Report from Krakow

[Hal Bond]

FIDE Zone President Report – Krakow Congress

The 82nd FIDE Congress was held in Krakow, Poland from October 15 – 22, 2011. All FIDE Commissions were present and conducted meetings. Their proposals were presented to the Executive Board during the last two days.

In non Olympic years such as this one, the Executive Board convenes instead of the General Assembly of all Member Federations (which currently stands at 175!). The Executive Board includes the Presidential Board and Zone Presidents. Complete minutes and Annexes from all Committee meetings will be published in due course on the FIDE website. This report shall attempt to summarize the content which was relevant to Canada.

Before proceeding I wish to thank the CFC and the Canadian Chess Institute’s Olympic Bid project for their financial support which enabled me to represent Canada at this Congress. Traditionally our FIDE Rep has been required to pay all such costs personally. I have managed to spare the CFC for my first 3 Congresses could not do it this time. So thanks again to both the CFC and CCI.

President Illumzhinov’s began with his opening remarks. He has been very active in promoting chess to new Federations and has focussed this year on Chess In Schools. A prominent success is Armenia, which has instituted compulsory chess education twice per week throughout the school year. Many new initiatives have begun on the scholastic front and despite some concerns from Federations that FIDE was encroaching on Federation member territory, FIDE has been quite careful to promote partnerships with Federations in order to increase the number of people in the world who play chess. Currently the number stands at half a billion and the goal is to have “one billion clever people”. Ireland’s Kevin O’Connell, a most respected veteran FIDE soldier, is one of the envoys with this project and I was quite satisfied with our discussions. The FIDE program is still in the pilot stage and more details will emerge as early results are processed. The primary target is children who may never play in any chess competition.

The President also spoke of the goals of the Commission on Modernization, most of which pertains to a more aggressive move to rapid and blitz ratings and competitions. He believes that this move will enhance our chances of television coverage and sponsorship and lower event costs due to their shorter duration. While not wishing to abandon our “classical” traditions, the President believes that quicker play is the way of the future.

Treasurer Nigel Freeman presented his financial report. A moderate loss in 2011 is expected along with an offsetting profit in 2012 due to the Olympiad and World Championship. In 2010 the lawsuit from the Karpov election campaign cost FIDE 837,015 Euros. Total legal costs were 900,321 Euros, which was 40% of the expense budget. Increased revenues during the year along with other expense cuts kept the loss at 6500 Euros. According to Freeman, the lawsuit was brought by a coalition of 5 willing Federations, alleging that Illumzhinov’s Presidential ticket contained 2 ineligible candidates. It was subsequently discovered that the reverse was true – it was Karpov’s ticket which had an ineligible candidate.

Another lawsuit is currently underway because the President appointed more VP’s that our statues allow. Although this may be true it has been a long standing practice for the President to appoint extra VP’s as peace offerings and recognition of merit. Kirsan later commented that he would like to appoint every Zone President as an honorary VP. The suit has been brought by the British and Georgian Federations. The CAS in Switzerland hears these cases and assigns the court costs based on the merits of the case. Punitive damages are seldom awarded. Therefore each party covers their own legals. Discussion followed about the suitability of this court and the vulnerability which FIDE seems to have.

The Karpov suit was allegedly handled pro bono by an American law firm with close ties to Kasparov. The President went into a long speech about the destructive manoeuvres of Garry Kasparov, and it seems clear that the 2014 election campaign has started.

Wherever one may stand on this debate, these court cases continue to divert funds away from FIDE programs.

The Ethics Commission presented a brief report, including recommendations for the possibility of stricter penalties than the 3 year span currently in our regulations. This will be discussed further in Istanbul 2012.

The Qualification Commission awards FIDE player titles and as such is the most active and most scrutinized Commission. This Commission works very diligently throughout the year. Two title applications were rejected because of time controls at the American Continental which differed from the approved FIDE time controls. Since the TC’s were actually slower and not faster, appeals were made but failed. From the 2010 NAYCC we had an outstanding WCM application which had been rejected because of too few players. As Chief Arbiter of that event I was called to task but after several exchanges and supporting comments from the USCF attendees the title was awarded to American player Anna Matlin. I don’t want to go there again!! Organizers please note that CM and WCM titles require a minimum of 7 games and FIDE is getting tougher on exceptions.

