Circular Letter 8 / 2001

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:322 Article cached on Thursday, 07 August 2008 10:14:04

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To:

All European Federations

Associated members, Board members,

FIDE and FIDE Zonal Presidents

25 September 2001

Dear Friends,

Parallel to this year’s FIDE Congress and to the European Youth Championships in Kallithea/Greece the ECU Board Meeting took place. A lot of important decisions have been made especially concerning the venues of European Championships.

ECU Treasuer Egon Ditt informed the board of the misunderstandings and problems regarding the organizers’ fee and the FIDE fees of European Championships. Some federations were not aware of the fact that they have to pay both fees. The board resolved that in all future announcements of European Championships the organizers have to state the amount of the fees including the FIDE fee clearly.

Stichting Schaak Groningen has prepared the draft of the tournament regulations for the

3^rd European Individual Championship being organized from 19 Dezember 2001 until 4 January 2002. Due to the suprising decision of FIDE to move to a two-year cycle of the World Championship immediately, Groningen will face a real damage. For the time being the board is negotiating about possibilities of establishing a compromise in order to guarantee that this European Individual Championship will be a qualification for the World Championship. You will be informed about the details by the beginning of October.

Excellent bids for the European Individual Women’s Championship 2002 have been received from Bulgaria and Turkey. It was not easy to make a decision in favour of one of the bidders. Finally, the board decided to hold the Championship 2002 in Varna/Bulgaria. As to the quality of the other bids the board has already decided to grant the European Individual Women’s Championship 2003 to the Turkish Chess Federation. The venue will be Antalya. This decision was made under condition that the Turkish Chess Federation will prepare a concrete offer by 1 November 2001.

The European Junior Championship 2002 is to be held in Baku/Azerbaijan. The board has prefered this venue instead of the other good bids from Pardubize/Czech Republic and Denizli/Turkey.

Bids for the European Youth Championships 2002 had been received from Pardubize, Czech Republic, Balatonlelle/Hungary, Alcocebar/Spain, Kallithea/Greece and Budva/Yugoslavia. The board discussed the presentations of the bidders and the details of the offers. Finally, it has been decided to hold this Youth Championship in Alcocebar/Spain from 28 September until 5 October 2002.

As to the agreement between FIDE, ECU and the Greece Chess Federation the European Cup Club 2002 was granted to Kassandra/Greece. The European Blitz and Rapid Championship will be organized in connection with this European Club Cup as well.

Because of the special request made by the Turkish Chess Federation the board decided to hold the European Club Cup for Women 2002 in Antalya. This was determined under condition that a concrete offer will be received until the next meeting of the ECU Board in León/Spain. If possible, the European Women´s Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship are to be organized in connection with this event.

Unfortunately have been cancelled the European Rapid and Blitz Championships by the Polish Chess Federation due to floodings in Poland and to the low number of registrations. All further negotiations to find another organizer have failed. If no one else (federation or local organizer) is prepared to hold this championship, it will be cancelled for this year.

The European Rapid and Blitz Championship for Women is to be held in Minsk from 2 untli 7 Oktober 2001. Invitations have been destributed to all federations.

European Senior Champion 2001 became GM Jacob Murey/Israel ahead of IM Stefano Tatai/Italy and GM Mark Taimanov/Russia. The 1st European Senior Championship organized in Saint Vincent/Italy was well organized and attracted 63 players.

From 25 February to 2 March 2002 the 4th European Senior Championship organized by Dresdner Schachfestival e.V. will take place in the RAMADA-Treff Hotel in Dresden. Further information will be posted to your federation.

The 1st continental match between Europe and Asia was held in Batumi from 16 until 20 September 2001. The final result was:

Men: 47,5 - 24,5

Women: 10,5 - 21,5

Top scorers were Garry Kasparov with 11/12 points and Ms Xu Yuhua with 6,5/8 points.

The board thanks the Georgian Chess Federation for the initiative for such an continental match.

No motions have been received from the member federations for the General Assembly 2001 in León. This General Assembly is to be held in León on 11 November 2001 from 10:00 a.m until 3:00 p.m. The following items are already proposed by the board members:

• abolition of the European Junior Championship U20 (Dirk De Ridder)
• revision of the tournament regulations (Dirk De Ridder and Werner Stubenvoll)
• revision of the Rules for the European Club Cup and the European Club Cup for Women concerning:
• Yom Kippur
• abolition of the stipulations for foreigners to play two rounds in the previous national champioship, if they are already a member of this club for two or more years.
• designation of top federations for additional teams (Dirk De Ridder)

The Agenda of this General Assembly will be posted to you within the next days.

The ECU Manual 2002 is to be published at the beginning of the next year. This is to enable us to include all decisions of the General Assembly in León. Therefore we would appreciate your checking all the addresses of your federation and informing us of any changes as soon as possible.

Enclosed you will find the updated tournament calendar.

Looking forward to meeting you in León.

Kind regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General