Circular Letter 4 / 2000

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:310 Article cached on Saturday, 05 July 2008 02:37:17

Pic-Id:116

To all

European federations

European Zonal Presidents

ECU Board Members

FIDE

Berlin, 20^th June 2000

Dear friends,

The ECU Board had a meeting on 9th and 10th June 2000 in Espoo/Helsinki. As at the same time there was a meeting of the Nordic Chess Federations, we could use this opportunity for a mutual information exchange.

According to a former decision of the Board, President Boris Kutin had signed a contract with KasparovChessOnline. The main aims of this cooperation are the organization of European Internet Championships (European Online Team Championships, Individual Championships and Individual Junior Championships) and the design, development and maintenance of the ECU website.

Tournament Director Dirk De Ridder in cooperation with Mikko Markkula will draft the details for the rules of the Internet tournaments. The final regulations should set up by the Board at the next meeting.

Because of the agreement with KasparovChessOnline, ECU Board is able to offer the position of a webmaster. The main tasks will be the development and maintenance of the website and a daily update. The applicant should have good English language knowledges. ECU can offer him a monthly payment of 500 US $. We would like to ask all European federations to pass this information to all candidates qualified for this purpose. Proposals for candidates should reach our secretariat by 10th August 2000.

We are preparing an ECU Manual. This handbook will include all European regulations and important addresses. As annex you will find the data of your federation. Please check all details of your address and inform us by 15th July 2000 about any mistakes or changes.

Enclosed you will find the form for Offer/Bid to hold an ECU competition. We would like to ask you to use this form for all future bids. Furthermore we enclose the draft of a general bid procedure which has to be confirmed by the next ECU General Assembly. In connection with this bid procedure, Treasurer Egon Ditt has drafted the amounts and the distribution of the entry fees for European events (annex).

Treasurer Egon Ditt informed the Board that there are still a lot of unpaid fees of the European Club Cup 1997, 1998 and 1999. An actualized list is enclosed. Please check this list concerning your clubs and note that clubs with debts can only participate in the forthcoming European Club Cup if these outstanding fees will be settled before.

Bids for the European Team Championship 2001 have been received from Plovdiv/Bulgaria, Pardubice/Czech Republic, Kallithea/Greece, St.-Vincent/Italy, Leon/Spain and Lvov/Ukraine. In general, the Board recommended that medals and trophees as well as the general conditions will be more important than the amount of the prizefund. The final decision upon the venue will be taken at the next Board meeting.

The 1st European Individual Women's Championship was organized in Batumi/Georgia. 32 top players took part in a tournament according to the knock-out system. The total prizefund amounted to 34.000 DM. First European Champion became Natalya Zhukova/Ukraine who beat Ekaterina Kovalevskaya/Russia in the final by 2 ½ - 1 ½ . We would like to thank the Georgian Chess Federation for their valuable contribution to the realization of an European Individual Women's Championship.

The 1st European Individual Championship will be held in St.-Vincent/Italy from 3rd to 14th July. The total prize money will be 60.000 Euro. There is still the possibility to register and to take part in this open tournament.

Unfortunately, we have not received any bid for the Individual Championship and the Individual Women's Championship 2001. All federations are requested to look for potential organizers. It is quite possible that traditional open tournaments can be upgraded by the title of the European Individual Championship if the conditions will be appropriate. Bids should reach the secretariat by 15th August 2000.

The this year's European Junior Championship will be held in Aviles/Spain from 15th until 28th August. The invitations have been distributed to all European federations. The website of this championship will be www. mrbit.es/ajedrez/indexeues.html.

Three bids have been received for the European Junior Championship 2001, namely from Hungary (probably Budapest), Patras/Greece and Pardubice/Czech Republic. The final decision about the venue will be taken at the next Board meeting.

Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful to avoid a coincidence between the European and the World Youth Championship this year. The European event will be held in Kallithea from 2nd to 10th October, the World Championship in Oropesa del Mar/Spain will start on 11th October. To avoid those overlappings in the future, the Board recommended to hold the European Youth Championships between midst of July and midst of September.

The ECU Board has decided by majority to invite three African youth players to participate in Kallithea. This decision has been taken according to the European-African cooperation, agreed upon in Dortmund 1999.

Bids for the European Youth Championships 2001 have been received from Hungary (probably Budapest), Kallithea/Greece and Pardubice/Czech Republic. The final decision about the venue will be taken at the next Board meeting.

The 1st European Youth Team Championship will be held in Balatonlelle/Hungary from 9th to 15th July 2000. The invitations have been distributed. The venue had to be changed, but this will even improve the tournament conditions.

Enclosed you will find the invitations to the European Club Cup and to the European Club Cup for Women. There had been some problems with the exact dates of these events. But finally, both organizers kept to the dates according to the regulations. The European Club Cup will be organized in Neum/Bosnia & Hercegovina and the European Club Cup for Women in Halle/Germany from 23rd September to 1st October 2000. The deadline for registrations will be 15th July.

We would like to remind you that the entry fees have to be paid before the event will start and that clubs with unpaid fees will not be allowed to enter these European Club Cups.

The Board noted the proposal ot the Italian Chess Federation to hold a yearly Mitropa-Cup Junior Championship. This tournament should be organized within the framework of the ECU.

The European Rapid Championship will be held in Neum/BIH on 2nd and 3rd October 2000 and immediately thereafter the European Blitz Championship on 4th and 5th October 2000. The total prizefund will be 50.000 DM (25.000 DM for the Blitz Championship and 25.000 DM for the Rapid Chess Championship). These championships will be organized right away after the European Club Cup in order to allow a lot of players to participate.

The European Rapid Chess Championship for Women and European Blitz Championship for Women will take place in Banja Luka from 15th until 20th August 2000. The prizefund will be totally 25.000 DM for both championships. The invitations will be distributed later.

The Slovenian Chess Federation has informed us that the 1st European Individual Senior Championship will be held in Bled from 24th November until 3rd December 2000.

The ECU was invited to participate in meetings of the European Union on 17th April in Brussels and in the 1st European Seminar of the Dutch Olympic Committee on the Position of the Athlets on 13th and 14th May 2000 in Amsterdam. Secretary General Horst Metzing attended both meetings.

The next Board meeting will be held in Aviles/Spain from 25th until 28th August 2000. The Board members will take this opportunity to attend the closing ceremony of the European Junior Championship.

The next General Assembly will be organized in connection with the FIDE congress in Istanbul. The European federations will be informed about the exact date as soon as we know the time schedule of the FIDE congress.

Organizers of European Championships can get the official ECU flag for indoor use. Please do not hesitate to contact us in time.

During our Board meeting with the Nordic Chess Federation, we have been informed that in a lot of national chess federations the number of members has essentially decreased. In order to obtain a general idea, we would like to ask you to inform us about the situation in your country. Maybe you will have any ideas about the reason of such a membership development.

Kind regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General