The IM application for Bindi Cheng was approved after some clarification and Nikita Gusev has been confirmed eligible for the CM title from the 2011 NAYCC.

Israel wishes to convert completely to the FIDE rating system. Some details must be worked out regarding the rating of two unrated players. To the extent that the CFC has had similar discussions internally the results could be of interest to us.

In January 2012 FIDE will begin rating blitz and rapid games at no charge for at least one year. The first rating list will appear in July 2012. Classical ratings will serve as the starting point and the k factor will be 20, meaning that dramatic rating swings will be possible.

The so-called “Canadian Proposal”, concerning the 2012 plan to auction off the first round games of marquis players was discussed and viewed favourably on an experimental basis, provided these games did not support a norm application.

[Hal Bond]

The Arbiters Commission met twice. In the first meeting they approved our two applications. Congratulations to IA Aris Marghetis and FA Ali Razzat. New Lecturers and discussion regarding the unification of Arbiter Seminar exams was also discussed, along with various forms of support for Arbiters going forward.

The second meeting was the final meeting before the Opening Banquet of the Congress. We knew that licences were coming and the proposal was for lifetime licences. The proposal is for IA’s and FA’s in the “D” category to be subject to a one time fee of 100 Euros and 80 Euros respectively. The discussion about Arbiter stipends was more controversial. The Commission wishes to provide more support, better training services and higher stipends for Arbiters. This support must be funded. Chairman Nikolopoulos proposed a new rate card which increased the stipends for Arbiters in various FIDE events, and proposed minimum rates for private tournaments while acknowledging that these rates can and will be negotiated.

It was further proposed that these stipends be indirectly taxed. Organizers would pay FIDE an additional tournament fee amount of 10% of the Arbiters stipend. This provision was met with heavy criticism. Although the proposal passed by a vote of 4-3 among Arbiter Commission members, the vote of all others in attendance was completely against it. The meeting was finished and we travelled immediately to the Opening banquet for the Congress.

News of my dissent travelled quickly and I was asked to meet with Deputy President Makropoulos before the main course was served. He explained the FIDE rationale and admitted that the proposal was hastily drafted, and asked me to sit on a task force which could refine this proposal for Istanbul. I reluctantly agreed. My first reaction was to simply cut the 10% to 5%. After hearing the debate by the Executive Board I think it is better to simply increase the rating fee by a modest percentage and allocate these new revenues to the various causes. Input welcome.

Swiss Pairing Commission undertook to rewrite the pairing language for the FIDE (Dutch) pairing system. I was unable to attend this meeting. The main amendment appears to have been made to Article C.4 of the pairing procedures. I look forward to seeing the revisions in the Handbook when it is updated.

The Technical Commission discusses a range of topics that can cross over other Commissions. We discussed half point byes and their place in various tournaments, as well as their proper treatment in swiss pairing rules. They are unpopular in much of Europe, and some people believe that these byes should invalidate norms. Stephen Boyd and I attended this meeting in case the half point bye was endangered

The Tech Comm also spent significant time discussing electronic scoresheets. DGT is one company interested in entering this market, and asked FIDE for a list of required elements, forbidden ones and desirables. Mon Roi is the main product on the market and they have proprietary rights over their transmission technology. All discussions were taken under advisement. Questions included: should it be a single function device or can you have a multifunction device which can disable other functions during use? Should you be able to record the elapsed time? What about an arbiter mode for quick verification of 3 fold or 50 move claims, or safeguards against cheating by moving ahead and analysing?

Trainers Commission is also very active in FIDE, although we have few titled trainers and instructors in Canada. One angle which may become very relevant to us is the requirement that an Olympic Captain must be a licensed FIDE Trainer. This is NOT currently the case but we are being nudged in that direction.

The Development Commission (DC, formerly CACDEC) has broadened its focus to include increased chess activity world wide. The former CACDEC countries will still be eligible for assistance according to a set schedule but this will be a routine administrative matter. New youth scholarships have been proposed. The DC has also asked for space on the FIDE website to publish various activity statistics. Canada looks ok compared to many larger Federations. I believe these stats will motivate all countries to be more active.

