda http://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS_2011/fide_news/Agenda_and_Annexes_2011/Annex_18_-_Agenda_for_the_SPP_Committee_meeting.pdf . The point of interest is

Half-Point-Bye
Acceptance at all
Floater aspects
Colour aspects
Other byes after such a bye

Under item 13 of those minutes http://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS_2011/fide_news/Agenda_and_Annexes_2011/Annex_68_-_Report_of_Technical_Commission.pdf , a player can receive only on bye in a tournament. It is unclear if this includes half-point byes.




Is FIDE telling us that a player cannot take more then one half-point bye per tournament?
If a player has received a full point bye, does the arbiter has to revoke his future half-points byes?


This gets confusing because FIDE has amended the Swiss rules to allow half point instead of full point for the player who does not have an opponent because the number of participants is odd. When I read half-point byes in FIDE document, I have to wonder if they mean their replacement for full point bye or our half-point byes which are requested by players.

Here is the new FIDE Swiss rule Should the total number of players be (or become) odd, one player ends up unpaired. This player receives a bye: no opponent, no colour , 1 point or half point. A bye is considered to be a downfloat.

I'm quite sure that FIDE is only speaking about their half-point byes but I want to be sure. Fortunately, Hall was there at the Technical commission meeting and should be able to clarify the situation.

Hal Bond
01-04-2012, 10:29 AM
As I understand it a player may receive more than one half point (requested) bye, even though it bothers the purists. I was at this meeting to protect the practice of half point byes and the discussion became quite convoluted. I don't recall the half point forced bye being discussed at all. I'll follow up with the TC chair.

Hal Bond
01-04-2012, 10:33 AM
Lyle - Zonal fees are a long standing reality. In 2004/5 the zonal fees became payable to FIDE America. $750 a pop. This will increase to $1000 in 2014 I believe. And we will start paying an annual zone fee of $400 to exist.

Lyle Craver
01-05-2012, 04:53 AM
I understand that - what it looked like from your posting was that FIDE wanted 500 Euros from Canadian Closed bidders on top of that whether the bidder was successful or not!

Egidijus Zeromskis
01-05-2012, 11:31 AM
If any of you have ideas for Olympic fundraising please let me know. For the moment the fundraising activities are essentially comprised of donations and designated tournaments. Again I encourage all of you to be in touch with prospective donors and organizers in your area to promote our Olympic efforts.

You should spread the word :) The Newsletters should one of the main ways to reach members. Get a permanent space with a donors' list (it could be structured by the amount of contributions), profiles of potential players (the two last issues have interviews with Olympic teams members, keep this tradition and emphasize Olympics), some historical facts (smth 30-40-50-60-70 years ago Canadians beat such and such GM), recently finished tournaments which raised monies, etc

Hal Bond
01-07-2012, 11:00 AM
Yes Egis - that is part of the plan. Can you help?

Egidijus Zeromskis
01-08-2012, 02:38 PM
Yes Egis - that is part of the plan. Can you help?

with a technical part - yes.