Press release of the German Chess Federation

German Chess Federation enters protest against new time control

The Board of FIDE in it's meeting 26.12.2000 in Teheran has, without consulting the commissions or the federations, decided on a new time control that will be applied for all FIDE events starting 1.1.2001:

40 moves in 75 minutes, rest of the moves in 15 minutes, each move additional 30 seconds. The new time control needs an electronic chessclock. According to this decision the time for a player will be: · for a game of 40 moves 1 hour 35 minutes · for a game of 50 moves 1 hour 55 minutes · for a game of 60 moves 2 hours · for a game of 80 moves 2 hour 10 minutes · for a game of 100 moves 2 hour 20 minutes As the Chess Federation of the Netherlands in a letter dated 8.1.2001 states, rapid chess would become the official form of chess.

We assume the FIDE-Board is expecting more interest from the media and easier organization of tournaments (less hours and perhaps two rounds a day).

In the letter already mentioned from 8.1.2001 the Chess Federation of the Netherlands has entered a protest against the decision. The federation states, that the time control has not been discussed in the FIDE-Congress at Istanbul (a proposal of GM Shirov supported by GM Torre was in the documents). Der Executive Council had proposed to ask the players in the Olympiad for their opinion, but that was not done, instead the participants in the Worldchampionship in New Dehli have been asked regarding shorter time, but without any concrete proposal.

The Chess Federation of the Netherlands refers to contradictions to several valid regulations of FIDE, so it would not be possible to have title norms with the new time control. But the decisive argument against the decision is, that according to the statutes the FIDE Board is not authorized to take such a decision. Because of this the Chess Federation of the Netherlands states, that only General Assembly of FIDE, that will meet in autumn 2002 in Bled / Slovenia, after a thorough discussion concerning the future of chess can take a decision reaching that far and touching the core and the level of chess. The federation asks the President of FIDE to cancel the decision and to put the issue on the agenda of General Assembly in Bled 2002.

With a letter dated 21.1.2001 the German Chess Federation has fully supported the protest of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands. The federation points out that federations have been informed only by a press release distributed in Internet and that no German top player has supported the new time control for serious chess in a meeting of the German national team in Düsseldorf 17.1.2001.

It is the position of the German Chess Federation that the decision of the FIDE Board is not valid, because the Statutes of FIDE do not cover it. So the time control as defined in the FIDE handbook still has to be applied.

German Chess Federation also objected to the intention of the FIDE Board to have the qualification for the World Championship in continental tournaments. This decision will destroy the zonal tournaments and by this the function of the FIDE Zones. In this case neither national federations nor - as to our knowledge - the Zone Presidents have been consulted. Since there has been no emergency as demanded by the statutes, the FIDE Board is not authorized to decide in this case, too.

"We shall not tolerate the violation of the statutes", so Egon Ditt, "We have to remind the FIDE Board that only General Assembly, the body composed of delegates of the national federations, has unlimited authority to decide, and the Board has to stay within the framework of the decisions of General Assembly".

Bremen, 24.1.2001 Egon Ditt, President of the German Chess Federation

Press Release by the French Chess Federation

The Board of Directors of the French Chess Federation, reunited in Paris on the 27th of January, has raised a strong protest against the decisions taken by the FIDE, imposing on one hand a new time control it's tournaments and on the other hand, the suppression of the zonal tournaments.

It is scandalous that such important decisions for the future of Chess should be taken hastily, without the slightest consultation with the National Federations. Furthermore, as was already signalled by the Dutch and German Federations, the Presidential Board doesn't have the authority to take such decisions according to the by-laws of the FIDE.

Consequently, the French Chess Federation will not take in account the pseudo-decisions concerning the new time controls. Furthermore, it would like to point out the dangers of a European tournament which will qualify 46 players for other phases of the World Championship. Finally, the French Chess Federation asks the these propositions be put on the agenda for the General Assembly in Bled 2002.

Jean-Claude Loubatière President French Chess Federation

Dutch Federation Letter

Koninklijke Nederlandse Schaakbond

To FIDE Secretariat Attn. Mr. K. Iljumzhinov, President PO Box 166 1000 Lausanne 4 Zwitserland

Time control 00/Wzdiv/0014/Hha/pv Januari 8, 2001

Dear Mr. President,

On 26 December 2000 in Tehran the Presidential Board took a decision on the time control with effect from 1 January 2001. The new time control to be used in all FIDE events and international tile tournaments will be 40 moves in 75 minutes, 15 minutes for the remainder of the game, with an increment of 30 second per move from move 1.

