2019 Third Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting

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  • 2019 Third Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting

    2019 Third Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting

    September 14, 2019

    From the official site:

    The new FIDE Charter was the main point in the agenda of the 2019 third quarter Presidential Board meeting, held in Budapest last weekend.

    The Hungarian Chess Federation took the opportunity to announce during the gala dinner that their country will bid to organize the Chess Olympiad in 2024.

    The Presidential Board meeting opened with the report from the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who informed the attendants about his recent trips to South America and Morocco. The main outcome from these trips has been a firm commitment from political authorities in the visited countries to support chess and to organize some top events in the near future. The President also briefed the Board about the incoming events (World Cup and Women's Grand Prix), and about the new FIDE website that is about to be launched.

    On behalf of the Global Strategy Commission, Emil Sutovsky reported on the progress regarding FIDE's flag-ship competitions. The Candidates tournament 2020 is confirmed to take place in Ekaterinburg* during the second half of March (exact dates will be confirmed soon). As for the World Championship, there are three cities interested in hosting the match, but since the three of them requested some extra time, the bidding deadline has been postponed to November 1st.

    The chapter about the Chess Olympiad sparked an interesting debate regarding the role of captains. Should they be allowed to talk to their players during the games? In many cases, a strong Grandmaster is acting as a captain for a team where the average rating is 2300. Is it fair in a case like this that the captain can instruct a player to accept or offer a draw? Different views were exchanged on this topic, with the general conclusion that the matter deserves a longer discussion in the near future.

    Another important point that was unanimously approved was the fees reduction. FIDE will cut or waive fees at youth events by 120,000 euros annually, starting in January 2020. This will mean an approximate 40% cut in that concept. A small panel (for more agility) will be created to finalize the details on how this reduction will come into force.

    Viktor Bologan was in charge of reporting about the Planning and Development Commission and he presented the members of the board with very detailed figures about how the Development Fund has been used so far to support and develop federations. Some members of the board took the chance to exchange views on the best ways to promote chess. Bachar Kouatlystrongly suggested investing in formation, rather than in events, while Judit Polgaroffered her views and experience on how to use online tools for chess promotion. In general, the consensus was that FIDE should shift a little from supporting events, to support activities that imply grassroot promotion and growth.

    The most important point of this Presidential Board meeting was probably the reform of the FIDE Statutes. Roberto Rivello was given the task to chair a group of experts charged to prepare a proposal of full reform of the current Statutes, drafting a juridically correct and comprehensive text that the Constitutional Commission proposed to call "FIDE Charter". "FIDE needs this reform, not only because the current FIDE Statutes were written many decades ago and the role of international sports federations is completely different today, as it is our society. But mainly because we need to move in the direction of a more modern, transparent, democratic and efficient institution, and the main rules of our organisation have a fundamental role to play in making this possible.", explained Roberto, who received warm applause when he finished his presentation.

    The members of the Presidential Board were invited to a gala dinner at the Hungarian Parliament. Pál Schmitt, former Hungarian Olympic fencer, member of the IOC and politician who served as President of Hungary from 2010 to 2012, gave the opening speech before the dinner. Mr Schmitt told the attendants how he uses to play chess online for more than an hour a day and expressed his firm support to the recognition of chess as a sport by the IOC.

    Tamás Menczer, Minister of State of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that the Hungarians are famous for being good organizers, with great experience in organizing major international sports events, and the country has a sports-friendly government that supports the efforts of the Hungarian Chess Association.

    But the biggest announcement came from László Szabó, recently elected as the new President of the Hungarian Chess Association (MSSZ). After stressing the close links between chess and the some of the biggest personalities in the history of the country, he announced that Hungary will bid to host the 2024 Chess Olympiad.

    https://www.fide.com/component/conte...d-meeting.html

    __________

    * Yekaterinburg , alternatively romanized Ekaterinburg, also called Catherineburg, is the fourth-largest city in Russia and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast.

  • #2
    2019 Third Quarter FIDE Presidential Board Meeting

    September 23 2019

    From the official site:

    Presidential Board in Budapest: Key decisions

    List of the main decisions taken at the 2019 Third Quarter Presidential Board meeting in Budapest (7-8 September):

    1) The joint bid of Shanghai (China) and Vladivostok (Russia) to hold Women's World Championship match in January of 2020 has been approved. Thanks to the consolidated effort of two cities the guaranteed prize fund of the match reached €500,000 (2.5 times as much comparing to the previous classical World Championship match in the spring of 2018). The match will be played in both participants’ native countries, thus ensuring full equality for the opponents.

    2) The bid of Yekaterinburg (Russia) to hold FIDE Candidates Tournament in the spring of 2020 has been approved. Yekaterinburg is known for its long chess traditions – it is sufficient to recall that in 2006 the city hosted the knockout Women’s World Championship; the local team has won the European Chess Club Cup. FIDE expects the highest level of organization of the upcoming event.

    3) The deadline for submission of bids to hold the World Championship match has been extended to November 1, 2019. We reaffirm that several potential organizers are showing strong interest to host the match, although for some operational reasons the formal bids are yet to be submitted. We are confident that the extended period of bids submission will help up us to provide the best conditions for the participants of the upcoming match. FIDE is aiming to take the match to an entirely new level - both in terms of its organization and global visibility, as well as from a financial standpoint.

    4) The Presidential Board has adopted new revolutionary rules for the FIDE World Cup 2021. Under the new rules, the number of participants will be substantially increased from 128 to 206 players which will make the event more representative and enhance overall interest to chess. Dozens of federations will get a chance to nominate their best players - and that is for the first time in history. All extra expenses will be covered by FIDE.

    5) After considering the suggestions to reduce fees, FIDE Presidential Board recommended submitting for approval by General Assembly a substantial reduction in fees, including: 40% reduction on youth competitions fees; waiving all veteran fees; waiving all fees for the developing countries (levels 4-5); 50% reduction for level 3 countries; a quota for additional 30% tournaments to be rated for free (countries level 1-2). We consider such a substantial reduction as the fulfillment of the obligations we had committed to during the electoral campaign.

    6) The Presidential Board essentially approved the draft of a new FIDE Charter developed by the Task Force and requested to finalize it by incorporating the comments made at the meeting. This project is aimed to improve FIDE’s functioning in the current context given all the modern managerial challenges. Needless to say that FIDE is open to all constructive suggestions and comments from National Federations, which keep coming.

    7) To implement FIDE's fee reduction and to adopt new FIDE Charter as soon as possible, the Presidential Board decided to hold an unscheduled FIDE Assembly later this year. All the related materials will be published in strict conformity to the Statutes, no later than a month before the start of the Assembly.

    https://www.fide.com/news/102

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