No Russia at Women's Olympiad

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Olympiad, Olympics, and language

You're right about the mis-use of "Olympics"; I think it's just sloppiness. However, in regard to "Olympiad" we have ...

The English term is still often used popularly to indicate the [Olympic]games themselves, a usage that is strictly erroneous (as an Olympiad is the time period between and including sets of games) but widely accepted nevertheless. It is also used to indicate international competitions other than physical sports. This includes international science olympiads, such as the International Geography Olympiad, International Mathematical Olympiad and the International Linguistics Olympiad and their associated national qualifying tests (e.g., the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad or the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad), and also events in mind-sports, such as the Science Olympiad, Mindsport Olympiad, Chess Olympiad and Computer Olympiad. In these cases Olympiad is used to indicate a regular event of international competition; it does not necessarily indicate a four-year period.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

The Russian Chess Federation Hits Back

July 17, 2014

Norwegian organizers are trying to hold the Olympics without Olympic champions

RCF is ready to appeal the decision in court

The official website of the World Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway published an open letter addressed to the Executive Director of FIDE Nigel Freeman saying that the team did not confirm their participation before June 1, 2014 and will not be allowed to participate. Under these unprecedented sanctions the Russian women's team, winner of the last two World Chess Olympiads (Khanty-Mansiysk in 2010 and Istanbul 2012) will miss playing in this one.

Russian Chess Federation informs you that in full accordance with paragraph 3.6.1 of the Rules of Chess Olympiad RCF promptly sent a request for participation of the male and female national teams - before April 1, 2014.

In April it was reported that the Norwegian side was having serious financial difficulties of the Olympic Games. The situation remained uncertain for a long time, it took the intervention of FIDE, and only on the 5th of June did the Organizing Committee officially announce that the competition would be held in Tromso on the previously announced dates (1-14 August 2014). In this situation, it is insufficient to require the national chess federations strict compliance with paragraph 3.7.1, under which they are required to submit a detailed list of the players and members of the delegation until June 1.

RCF draws attention to the fact that there are no penalties for failure to comply with paragraph 3.7.1 in the Rules. Moreover, paragraph 3.7.2 states that allowed late check-player or member of the delegation - even 20 hours before the start is possible with an extra charge of 100 euros for a player or a member of the delegation.

July 7, 2014 Olympics organizing committee sent RCF an account for the registration of 10 players, two attendants, the two team captains, two coaches and the head of delegation (of 17 people) in the amount of CZK 13,600. This account of the Russian Chess Federation has been paid.

In connection with the foregoing, the RCF claims that the organizing committee has no legal grounds to ban Russian women's team to participate in the Olympics in Tromso. RCF refers to FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who in accordance with paragraph 6.1 of the Rules of the Olympics has the right to make the final decision on all matters relating to the Olympics as a whole, and asks to allow Russian women's team to participate in the Olympics. At the same time, the RCF is ready to appeal the decision of the organizing committee Olympics in court.

http://ruchess.ru/news/all/norvezhsk...ih_chempionok/

Why are people getting away with referring to the Olympiad as the "Olympics"? Isn't that word reserved for use by the IOC for the real and actual Olympic Games (summer and winter)?

Even later in this thread, Garry Kasparov refers to the Russian Women's Team as "Olympic champions". The IOC is usually very strict about allowing use of the words "Olympic" or "Olympics". This could be flirting with legal disaster for FIDE, which could conceivably even be forced to abandon use of the term "Olympiad" because it leads to this misuse of the Olympics term.

On the other hand, maybe the IOC is asleep at the wheel.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

According to Itar-Tass the list of teams excluded from the 2014 Olympiad is:

Men: Cambodia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Oman, Pakistan, Senegal

Women: Russia, Afghanistan

So great are the public's sympathies with Afghanistani ladies, that you could probably get the whole entry fee by donations in one day.