This decision was taken in line with the decision of the FIDE General Assembly in Istanbul and based on the consensus of opinions of the overwhelming majority of top players at the Worlds Championship in New Delhi, the Board writes in its statement.

This subject however was not discussed in Istanbul by the General Assembly. There was a suggestion made by GM A. Shirov to use a time control of 40 minutes per player in one game plus 30 seconds per move. This was supported by GM E. Torre. Accepting this suggestion would mean that rapid chess would become the official form of chess.

The Executive Board directed that the views expressed by the various proponents on the time control should made available to all the players at the Olympiad for their opinion after which the matter could be addressed at the Presidential Board meeting.

These plans were not made available to the players at the Olympiad, but instead there was an inquiry on this subject during the World Championship. As we understood the players were asked if they would favour a faster time control system than the current one. They were not asked for their opinion of a specific form of time control.

By accepting the time control decided upon in Tehran it is not possible to gain titles in FIDE events or in international title tournaments. In the FIDE Rating regulations (art. 1.3) it is stated: For games to count for title applications a six hours session is required at least. This can only be altered by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Qualification Commission. Such a change will come into effect on 1st July of the year following the decision by General Assembly.

According to the FIDE Statutes nor the Executive Board (art. 4.1), nor the Presidential Board (art. 7.1) may take this decision.

The Board of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation does not agree with the decision of the Presidential Board to change the time control in this way. There has been no investigation of the results of this measure and even reasons to do this are not outlined. The proper procedures of FIDE are not followed, the official commissions of FIDE were not consulted. The new time control is contrary to other rules valid in FIDE.

Such a far reaching change, which effects the core and the level of the game of chess, can only be taken by the General Assembly after a fundamental discussion on the future of chess.

Our Board therefor asks you to withdraw the decision on the new time control immediately and to put the proposal on the agenda of the next General Assembly.

Yours sincerely, ROYAL DURCH CHESS FEDERATION (signed) H.H. Hamers President

Letter to the German and Dutch Chess Federations by Emmanuel Omuku Executive Director of FIDE

Lausanne, 30 January 2001

Mr. H.Hamers President Royal Dutch Chess Federation

Mr. E. Ditt President German Chess Federation

Gentlemen,

The President has requested me to respond to your two letters in which your Boards have questioned the basis for the Presidential Board's decisions in respect of the World Chess Championship as well as the new time control for FIDE events. I am also in touch with FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, who met over the weekend with World Championship Cycle Committee Chairman Willy Iclicki on some of the issues in your letters.

I would like to begin by stating that there has been a misunderstanding here. I have taken time to go through the tapes of the General Assembly meeting in Istanbul as well as the resolutions of the Presidential Board, the initial Press release after the Tehran Board meeting as well as the clarification of some of the issues raised in the Press release, which was contained in our circular letter of 4 January 2001.

The extract of the tape recording of the Minutes, copy of which is attached, clearly shows that it was the true intention of the General Assembly that the final decision regarding the matter of the new time control and the World Championship be dealt with at the Presidential Board. You will also kindly recall that this precedent is nothing new and that our Statutes allow it. Permit me to recall that the final decision on the Regulations for the World Championship, which was applied in Groningen/Lausanne, in 1997/98, was reached after the General Assembly meeting in Yerevan in 1996 delegated this matter to the Presidential Board and there are many more instances where the General Assembly has mandated the Board or in some cases, the President, to act on its behalf in very complex situations. Let me also state that having specifically delegated the issue of time control and the World Championship to the Presidential Board, the input of the Qualification Commission or any of its constituent parts or where applicable, the World Championship Cycle Committee, can only be secondary to that of the Presidential Board, acting in the name of the General Assembly.

With specific reference to the time control issue, it was clear on the 12th of November in Istanbul, that a poll amongst the players at the Olympiad had not been taken and could not have been taken, given the circumstances and share logistics of having a reliable poll in Istanbul with the little time left. What then could have been more representative than the decision to take a sampling from the cream of our top professional male and female players, who were present in New Delhi for the World Chess Championships. Out of the 159 players polled, 135 players returned their questionnaire. The sampling produced the following result: 61 to 42 in favour of a reduced time control. 32 were non-committal. In addition, the following technical experts were present at the two sessions of the Board meeting in New Delhi and Tehran:

Mr. Willy Iclicki, Chairman of the World Championship Cycle Committee, Mr. Casto Abundo, Rating Administrator, Mr. Geurt Gijssen, Chairman of the Rules Committee, GM Valery Salov, President of the World Players' Council, GM Zurab Azmaiparashvil. The Board members present were as follows:

FIDE President K. Ilyumzhinov, Honorary President F. Campomanes, Deputy President G. Makropoulos, Vice President P.T. Ummer Koya, General Secretary N. Tabbane, Treasurer D. Jarrett, Continental President B. Kutin, Continental President L. Mazouz.

