Circular Letter 2008/05

Written by : ECU Press Officer Gerald Schendel

Thursday, 01 May 2008, id:460 Article cached on Thursday, 15 May 2008 03:47:29

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To:
All European Federations
Associated members, Board members,
FIDE and FIDE Zone Presidents

29 April 2008

Dear Friends,

As FIDE has insisted on moving the dates of this year's European Club Cup in order to allow more European players to participate in the 1st World Mind Games in Beijing, the ECU Board had to discuss this issue once more. Finally it has been decided to move the dates by 5 days. This decision took into consideration that now the clash between both events could be reduced a little bit, but the German Bundesleague will not be affected. We know that each change of dates is very unpleasant but we understand FIDE?s position and therefore we have done our best to find a compromise. The new dates are now 16 to 24 October 2008. Attached please find the updated announcement.

The European Individual Championships 2008 in Plovdiv/Bulgaria have attracted 323 participants in the open group and 157 in the women?s section, a real big number of players and a record of participating grandmasters. Due to the fact that no bid has been received for the European Individual Championship 2009 Boris Kutin has negotiated with prospective organizers and finally succeeded in finding an agreement for the open section (men) with the Chess Federation of Montenegro. This event is scheduled for 14 to 28 March 2009 in Budva with a total prize fund of 150.000 EUR. Talks about the women?s championship are still in progress.

No bid has been received on time for the European Team Championship 2011. Meanwhile two federations have indicated interest in the organisation of this competition. In order to prepare the decision of ECU General Assembly for the award of this championship we herewith ask all federations to come forward with offers and details by 1 July 2008. It does not mean that the bid procedure has been re-opened. Therefore the conditions can be different to the tournament rules. But negotiations including inspections should be held and finished some weeks before the General Assembly in Dresden.

At the meeting in Plovdiv on 19 and 20 April 2008 the Board noted the report about the inspection of Velden/Austria. It was decided that the European Senior Team Championship 2009 will be hosted there from 5 to 13 April.

Please find attached the invitation of the Hungarian Chess Federation for the 8^th European Youth Team Championships for Boys and Girls (U 18) which will be held in Szeged from 13 to 22 June 2008. No bid has been received for 2009.

Pardubice/Czech Republic will organize once more the European Amateur Championship. It will take place from 16 to 27 July 2008. Details can be found under www.czechopen.net.

The 4^th European Union Open will be held from 9 to 18 September 2008 in Liverpool, the city which celebrates being named European Capital of Culture 2008. It will be a 10-round Swiss tournament, open to players affiliated to countries within the European Union.

The traditional EU Youth Championship U 14 will be hosted by Mureck/Austria from 5 to 14 August 2008.

Unfortunately, we have been informed that the for the first time planned Open Youth Championship of European Union (U8, U 16 and U 18) in Slovenia had to be cancelled.

Due to his professional obligations Branimir Jukic had to resign as ECU Marketing Director. The ECU Board has decided to appoint Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou/Greece to his successor.

On proposal of Gerry Walsh the Board has approved to start a new award to be called "The President's Award for Services to Chess in Europe". Each year up to five awards will be made to individuals or organisations who have served the cause of developing chess activity in Europe. The award will be in form of a Silver Medal and a certificate and will be presented by the ECU President at a suitable opportunity where good publicity can be achieved. If no such opportunity arises then the presentation will be made at the ECU General Assembly. National Federations are invited to send nominations to the Secretary General before the end of the calendar year. The Board will announce the candidates by summertime. The Board reserves the right to make more than five awards if they see fit, especially in the early year.

Best regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General

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