The Chess in Schools Commission is chaired by Turkish Federation President Ali Yazici. His report was published in advance at this link. http://www.fide.com/images/stories/N...cis_report.pdf

At the Congress there was a brief discussion about the parallel efforts of Kasparov in Europe. It was stressed that FIDE is prepared to work with anyone or any group, and can sign commercial contracts, but Presidential Board members will not contract privately (or individually) with outside groups. Given Kasparov’s status as a chess player the Chair expressed his hope that Kasparov could join forces with this FIDE program.

In Canada, Vlad Birarov was appointed last year as our CIS contact person. We hope to convene soon and will add to this segment accordingly.

The Events Commission published a controversial agenda prior to the Congress. Several proposals were removed before the meeting started: licensing players, charging rating fees directly to organizers and players applying directly for titles. Each of these came with hefty fee increases and were dropped.

The title of International Organizer will be subject to licence fees and compulsory seminars beginning in 2012. Our 5 applicants were all approved: Aris Marghetis, Andre Langlois, Mark Dutton, Patrick McDonald and Simon Ong. Congratulations gentlemen! License fees will apply to IOs new and old, but seminars will only apply to new candidates. The EVE will also propose new Caissa awards annually, with presentations at the Olympiad.

I asked both the EVE Commission and the Congress to discuss the question of splitting the WYCC into 2 groups. The matter was almost omitted from the EVE meeting due to time pressure. The Congress was was quite willing to discuss the question.

There are two main factors behind this move to split the event. The growing size of the event has made it more difficult to manage, and it was felt that it had become too big for too many Federations to host it. I suggested that it was finally big enough for North America. The other factor is one of peerage – ie the 8-12 year categories have different requirements than the more serious, more independent 14-18 crowd.

The drawbacks are obvious – some duplication of costs for double delegations of Federations and families with siblings in both categories, and new challenges for Federations’ organizers of the qualifying events.
I also asked for a vote. In light of the differing views presented it was agreed to defer the question to Istanbul, for a vote by the General Assembly.

[Hal Bond]

FIDE World Events:

2012 Olympiad in Istanbul - August 27 - September 10. The final contract will be signed in December. Conditions keenly awaited.

2014 Olympiad in Norway – August 1-14. signed during the Krakow Congress. Two double rooms and two single rooms per team. Free accommodation for FIDE Delegates.

2016 Olympiad in Toronto? All Delegates were given a professional video promo of Toronto, and most of them were treated to some potable Canadian hospitality. Everyone is very keen on the idea of seeing an Olympiad in North America. No rival bidders have been identified as yet. I was given the floor during the Congress to thank everyone for their support of our project. I cited the extensive contact we have had with Norway and Dresden, and acknowledged that we are aware of the challenges ahead in bringing this bid to fruition. I was told that the bid deadline is May 31, 2012 but am surprised by this date and must reconfirm.

2012 World Championship Match in May 2012 in Russia. Final contract still unsigned.

2012 Candidates Matches (or Tournament) still available – no bids yet.

2012 Women’s World Cup – Khanty Mansiysk , November 2012 (not May-June, as once feared.)

WYCC Synopsis

2011 in Brazil – much disappointment expressed over the fact that it is only nine rounds, and moved from the approved venue in Rio de Janiero to somewhere inland.

2012 in Maribor, Slovenia, November 7 - 19
2013 Al Ain, UAE – free lodging for extra participants details tba

2014 South Africa – it was their turn in 2013 but they deferred to Al Ain

2015/16 – back to Europe for two years.

World Junior:

2012 – Athens Greece. August 1-16
2013 – Antakya Turkey. No dates yet.
2014 – Bids close March 1, 2012.

World Senior:
2011 in Opatija, Croatia. November 6-16
2012 in Kammena Vourla, Greece, November 3-14
2013 in Italy or Croatia.
2014 Age limit changes to 50+ and a prize for 65+. Maybe we could press for a bid in Canada if we had a keen enough organizer.

Overall my impression of the Congress was favourable and I believe Canada could organize an even better one. In 2013 Turkey has bid for the Executive Board meeting conjunctive with the World Junior. Should sufficient interest materialize I would be prepared to ask them to step aside, given the number of FIDE events which they currently hold.

Respectfully submitted
Hal Bond
FIDE Zone President and Delegate, October 24, 2011

[Andrei Botez]

Thanks for the report Hal. You are not mentioning anything regarding Panamerican tournaments?

Andrei

[Hal Bond]

Andrei -there was no Continental meeting in Krakow. The schedule is supposed to be on their website.