European Federations
Associated Members
Board Members
FIDE
FIDE Zonal Presidents
Berlin, 26 January 2001
CIRCULAR Letter No.: 1/2001
Dear friends,
A lot of decisions have been taken by FIDE which will affect our work in Europe. The most serious modification seems to be the cancellation of all Zonal Tournments and in change of it the qualification for the World Championship by the Continental Championship. Unfortunately, this modification already applies from this year. Moreover, FIDE has not taken into consideration that some Zonal Tournaments and even the European Individual Championship have been fixed before.
According to the new WCC structure, the Continental Championships should be held from June until August. In order to avoid the coincidence with the most important tournaments, the European Individual Championship should be held during the period from 1 to 16 June 2001. The Tournament Regulations have to be approved by the ECU-Board. As a guideline the following technical and financial details will be proposed:
- 13 rounds Swiss system, 1 free day, 1 day for play offs.
- time control according to FIDE WCC regulations
- Participants: 2 players per federation, open to further players with a minimum of 2450, maximum of 20 players per federation
- Prize fund not less than 60.000 Euro (20 % as a share for ECU)
- Offer of special and reasonable hotel rates in different categories
- Stipends for the Principles of the European Championship approx. 20.000 SFR
FIDE sweetens this modification by offering an additional 120.000 US$ prize fund to our European Championship. 20 % of this sum have to be paid to FIDE/CACDEC.
We would like to ask for bids (closed envelopes) by 15 February 2001. The fee for the bid as well as the deposit fee have been fixed by the General Assembly of Istanbul. Concerning the FIDE entry fee, we have to negotiate with FIDE how to share this amount.
As the ECU has already granted the organization of the European Individual Championship 2001 to Groningen, the Board has to decide how to solve this problem. A compromise will be submitted which might be accepted by ECU as well as by Stichting Schaak Groningen and the local sponsors. According to this compromise the European Individual Championship 2002 will be held in Groningen from 19 December 2001 until 4 January 2002.
The European Junior Championship will be hosted by the Intellectual and Cultural Bankers Club of Patras and by the Bankers Sports Club of Patras / Greece from 15 until 28 July 2001.
The Chess Academy of Northern Greece informed us that the this year’s European Youth Championship will be held in Kallithea from 30 August until 10 September 2001.
The 2nd European Boy’s and Girl’s U18 Team Championships will be held once more under the auspices of ECU in Balatonlelle/Hungary from 22 until 29 June 2001 (annex). We recommend to all Eurpean federations to participate in this Team Championship.
Enclosed you will find the amended rules for the European Club Cup and the European Club Cup for Women. We would like to emphasize that all bids have to be sent to our Secretariat according to the bid procedure by 31 January 2001.
Finally, the dates of the European Team Championship in Leon have been fixed. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 5 November, the first round on 6 November, last round and closing ceremony on 15 November 2001.
Unfortunately, the European Individual Senior Championship cannot be organized in Erding/Germany. Federations being interested in this event, should contact our Secretariat.
As you were informed in Istanbul, the contract between ECU and KasparovChessOnline finally had been cancelled. Consequently, we have now signed contracts with EDAMI and Games Parlor concerning the Online Dedicated Service and the ECU website. Our domain is www.eurochess.org.
Our next Board meeting is scheduled in Belgrade / Yugoslavia from 22 until 25 February 2001. Federations interested in attending this meeting as a guest should contact the Yugoslavian Chess Federation concerning further details.
Please make the following corrections in your ECU Manual:
ECU President Boris Kutin, new private tel. and fax.no. +386-1-5684344
Andorra: new e-mail: feva@internet.ad
Azerbaijan: new e-mail: chessaz@azeurotel.com
FYROM: new e-mail: ndimovski@unet.com.mk, tel. +389-91-612531, fax: +389-91-614800
Lithuania: P.O. Box 18, LT-2000 Vilnius, Lithuania, tel. +370-2-651587,
fax. +370-2-226115, e-mail: chess.lt@chess.lt, http://www.chess.lt
President: Mr Ceslovas Jursenas, Gedimino pr. 53, LT-2002 Vilnius, Lithuania,
tel. +370-2-396626, fax. +370-2-396077, e-mail: cejurs@lrs.lt
Moldova: e-mail: fskrip@mnc.md, fax: +373-2-565451
Turkey: new e-mail: alinihat.yazici@trt.net.tr, President: Ali Nihat Yazici, tel. +90-312-4904983 or 86, fax. +90-312-4904985
Kind regards
Horst Metzing
Secretary General