Circular Letter 3 / 2000

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:309 Article cached on Saturday, 05 July 2008 02:27:09

Pic-Id:116

To all

European federations,

European Zonal Presidents

ECU Board members

FIDE

Berlin, April 5, 2000

Dear friends,

The deadline for the bids for some European Championships had been the end of February 2000. Therefore, a Board meeting was held on March 24 and 25, 2000 in Bled/Slovenia. We would like to thank the sponsor Zava for the support of this meeting.

The Board had to disucss a lot of internal and financial issues which have to be worked out in a more concrete way. You will get further information about the financial situation of the ECU later on.

The most important points which were discussed by the Board are the various European Championships and events. Enclosed you will find the present survey of all European events.

We received once more a lot of excellent bids for holding the European Championships. This proves that we are on the right way and that the European events are accepted by the European federations.

There were bids from Patras/Greece and Batumi/Georgia to organize the 1^st European Women's Individual Championship. It was not an easy decision for the Board where and according to which system this championship should be held. Finally, it was decided to entrust the Georgian Chess Federation to organize this 1st Women Championship in Batumi. The total prize money will be 34.000 DM. It will be a knock-out-system with 32 players according to the formular of the World Championship. The invited players will be:

8 players according to rating

18 players from the zones (2 players from each zone)

1 European Junior Champion

1 nominee by the FIDE President

1 nominee by the ECU President

1 nominee by the organizers

2 nominees by the Black Sea Chess Association

32

The Zonal Presidents are requested to nominate 2 players from each zone. They have to decide whether they will consider the result of the last Zonal Tournament or whether they will nominate the representatives according to the rating strength. The opening ceremony will be scheduled for May 26, the closing ceremony for June 15, 2000. All further details will be sent by the Georgian Chess Federation to the Zonal Presidents or directly to the players via their federations.

Although the Slovenian Chess Federation had withdrawn their bid for the European Club Cup, there still remained 5 real good offers:Krynica/Poland, Sopron/Hungary, Sarajevo/BIH, St. Petersburg/Russia and Pula/Croatia. Finally, the Board decided to hold this 7-round-swiss event in Neum/Bosnia & Hercegovina. The date will probably be the period from September 16 to 24, 2000. All further details will be negotiated between the organizer and our President Boris Kutin respectively our Tournament Director Dirk de Ridder.

In some federations national Team Championships have been finished before the decision of the General Assembly in Batumi concerning the new regulations of the European Club Cup. Therefore there were some complaints and the request for a transitional period. After having discussed the details the Board made the following compromise for the year 2000:

a) Each club can nominate one additional player who did not play for this club in the previous National Team Championship (foreigner or non foreigner).

b) Foreigners must have played one (instead of two) game in the National Team Championship.

c) The request for an additional foreigner should be sent to the Tournament Director before May 1, 2000.

d) These decisions for a transitional period will not apply for the European Women’s Club Cup.

We had received bids from Pula /Croatia and Halle/Germany for the European Club Cup for Women. Finally, it was decided to hold this European Club Cup for Women in Halle with a total prizefund of 5.000 Euro. This championship will be organized from October 1 to 7, 2000. Tournament Director will be Werner Stubenvoll from Austria.

The 1st European Senior Championship will be organized under the auspices of the ECU in Slovenia. The final decision about the exact dates and venues will be made in accordance with Boris Kutin. Probably this event will take place in Bled from December 2 to 12, 2000.

The Hungarian Chess Federation had proposed and the General Assembly in Batumi had approved to hold an European Youth Team Championship under the auspices of ECU. This championship will be organized in Zanka/Hungary from July 9 to 15, 2000. The invitations have already been sent out by the Hungarian Chess Federation.

The General Assembly in Batumi had noted the draft regulations presented by Mikko Markkula and had decided to start the European Grand Prix 2001. Werner Stubenvoll from Austria will act as Tournament Director and will prepare further details in accordance with the Board. Federations or organizer who are interested in being included with a big open Tournament into this Grand Prix, should contact Werner Stubenvoll directly, Adolf-Schärf-Str. 9, A-4040 Linz, tel. +43-732-245542, fax +43-732-75746818.

The organizers of the 1st European Individual Championship being held in Saint-Vincent/Italy from July 3 to 14, 2000 have already distributed the invitation with a lot of details. Our Board once more would like to ask you to support this main European event. You can be sure that a lot of top players will participate in Saint-Vincent.

The European Junior Championship will be held in Aviles Spain. All federations should have received the official invitations some time ago.

The European Youth Championships will be organized this year in Hakidiki/Greece. In order to avoid any overlapping with the World Youth Championship in Oropesa/Spain, both federations are in close contacts. The European Youth Championship is supposed to be held from October 2 to 10. As soon as the details including the exact date is fixed you will get the official invitation from the Greek Chess Federation.

Thanks to the activities of our President, even European Rapid and Blitz Championship will be held. Dubrovnik will organize the Men's Championships probably from September 10 to 14, 2000, just before the European Club Cup in Neum. The total prizefund will be 50.000 DM. The Championships for women will be held in Banja Luka/BIH (probably in August) with a total prizefund of 25.000 DM.

I would remind you that the bids for the European Team Championship, the European Individual Championship, the European Individual Women's Championship, the European Junior Championship and for the European Youth Championships 2001 should reach our secretariat by May 31, 2000.

Kind regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General