I am in a position to say that all the issues were thoroughly debated at the two sessions of the Board in New Delhi and Tehran before the Board reached its decision. This was apart from various meetings at Committee levels chaired at different times, by the President and Deputy President. In keeping with our Statutes, and where communication allowed, contact was established with some of the Board members by fax or telephone for their input, when the matter was being debated especially at the Tehran stage.

Let me now address the issue of the Status of the Zones. As I stated in my earlier note, the Zonal structure shall continue to be maintained as the bedrock of our chess development effort. They shall continue to be used for purposes of titles and ratings as contained in the Handbook. But as was clear from our discussions in Istanbul, the Continental Championships for commercial reasons will now be used for purposes of qualification to the World Championship. At the same time, the Continental Championships are now going to be administered by the Continents and they may well select the winners for qualification for the World Championship from this event, along Zonal lines. It should also be noted that the Presidential Board had granted substantial increases to the number of qualifiers from the Continents thus allowing for all possible variations to satisfy the needs of the Continents as well as the Zones from within this Continental structure.

In addition, FIDE is proposing to provide financial support towards the prize fund for the continents for this important event of the World Championship cycle, as follows:

Europe - USD 120, 000 less 20% to FIDE = USD 96, 000 Americas - USD 80, 000 less 20% to FIDE = USD 64, 000 Asia - USD 80, 000 less 20% to FIDE = USD 64, 000 Africa - USD 70, 000 less 20% to FIDE = USD 56, 000

It is now up to the Continents to use this financial incentive from FIDE to generate additional sponsorship for the prize fund through a bidding process out of which 20% shall go to the Continents. It is also possible for the Continents to decide, which financial support they may wish to advance to those Federations, which need them for their players, the stipends for the officials as well as the nomination of tournament officials. It is anticipated that these extra expenses will now be taken care of from the additional sponsorship generated by the Continent.

As can be seen from the foregoing, the idea of using the Continental Championship as basis for qualification to the World Championship will now make it an important activity for the players and officials of the Continents. It would also help to provide FIDE with a solid number of events, which could be presented to a General Sponsor with additional financial benefits to everyone.

Finally, it is very clear from our Statutes that decisions of the Presidential Board are of a continuing nature until subject to review by either the General Assembly or Executive Board at its subsequent meeting. In the case of what has been decided on now by the Presidential Board, in respect of the time control and the Continental Assembly, it is our respectful submission that this was well within the contemplation of the General Assembly, when it mandated the Board to decide on these matters. Such decisions, which have been validly taken by the Board, cannot therefore be described as illegal.

I hope that with this clarification we can all join hands with the members of the Presidential Board who are genuinely also working with all their hearts for the benefit of chess to satisfy the needs of the players, the zones, the Continents and all of FIDE.

Gens Una Sumus.

Emmanuel Omuku Executive Director

Comments from Egon Ditt

Egon Ditt comments: As expected FIDE did not accept the protests, but a few facts are interesting: - the "overwhelming majority" of the players asked is +61 -42 = 32, that seems to me a minority of the players asked. - please read the tape transription carefully: no objection to the report of the Players' Council is regarded as the mandate to decide.

Extract of the tape recording of the meeting of the FIDE General Assembly in Istanbul 2000

Players' Council

Mr. Makropoulos: What about this poll for time limit and all this… It's going on?

Mr. Salov: This poll still has not taken place so. It's still not completed.

Mr. Makropoulos: OK, so, the Presidential Board is going to see the results of this poll and Valery Salov, GM Valery Salov is going to submit his proposals for the Championship also to the Presidential Board in all details. Already he has informed some of us, some members of the Board, so we are going to get his advice for the format of the new Championship. So this is for this Players' Council. So we accept the report? Yes?

There was no objection.