[Lee Hendon]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

Figure they should let the Russian women's team and the other 9 possible nations play
as long as they cover 10,500 Euros themselves. A kind of late fee

[Miroslav Stefanovic]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

Also, Kasparov's answer:

Garry Kasparov on the threat to Tromsø
Why must it be that chessplayers always suffer for the errors and arrogance of officials and bureaucrats? It is a shame for any team to miss out on the Olympiad for technical reasons out of the players’ control. I am a candidate to be a president of FIDE who represents all the federations, not only potential medal winners from powerful federations. But of course the Russian women’s team is not just any team. The Olympic champions! So of course all the attention is on their exclusion, because it is a tragedy not only for the players, but also for the organizers and the fans.

I cannot explain the bizarre statements of FIDE vice-president Israel Gelfer. What would I or the Norwegian organizers have to gain from excluding the celebrated Russian women’s team? And he wants to cancel the Olympiad in retaliation? Punish 175 teams for the mistakes of one? Such absurd arrogance! This matter does not involve me or my campaign for FIDE president. This is a transparent attempt to look for excuses and scapegoats for a self-inflicted disaster. The Russian Federation’s statement doesn’t address the obvious question of why they didn’t submit their women’s team on time, as they did with the men’s team. It’s obvious they were waiting for Lagno’s transfer to strengthen their team and intentionally allowed the registration deadline to pass to do so. Would permitting this devious maneuver be fair to all the other teams that followed the rules and registered on time?

http://en.chessbase.com/post/garry-k...hreat-to-troms

[Sid Belzberg]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

I was reading on Kevin's blog it's expected the Olympiad will be moved to Sochi.

If it is true it will be interesting.

Spraggett's blog

"Putin to fast-track Olympiad to Sochi!"



"Yesterday’s developments with the Norwegian Chess Federation has given FIDE and the Russian Chess Federation motive to seek Putin’s help in moving the Olympiad to Sochi next month. A two-million dollar fund to compensate travel changes has been created. More information when it becomes available.

This situation reminds me of the last minute change of venue of the 1994 Olympiad to Moscow, literally weeks before the start of the event. It is expected that FIDE will announce tomorrow or the day later the change."

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

I was reading on Kevin's blog it's expected the Olympiad will be moved to Sochi.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

The Russian Chess Federation Hits Back

July 17, 2014

Norwegian organizers are trying to hold the Olympics without Olympic champions

RCF is ready to appeal the decision in court

The official website of the World Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway published an open letter addressed to the Executive Director of FIDE Nigel Freeman saying that the team did not confirm their participation before June 1, 2014 and will not be allowed to participate. Under these unprecedented sanctions the Russian women's team, winner of the last two World Chess Olympiads (Khanty-Mansiysk in 2010 and Istanbul 2012) will miss playing in this one.

Russian Chess Federation informs you that in full accordance with paragraph 3.6.1 of the Rules of Chess Olympiad RCF promptly sent a request for participation of the male and female national teams - before April 1, 2014.

In April it was reported that the Norwegian side was having serious financial difficulties of the Olympic Games. The situation remained uncertain for a long time, it took the intervention of FIDE, and only on the 5th of June did the Organizing Committee officially announce that the competition would be held in Tromso on the previously announced dates (1-14 August 2014). In this situation, it is insufficient to require the national chess federations strict compliance with paragraph 3.7.1, under which they are required to submit a detailed list of the players and members of the delegation until June 1.

RCF draws attention to the fact that there are no penalties for failure to comply with paragraph 3.7.1 in the Rules. Moreover, paragraph 3.7.2 states that allowed late check-player or member of the delegation - even 20 hours before the start is possible with an extra charge of 100 euros for a player or a member of the delegation.

July 7, 2014 Olympics organizing committee sent RCF an account for the registration of 10 players, two attendants, the two team captains, two coaches and the head of delegation (of 17 people) in the amount of CZK 13,600. This account of the Russian Chess Federation has been paid.

In connection with the foregoing, the RCF claims that the organizing committee has no legal grounds to ban Russian women's team to participate in the Olympics in Tromso. RCF refers to FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who in accordance with paragraph 6.1 of the Rules of the Olympics has the right to make the final decision on all matters relating to the Olympics as a whole, and asks to allow Russian women's team to participate in the Olympics. At the same time, the RCF is ready to appeal the decision of the organizing committee Olympics in court.

http://ruchess.ru/news/all/norvezhsk...ih_chempionok/

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Olympiad in danger of being cancelled??

