Circular Letter 8 / 2007

Written by Heinz Herzog, WebAdmin

Monday, 24 December 2007, id:374 Article cached on Saturday, 05 July 2008 02:36:45

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To:

All European Federations

Associated members, Board members,

FIDE and FIDE Zone Presidents

30 August 2007

Dear Friends,

As already announced in our previous circular letters, the ECU General Assembly will be held in the Creta Maris Conference Hotel/Heraklion, Crete-Greece on 3 November 2007. The meeting will start at 9 o’clock. Proposals from member federations to be included in the agenda should reach our secretariat not later than 15 September 2007. The agenda, together with the relevant documents, will be distributed thereafter. All member federations are invited to attend this General Assembly.

We have to point out that according to Article 8.9 of the ECU statutes members who have not paid their current fees lose their vote at the General Assembly. As there is no discretion for the General Assembly or the Board this stipulation has to be fully applied.

On 23 and 24 August 2007 the regular Board meeting took place in Novi Sad, Serbia. It was a good opportunity to familiarize with the venue of the European Team Championship 2009. We would like to thank the Serbian Chess Federation and Mr Vladimir Sakotic for the nice hospitality. The Board took some important decisions concerning the future events.

The Individual Championships 2009 (Men and Women) will be held in Antalya/Turkey. As FIDE does not contribute anymore to the total prize fund the Board has decided that beginning with 2008 the number of qualifiers to the World Cup respectively to the Women’s World Championship will be the same each year.

There were four excellent bids for the European Youth Championships (U10 – U18) 2009. Finally this event has been awarded to Porto San Giorgio/Fermo, Italy from 31 August to 9 September.

Four bidders competed as candidates for the European Club Cup (Men and Women) 2009. The decision was taken in favour of Struga, Lake Ochid, FYROM.

The 9^th European Individual Senior Championship will be hosted by Šahohlacnik, Organization of Chess Development, with the support of the Slovenian Chess Federation and the Slovenian Government in Murska Sobota.

Pardubice, Czech Rebublic, will organize the European Amateur Championship 2009. For the first time a European Amateur Rapid Championship will be included into the festival.

The 3rd European School Team Championship has been granted to Varna, Bulgaria and will be held from 20 to 28 June 2008.

Upon proposal of the International School Chess Union and the Galaxias Sports Club, Thessaloniki, Greece a new “Open International School Chess Club” has been established. It has been agreed to host this event for a period of 2 years (2008 and 2009) in Haldikiki, Greece. After the second year and a thorough evaluation regulations should be set up by ECU. Haldikiki has received an option for the year 2010.

On the occasion of the Slovenian EU presidency Slovenia will host the first championships of the EU countries for girls and boys under 8, under 16 and under 18.

The ECU Board has decided that the entry fees for the first European Under 8 Championship being held in Batumi from 12 to 23 October 2007 go to the organizer. The players or their federations have to pay these fees directly to Chess Club Kazus.

Attached you will find the revised tournament calendar. Please, note that the dates for the European Individual Senior Championship 2008 in Dresden have been changed.

On the subject of a proposal of the Austrian Chess Federation regarding the spreading abuse of short draws the ECU Board has referred to the FIDE tournament rules. According to Article 10 e the chief arbiter shall impose penalties where it is clear games have been pre-arranged. The arbiters of the European championships should announce and follow this rule and impose respective penalties.

The next Board meeting is scheduled for 31 October and 1 November 2007 during the European Team Championship and just before the General Assembly in Heraklion.

Best regards,

Horst Metzing

Secretary General

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