Letter from Jonathan Berry on the players poll

I was at the World Players' Council meeting in Istanbul. It took place before the FIDE General Assembly even began. I attended by accident, intending simply to observe. FIDE Vice-President Mr. Makropoulos said that FIDE would be happy to have a players' survey about time controls, but did not have enough personnel resources to carry it out. But the WPC could, with FIDE's blessing. There was a long silence around the table, as WPC Chairman GM Salov himself could not do it. So I volunteered, and the WPC appointed me to do it: A poll or survey of the players at Istanbul concerning some of the various proposals for time controls.

Mr. Makropoulos instructed me NOT to include the control introduced at the Kasparov-Kramnik match in London (such an authority as Mr. Filipowicz had found it worthy of praise, even though his initial reaction to it had been negative.). But I was to get in touch with Mr. Omuku to get the final details of GM Shirov's proposal and to arrange for the use of FIDE's page printer (the survey would be on paper).

After the WPC meeting I went to the FIDE offices and left a message for Mr. Omuku, who reportedly made a habit not to be available at those offices. The next morning, I passed up the Rules Commission meeting (and thus incurred Mr. Gijssen's distress, but I thought that doing this survey was a greater service to chess) to follow up the matter at the FIDE offices. No luck. A couple of days later, I spoke with GM Salov in the playing hall (he was the captain of the India Women's team), and he said that FIDE had taken over the survey project. It was about a week later when the Olympiad was over, I met GM Salov on the sidewalk. He said: "I don't know why FIDE never did the survey."

It was not time constraints but FIDE itself that shot down the attempt to survey the players in Istanbul about time controls. And the survey they report from New Delhi was too vague to be the basis of such a radical change.

Sincerely yours, Jonathan Berry IA, FM, GM (ICCF)

Chesslines Petition against the new time controls

http://www.chesslines.com/petition/petitioninternational.html

Italians add their voice to the protest against the new time controls

PRESS RELEASE OF THE ITALIAN CHESS FEDERATION ON THE NEW FIDE TIME CONTROLS

12th February 2001

The Board of the Italian Chess Federation discussed the decisions agreed upon by the FIDE Presidential Board on 26th December 2000 concerning the replacement of the zonal tournaments by one continental tournament and the introduction of new time controls starting from 1.1.2001 in Man's and Woman's World Championships and all FIDE events and international title tournaments. The Board strongly objects to the form, timing and content of such decisions which appear to be in contrast with both the Statutes of FIDE (as to the functions given to the Presidential Board) and the existing FIDE regulations. Therefore the Board declares to fully support the protest of the Chess Federations of Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal and others. The Board believes that such decisions can be taken only after a full and thorough discussion and only with the explicit consent of the General Assembly. It is the opinion of the Board that any measures that may be taken should be introduced gradually, and in any case giving the organisers of non-World Championship FIDE events the possibility to choose between different options. The Board of the Italian Chess Federation hopes that the FIDE Presidential Board will cancel the decisions in question and put the issue on the agenda of the next General Assembly of FIDE.

Press Release of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands and the German Chess Federation

Dutch and German Chess Federation fight new time control in Court of Arbitration

The Board of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands on 6.2.2001 and the Board of the German Chess Federation on 10.2.2001 both decided not to accept the decision of the FIDE Board on a new time control.

A letter from FIDE Executive Director Omuku on request of the President of FIDE tried to explain the decision but in no way could convince that the FIDE Board has been authorized to make a general decision on this important issue.

In a joint letter to FIDE President the Dutch and the German Chess Federation again state the reasons against this decision:

a.. The new time control the Board decided would radically change the quality of our game. In principle we are willing to discuss a different time control, but we do not want to change serious chess to rapid chess.

b.. An issue so important has to be discussed thoroughly with the players, the federations and the committees, and it would be wise to have an experimental phase before decision. The way it was handled is not the way an international organization of sports should act.

c.. The Board has not been authorized to decide this issue in general, neither by the Statutes nor by General Assembly. The authorization given is limited to the World Championship Cycle (where we do not support the decision, but have to accept it at the moment and will discuss it in next General Assembly).

Both federations decided to join and ask the Court of Arbitration for Sports according to Chapter 17 of the FIDE Statutes to settle the conflict, if the FIDE Board does not limit it's decision to the World Championship Cycle in the next meeting.

Haarlem / Berlin, 20.2.2001

(signed) Herman Hamers, President of the Chess Federation of the Netherlands

(signed) Egon Ditt, President of the German Chess Federation