Circular Letter 6 / 1999

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:300 Article cached on Saturday, 05 July 2008 02:25:49

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To all European

Chess Federations

and European Zonal Presidents

Berlin, June 23, 1999

Dear friends,

just before the holiday season, we would like to inform you about some present issues and about the results of the Board meeting of June 12, 1999 in Portoroz/Slovenia.

The Board approved an offer of the Finish site shakki.net to publish the ECU webside and appointed Mikko Markkula as Internet Officer. As soon as our webside will be availabe, the national federations will be requested to set links on their pages.

Treasurer Egon Ditt distributed the figures of the balance sheet per 31.05.1999 which result to a total of 29.035,40 Euros. This amount includes the guarantee sum of 25.000 Swiss Francs for the European Team Championship 1999. He proposed that in future all fees should be paid in Euros instead of Swiss Francs. This would reduce the bank charges. The Board stated that the organizing work for the ECU events has to be done by the ECU. Therefore the ECU should get the total entry fee. Egon Ditt will negotiate with FIDE in order to agree upon this issue.

On request of the International Blind Sports Association, the Board decided that a blind men’s team as well as a blind women’s team will be accepted in the European Team Championship 1999 in Batumi. President Boris Kutin will visit Batumi in July in order to fix further details with the Organizing Committee. The Board asked for early information about the charter fligths which should be offered at least from Frankfurt, Athens and London.

Upon proposal of Mikko Markkula, the Board decided to hold the 1st Individual Euro-

pean Chess Championship in the year 2000. The general regulations of his proposal (annex) have been accepted. The entry fees will be: 60 Euros for each nominated player,120 Euros for each extra player, 60 Euros for Junior players and 180 Euros for non-rated players. The organizer has to provide a prize fund of a minimum of 30.000 Euros

(1st prize 7.500 Euros). The recommended date would be the summer period. Bids should reach the ECU secretariat until the end of October 1999.

As there was an offer of the German Chess Federation, which has already been made before, the Board decided to hold the 1st European Women Championship in Baden-Baden from February 3 to 17, 2000. This championship will be a round robin tournament with 14 players: 3 best players according to the rating, European Junior Champion 1999, 9 highest placed players in the World Championship 1999 (one of each European Zone). In unclear cases, the Zonal President will have to decide after consultation with the ECU President. The total prize fund will be DM 26.000.

The European Youth Championship will be organized in Litohoro/Greece from September 3 to 12,1999. The European Junior Championship 1999 (U20) will take place from October 4 to 19,1999 in Niforeika Patras. Boris Kutin inspected both venues .All conditions including the financial arrangements are appropriate as both events will be organized on a high level. The invitations have aready been sent to all federations.

Up to now there are no concrete bids for the upcoming European Junior and Youth events. As already stated in our last circular lettter, the deadline for these bids will be the end of September 1999. We kindly ask you to check whether your federation may come forward with an offer.

Tournament Director Dirk de Ridder has announced the 1999 European Club Cup. The deadline for all entries was June 1, 1999. The preliminary rounds shall take place be-

tween September 3 and October 9,1999. The final tournament has to be played between November 1 and November 23, 1999. Probably, the drawing of lots will be held at the beginning of July. All federations involved will receive detailed information by Dirk de Ridder. The Board agreed, that in the future the European Club Cup should be organized according to the Swiss system. The regulations will be drafted by Dirk de Ridder in order to get a final decision at the next General Assembly.

The European Club Cup for Women 1999 will take place between June 28 and July 6 in Nova Gorica in Slovenia. At the time being there are 14 entries.

The first edition of the Open European Senior Team Championship was hold under the auspices of the ECU in Dresden/Germany from April 9 to 18, 1999. The winning team was Riga ahead of Linz and Dresden. Dresden will organize the second edition from March 1 to 8, 2000. The Board approved to hold this championship once more under the auspices of the ECU.

The participating federations of the Mitropa-Cup have agreed to change this tournament into an official ECU event. However, technical details, regulations, and participating federations, will be decided by the federations involved and not by the ECU. The Board recommended that similar tournaments (Nordic Team Tournament etc.) will be included into the frame of ECU as well.

The Board decided that in future, each organizer of the European Championships has to propose two candidates for chief arbiter. The President then - after consultation with Mikko Markkula and Dirk de Ridder - will take the final decision. Furthermore the Board determined that each chief arbiter of a European Championship has to be an International Arbiter.

Upon invitation of the Litohoro organizer, the next Board Meeting will be held from September 9 to 12, 1999 together with the European Youth Festival.

The invitations for the next General Assembly will be posted at the beginning of August 1999. We would like to remind you that proposals for the agenda should reach our

secretariat 3 months prior to the General Assembly.

Kind regards

Horst Metzing