Dear Friends,

The last Board meeting has been held in Fermo, Italy on 4 and 5 July 2008. Many thanks to Agostino Scalfi and Piero Cinciripini for the organisation of this meeting and the warm hospitality.

The European Club Cup 2008 will be held from 16 to 24 October 2008 in Kallithea, Greece. As there is still a clash with the World Mind Games in Beijing, China, the Board decided to accept exceptional regulations for players who want to participate in both tournaments.

Exceptions to the Regulations for European Club Cup in connection with the 2008 World Mind games in China

In case that in the team composition of a participating team in the European Club Cup 2008 (men or women competition), there are one or two players who are participating in the World Mind Games in China and therefore are not able to play the first three rounds of the European Club Cup 2008 the following exceptions to the ECU Tournament Rules are valid:

Exception to art. F.1.2.3 and F.1.2.5:

Each men's team is entitled to have up to two reserve players and up to two substitute players; the additional substitute players need not to fulfil the conditions stipulated in F.1.2.
Each women's team is entitled to have one reserve player and up to two substitute players; the additional substitute players need not to fulfil the conditions stipulated in F.1.2.
The participating teams have to inform the respective ECU Tournament Director, Dirk De Ridder or Werner Stubenvoll before 1 September 2008 the latest via post mail, fax or email about the name(s) of the player(s) to be substituted and the name of the replacing player(s).
The additional substitute players are allowed to be nominated in all rounds of the competition, even after the return of the players from China.
Article F.1.2.4 is valid.
If an additional substitute player is nominated according to this exceptional rule and the original player does not participate in the World Mind Games in China the substitute is not allowed to be included in the team for European Club Cup 2008. In case of any violation the club has to pay a penalty fee of 5.000 Euro in the men's competition and 3.000 Euro in the women's competition.

Enclosed you will find the updated Tournament Calendar. Please note the new date for the European Individual Championship 2009: 5 to 9 March.

Up to now ECU provides all European championships with medals free of charge. Starting with the 2009 championships the organisers will charged a fee for the medals.

For all European championships in 2010 the deadline for sending a bid was 1 July 2008. The ECU office in Berlin received the following bids:

Bulgaria: European Club Cup Men and Women 2010, European Youth Championship 2010
Georgia: European Youth Championship U8-18 2010
Greece: European Club Cup 2010
Spain: European Youth Championship U8-18 2010
Turkey: European Club Cup Men and Women 2010

Additionally Croatia, Greece and Turkey offered to host the European Team Championship 2011. Dresden, Germany has sent a bid for the European Senior Team Championship 2009.

All these bids are published on the ECU website.

Unfortunately no bids have been submitted for the European Individual Championships 2010 as well as for the European Senior Championship 2010 and the European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2010.

The next General Assembly will be held in Dresden, Germany on 22 November 2008. There the final decision concerning the venues of the European Individual Championships, European Team Championships and the European Club Cup will be taken. The bids are going to be presented the evening before the General Assembly. The voting procedure will be part of the General Assembly.

The ECU offers an Arbiters Seminar in Berlin at the FIDE Trainer Academy from 15 to 18 January 2009. The Participation is open to all International and National Arbiters from Europe, the main contents are the changes in FIDE Laws, Title Regulations and Rating Regulations after the Dresden Congress.

In Dojran, Macedonia a seminar for young chess players will be organised from 17 to 23 August 2008. Up to 36 chess players can be accommodated for free.

Due to technical reasons ECU had to change the website address. The new domain is www.europechess.org. Please be aware that the old domain www.eurochess.org will still work for some more months.

New addresses:

Georgian Chess Federation
New President:
GM Mr.Giorgi GIORGADZE
address: Georgia, 0179 Tbilisi, M. Kostava str. 37a
tel: +995-32-982 717
res: +995-32-986 955
mobile: +995-99-561 767
fax:+995-32-987053
email: chessgeorgia@hotmail.com

New Vice -President:
Zurab Mikadze

New General Secretary:
IM Beglar Jobava

Swiss Chess Federation
New President and Delegate:
Kurt Gretener
Rainwaidstr. 2
CH-6330 Cham
tel.: +41 41 780 37 50
mobile: +41 79 769 18 91
email: kurt.gretener@swisschess.ch

New Treasurer:
René Kesselring
Riaz 40
CH-1026 Echandens
tel.: +41 21 701 38 63 (p)
mobile: +41 79 342 44 15
email: rene.kesselring@swisschess.ch

The next Board meeting will take place in Herceg Novi, Montenegro from 12 to 15 September 2008.

Best regards,

Werner Stubenvoll

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