Circular Letter 12 / 2003

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:344 Article cached on Thursday, 07 August 2008 10:04:54

Pic-Id:116

To:

All European Federations

Associated members, Board members,

FIDE and FIDE Zone Presidents

9 October 2003

Dear Friends,

As to the forthcoming General Assembly in Plovdiv we have received the request of the Polish Chess Federation to include the following items into the agenda:

Extension of the number of players in a team in the Women Team Championship, from 2+1 to 3+1. This would harmonise the system of the European Women Team Championship with that of the Chess Olympiads. We also believe that this change would enhance the development of women chess, as all the European countries will be naturally interested in supporting the progress of a greater number of players. Results of teams consisting of 3 (as opposed to just 2) players would much more objectively reflect their strength (results of two-player teams are highly dependant upon having just one very strong player.) As Europe is the strongest chess continent, we see no rationale in having a reduced number of players in a team as compared to the World Team Championship.

Re-introduction of the U-20 European Championship. We believe that this would enhance the profile and prestige of ECU and become yet another tournament of the European championship level. In the case of Poland, such a championship would improve the profile and perception of chess as an import sport discipline. Potential successes (medals) would be highly regarded by both the central sport authorities as well as sponsors. It is highly likely that several other countries would have the same perception of the U-20 European Championship.

The tournament directors will propose to delete the stipulation in the Tournament Rules that in the last four rounds of any individual championship (except Rapid and Blitz) players representing the same federation will not be paired if they are in the four highest score groups. The experience has shown that there is no need for such a rule.

We would like to emphasize once more that all delegates in Plovdiv who are not the Presidents or permanent delegates of their federation need an official proxy for the General Assembly.

IM Sinisa Joksic (SCG) has won the 3^rd European Senior Championship in St. Vincent/Italy ahead of GM Jacob Murey (ISR) and GM Mark Taimanov (RUS). The exact dates of the 2004 championship will be announced at the General Assembly in Plovdiv.

Best regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General