Circular Letter 6 / 2000

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:312 Article cached on Saturday, 05 July 2008 02:30:53

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To all

European Federations

European Zonal Presidents

ECU Board Members

FIDE

Berlin, 5^th September 2000

Dear friends,

The ECU Board had its meeting from 25th until 27th August 2000 in Aviles/Spain. The Board members could use this opportunity to get an own impression of the organization of the European Junior Championship and of the closing ceremony.

ECU has agreed to cooperate with EDAMI (Escuela de Ajedrez Miguel Illescas). EDAMI is a company that specializes in chess in the Internet. Directed by GM Miguel Illescas, the team is composed of experts in different areas, specifically focusing on the design and maintenance of chess webs. EDAMI should cooperate with our partner KasparovChessOnline to make sure that ECU will have an own website until the next General Assembly in Istanbul.

The 1st ECU Manual will be printed in a circulation of 1.000 copies within the next four weeks. Each federation will get some copies free of charge.

The attitude of most of the European federations concerning the payment of the entry fees and additional financial obligations in connection with the European Youth and European Junior Championships does not really make it easy to organize these events. Although it is stated in the invitations that all payments have to be done before the beginning of the championships, most of the federations do not care about this matter. This procedure should be discussed in our General Assembly in Istanbul. The aim should be that the organizer collects the money and passes it on either to ECU or to FIDE.

The most important decision of the Board meeting in Aviles has been the determination of the venue of the European Team Championship 2001. Bids have been received from

St.-Vincent/Italy, Plovdiv/Bulgaria, Pardubice/Czech Republic, Kallithea/Greece, Leon/Spain and Lvov/Ukraine. Delegations from Bulgaria, Greece and Spain presented their bids during the Board meeting. Two secret ballots were necessary to determine the winner. Finally, the Board decided by a majority of votes in favour of Leon/Spain. We would like to congratulate Leon as the winner.

The Board expressed thanks to all bidders for the excellent offers. Due to a similar briiliant offer as Leon, the Board decided to ask the General Assembly to grant the organization of the European Team Championship 2003 to Plovdiv.

Bids for the European Individual Championship 2001 have been received from Groningen/Netherlands and Andorra. As the bid from Groningen corresponds with the ECU regulations and because of the higher prize fund, the Board decided in favour of Groningen/Netherlands as the host of the European Individual Championship 2001.

On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the Polish Chess Federation will hold the

A decision about the forthcoming European Youth and Junior Championships has not been taken by the Board. The reason was that the Board needs more information about the proposed dates and the exact financial conditions. The Board was in favour of sticking to the stipulation that the maximum financial contribution per nominated player should be 150 US$. Bids for the European Junior Championships 2001 have been received from Balatonlelle/Hungary, Patras/Greece and Pardubice/Czech Republic. Balatonlelle/Hungary, Kallithea/Grece and Pardubice/Czech Republic have bidded for the European Youth Championship 2001.

The Hungarian Chess Federation has proposed to hold the European Youth Team Championship each year and to include it into the official ECU tournament calendar. The final decision whether this event will become an official ECU championship will be taken in Istanbul.

The European Club Cup will be held from 23rd September until 1st October 2000 in Neum/BIH. For the first time this Club Cup will be organized as an open tournament. Approximately 40 teams are expected to participate. Immediately thereafter, the 1st European Rapid and Blitz Championships will follow.

The 5th European Club Cup for Women will be held in Halle/Germany from 23rd September until 1st October 2000. 14 teams have already registered.

The 1st European Individual Senior Championship will be held from 24th November until

3rd December 2000 in Bled/Slovenia. The Board has granted the organization of the European Senior Championship 2001 to Erding/Germany.

ECU Tournament Director Dirk De Ridder has drafted regulations for a European Internet Championship. As soon as the technical details are checked with KasparovChessOnline, the 1st European Internet Championship will be held. We suppose to have the details published before our meeting in Istanbul.

The Board has confirmed once more that a 1st European Grand Prix should start in 2001. In order to simplify the calculation, the Board has resolved the following guidelines:

- Tournament organizers have to contribute 2.000 Euro to the final prize fund.

- Approximately 20 to 25 open tournaments should be included.

- All tournaments have to fulfill the general conditions for title norms (indluding 9 rounds).

- The average rating of the top 25 players should be at least 2425 or 2450.

- The final standing will be counted into the performance of the players (best 5 or 6 results).

- The European Individual Championship will be counted double.

Werner Stubenvoll/Austria will act as Tournament Director and will prepare the Grand Prix. Federations (or tournament organizer) which are interested in being included into this Grand Prix should contact Werner Stubenvoll directly: Adolf-Schärf-Str. 9, 4040 Linz, Austria,

tel: +43-732-245542, fax: +43-732-75746818

The next ECU General Assembly will be held during the FIDE congress in Istanbul. As soon as the official time schedule is known, the invitations will be sent out to all European federations.

The next Board meeting will be held in Istanbul as well. Invitations for hosting Board meetings have been received from the Chess Federations of Hungary and Azerbaijan.

Kind regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General