I'm going to quote you on the Tromso thread because this is so significant, or could be.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: No Russia at Women's Olympiad

Israel Gelfer on Cancelling the Olympiad

Israel Gelfer is at the ACP Tournament today and was asked for his opinion of the preparations for the Tromso Olympiad. You can watch his comments at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhnKgFAqX6c

(about two minutes into the recording).

He says that the organizers of Tromso are very disappointing. They are creating a lot of problems for Fide and the whole world of chess. Unfortunately, the organizing committee is influenced by people who are working for Garry Kasparov. They are using it for their election purposes. They are denying visas from our people, they are denying invitations from federations and they are not respecting fide president decisions. Fide has to consider very strict and strong measures against them.
We are still considering what to do.

We are disappointed with the way they are handling the preparations.

They refused several federations which are late in registering in spite of the president accepting them, according to Olympiad Regulations, Article 6.1; they ignored his letters. Fide is now considering very strong legal methods.

I would even have considered cancelling the Olympiad if necessary, because their behavior is unacceptable.

[Sasha Starr]

Re: No Russia at Women's Olympiad

Obviously the Norway's Organizers declared an open warfare to Russia's controlled FIDE.
It could spell the end of the FIDE as we know it.
Should CFC intervene? And if yes - on which side?

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: No Russia at Women's Olympiad

We feel we have to draw a line to establish a limit to what is acceptable and what is not. This is not only to defend our rights as Organizer of the Olympiad, but also to help future Organizers from being subject to random decisions by FIDE Presidents.

So it's specifically addressed to the FIDE President (random decisions, etc.) as well. This may get even more interesting.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: No Russia at Women's Olympiad

Stay tough in there, guys!


Tromsø, 16 July 2014

To Fide
Att: Executive Director

Olympic regulations – registrations after deadline

Dear Nigel,

As previously stated in our mails to Fide (08.07, 11.07 and 12.7), our decision regarding the late entries has been finalized today.

It was unanimously resolved that:

“Teams that failed to submit their participation within the deadline of 1st June will not be accepted as participants in the Tromsø Chess Olympiad.”

Below you will find a summary of the facts and some legal and contractual arguments that led to our decision.

1. Background

The COT2014 agreed early with Fide to use the specially designed Registration System (RS) for all registrations to the Tromsø Chess Olympiad. Representatives from COT2014 had several meetings with Fide in order to test and improve the RS.

The Fide Olympic Regulations (OR) have two deadlines when it comes to the submissions of teams. The first is OR 3.6.1 stating that federations that intend to participate in the Olympiad must inform the Organizer at least four months before the starting date. For the Tromsø Olympiad this deadline was set to be 1st April.

The second deadline is OR point 3.7.1 stating that no later than two months before the event, federations must confirm their participation by submitting their team details. Both these deadlines were published in the formal Olympic Invitation after Fide approval. The COT2014 and Fide Vice President Israel Gelfer had also agreed that the deadlines had no exceptions.

There were several teams that for some reason where unable to confirm within the deadlines. During the registration period, many federations contacted Tromsø informing us about all kinds of technical problems that had arisen. Without any exceptions, we assisted these federations as best we could, not distinguishing between obvious human errors and real technical problems. We also accepted late registration from those federations that took contact and asked for help in the process and within the deadline.

Despite all the efforts of federations all over the world and the assistance provided by COT2014, we have a situation where still some teams did not register and more important, did not contact Tromsø before the deadline. Attached you will find a list of these teams.

In addition to the federations and teams mentioned above, some internal disputes have been finally settled by the ELE.

2. Olympic Regulations

Based on the OR and the previously agreed understanding with Fide, COT2014 is of the opinion that all teams that failed to meet the deadlines set in 3.6.1 and 3.7.1 are ineligible to participate.

After informing Fide of our interpretation and position, we have received mails and phone calls from the Fide Secretariat and Vice President Gelfer asking us to allow the Russian women's team to participate. Of course, we can understand the embarrassment it can create when a significant and powerful federation like RCF does not submit a team within the deadline. Still, we as Organizers have a duty to treat all federations alike.

We have also received a copy of a letter from the Fide president to VP Gelfer. In this letter, the Fide president sets aside the decision of COT2014 in accordance with the power the OR point 6.1 gives the President. We also refer to what VP Gelfer writes in his mails, using the terms “such cases” or just “cases”.

The COT2014 has absolutely no problem accepting that many disputes developing in the last weeks up to the Olympiad need to be solved. Many decisions cannot be postponed, or the regular decision-making process takes too much time. That is the purpose of giving the Fide President his additional power. However, in the current situation there are no “cases” involved in our decision. All the teams and federations in the attached list have simply overstepped the deadline and none of them claims otherwise. Based on this fact there is no “case” in the meaning of a dispute that the Fide President has the power to settle.

If the Fide President is of the opinion that the OR point 6.1 gives him the general power to change regulations singlehandedly three weeks before the Olympiad takes place, we strongly object. Even more, we object to such an interpretation when the purpose is to secure participation from a team coming from his own federation.

There is a general legal term called “lex specialis derogat legi generali.” It is a Latin phrase, which refers to “law governing a specific subject matter”. The doctrine states that a law (or regulation) governing a specific subject matter overrides a law that governs general matters. This principle can also apply where a law contains both specific and general provisions. In the case of the OR, the specific provisions regarding deadlines are the “Lex Specialis” and prevails over the general authority based on OR 6.1.

According to the argument above, the COT2014 is of the legal opinion that the FIDE President has no such power to change or create new rules in the Olympic regulations.

3. Agreement FIDE - Tromsø

The COT2014 also feels there is a need to remind FIDE that there is a written Agreement between the parties, signed in 2011. This Agreement was signed in good faith between equal partners to the Olympic project.

In this 15-page Agreement there are many provisions and obligations between the parties regarding duties, financial obligations etc. Both parties agreed that the Olympic regulations attached are an integral part of the Agreement.

For your kind information, we would like to emphasize that adding one team to the Olympiad increases the cost for the organizer by an amount of €10,500. A general amnesty for late registrations could possibly include up to 10 teams. This will increase the financial burden for the organizer up to around € 105,000.

It is obvious that one part of the Agreement cannot impose upon the other part a financial cost of this kind. The entire idea that the highest representative of FIDE can overrule and change obligations “with the stroke of a pen” is unacceptable. If FIDE thinks otherwise, we are looking forward to their legal presentation in the Swiss Court System.

As a last remark, we would like to emphasize the impossible situation FIDE is putting the organizers in, when regulations are changed for no foreseeable reason. The deadlines in the OR secures the Organizer time for planning and allocation of resources. It’s absolutely unacceptable from the Organizers point of view if these rules are changed.

In addition to the pure legal reasoning, it will not be fair to all the federations and teams that actually did comply with the current OR. Any attempt to create special favors to some important teams will go against justice and fair play. We doubt that the FIDE President will put himself in such a position.

We feel we have to draw a line to establish a limit to what is acceptable and what is not. This is not only to defend our rights as Organizer of the Olympiad, but also to help future Organizers from being subject to random decisions by FIDE Presidents.

Hans Olav Karde
Chairman of COT2014

Børge Robertsen
CEO COT2014

Morten Sand
Deputy Tournament Director

Jøran Aulin-Jansson
President of the Norwegian Chess Federation

Kjersti Vikør
Chief Operating Manager COT2014

[Gary Ruben]

Re: No Russia at Women's Olympiad

The ICCF once declined to allow the Canadian correspondence Olympiad team to play for missing the deadline by a few hours. I had planned for it to be my last correspondence Olympiad but that's how it goes.

You gotta make the time deadline in chess. Zero tolerance, I think they call it.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: No Russia at Women's Olympiad

Maybe. Strange then, that the Tromso committee waited 45 days to inform the public or the Russian Women's team of their decision about the June 1 deadline.

Did they?

http://www.fide.com/component/conten...mmodation.html
Friday, 30 May 2014 08:35
Registration deadline June 1st

Please note that according to regulations all federations have to inform the organizer with full names of all players, delegates and congress participants by Sunday June 1st.

...

The organizer will not accept emails as registration and will not accept registrations after June 1st.