1. Commercialisation of FIDE
1.1 The initial proposals for the Commercialisation of FIDE put forward in early 2000 were opposed by a number of Federations including Germany, USA and the BCF. At the FIDE Presidential Board in London in May 2000 a Committee was set up to consider the issues which comprised Georgios Makropoulos FIDE Deputy President, David Anderton of BCF, Egon Ditt of Germany, David Jarrett FIDE Treasurer, William Kelleher of USA, Emmanuel Omuku FIDE Executive Director, Morten Sand of Norway and Artiom Tarasov of FIDE Commerce. The Committee met on 2 occasions in Lausanne in May and August 2000 and also met on several occasions in Istanbul prior to the FIDE General Assembly. In addition at the request of the Committee a number of rating experts met with FIDE Commerce representatives in Dortmund in July 2000 to consider proposed changes to the Rating system which formed part of the Commercialisation project. Those present at the Dortmund meeting were C. Abundo FIDE Rating Administrator, P. Drepaniotis of Greece, J. Fleischer of Germany, W.Icklicki of Belgium, R.Kostelov of FIDE Commerce, M. Markkula of Finland, H.Metzing of Germany, K.O'Connell of Ireland, S.Reuben of BCF and A. Tarasov of FIDE Commerce. After this extensive consultative exercise the Committee was able to recommend unanimously to the General Assembly the proposals which were ultimately approved.
1.2 The background to the Commercialisation proposal was the fact that FIDE had entered into an Agreement with the World Chess Foundation to organise the World Chess Championships annually until 2017 on the basis that the Foundation would provide annual prize funds of US $ 3 million for the World Championship and US $ 500,000 for the Women's World Championship. In practice the World Chess Foundation had been funded by FIDE President Ilyumzhinov. There had also been negotiations for FIDE to grant to the Foundation commercial rights for internet broadcasting and the use of the FIDE logo but these had not been concluded and no monies had been paid to FIDE for the same. The main intention of the Commercialisation proposal was to vest all of the commercial rights and obligations in a new company FIDE Commerce International Limited (FIDE Commerce) and for that company to seek commercial sponsorship for the World Championship Cycle in particular and also a general sponsor for FIDE. The Committee perceived that it was healthier in the long run for FIDE to find commercial sponsors rather than be dependent on the Foundation.
1.3 One of the main concerns which was expressed particularly by USA Delegates was the issue of conflict of interest. With that in mind advice was obtained from Gouldens Solicitors of London and they confirmed there would not be a conflict of interest if the relevant facts were disclosed before the new contract was signed. A letter from Gouldens confirmed that FIDE Commerce had been incorporated in England on 26 June 2000 with company number 4023838 and the shareholders were Chess Trust (a Trust in which the FIDE President had an interest) holding 70% of the initial share capital and Gambit Trust (a Trust in which Mr Tarasov had an interest) holding 30% of the initial share capital. It was also confirmed that US $ 911,806.43 had been transferred to the company's bank account with Barclays Bank. The resolution before the General Assembly disclosed the fact that the President would be appointed as a Director of the Company and it was confirmed that Mr Tarasov had already been so appointed.
1.4 As a requisite preliminary step prior to the Agreement between FIDE and FIDE Commerce changes in the FIDE Statutes and Regulations were approved. The main points are summarised below.
1.5 Amendments to the Statutes.
New Chapter 14 declaring that for FIDE Events (other than Continental events not part of the World Championship Cycle) FIDE had the sole right to all radio, television and Internet rights.
1.6 Amendment to the Rating Regulations
a) The Rating threshold is to be reduced to 1001 as from
a date to be decided. Prior to the change the Qualification Commission
recommended:
System Design
Design Review
Pilot Test of
Technology
b) Revised time limits for rated games. Based on 60
moves:
Minimum of 120 minutes each if one of players in the tournament has a
rating of 2200 or higher.
Minimum of 90 minutes each if all players have
ratings between 1600 and 2199.
Minimum of 60 minutes each if all players
have ratings below 1600.
c) To be included in the FIDE Rating List a player must be a member of a national chess federation either directly or through an affiliated member of that federation. This is effective as from 1 July 2001.
d) On appearing in the FIDE Rating List a player must be a member of the World Chess Club. This Club, which will set up by FIDE Commerce, will offer online services but will not be able to charge any membership subscriptions until the FIDE Congress so approves. At the moment rating is paid for by federations and with the proposed increase in the number of rated players some revision to the charging system is inevitable. The FIDE estimate of potential increase on reducing the threshold to 1001 is a tenfold increase from 35,000 to 350,000.
1.7 World Championship Cycle
Proposals for the amendment of the format of the World Championship were tabled for consultation and the FIDE Presidential Board at its December 2000 meeting was empowered to amend the relevant regulations.
1.8 Agreement between FIDE and FIDE Commerce
The main terms of the Agreement which was approved and
duly signed at the General Assembly are as follows:
a) Initial term until
2017 with option to renew until 2027 if match terms offered by third party.
b) FIDE Commerce to pay to FIDE:
US $ 3.5 million per annum indexed
linked at intervals starting in 2006 and every 4 years thereafter for prize
funds.
The cost of holding Events in the World Championship Cycle if no
third party is prepared to meet the same.
10% of the net profit of FIDE
Commerce with a minimum guarantee of US $ 1 million by the end of year 3 and
thereafter US $ 500,000 per annum thereafter.
2. The Titles awarded and Amendment to the Title Regulations
a) The following titles were awarded by the General Assembly:
Grandmasters:
Luke McShane
Jonathan Parker (as
from 1/1/2001 but counting in an event spanning that date)
Woman Grandmaster:
Jovanka Houska
International Masters:
Lawrence Cooper (formerly
conditional on rating)
Adam Hunt (2392) conditional on rating of
2400
International Arbiters:
Stephen Boniface
John
Turnock
b) It should be noted that in accepting Jonathan Parker's 4 NCL norm the FIDE Titles and Rating Committee accepted that, because of the high number of non English titled players competing in the League, it was not necessary for him to have played 3 non English GMs.
c) The FIDE Qualification Committee made some important
announcements and changes affecting titles:
Title results are now valid for
life (retrospectively).
The rating requirement (eg 2500 for GM) has to be
fulfilled at some point after the first title result.
FIDE will establish a
database of title results and it is necessary to register such results
(including old results) as from 1 July 2001.
d) All tournaments must be pre-registered and this regulation will be strictly enforced in future.
e) All title tournaments must now have 50% title holders. Players rated 2300+ are no longer accepted as substitutes for FM titled players (except in the case of applications for womens' titles).
f) Modified pairings are not acceptable. Accelerated pairings (system announced in advance) are acceptable. One title was rescinded after attention was drawn to a pairing change made in one event. It is intended that in future arbiters making such changes should be penalised. "Marshall-system" events will not be accepted (reaffirmation of regulation 10.12)
g) New Titles of FIDE Candidate Master (obtained by achieving a rating of at least 2200 after the player has played at least 24 rated games) and Woman FIDE Candidate Master (obtained by achieving a rating of at least 2000 after the player has played at least 24 rated games) were created. These new titles do not count for the purpose the minimum number of titled players in a title tournament.
3. Laws of Chess
Minor modifications in the Laws of Chess were made which will be effective as from 1 July 2001.
4. Anti-Doping
a) The Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code was incorporated into the FIDE Statutes effective as from 1 January 2001. The following decisions were made by FIDE pursuant to the Code:
There will be no testing for alcohol or canninaboids as
these do not improve performance ( ie they are ergolytic.)
There will be no
blood samples taken.
There will be no out of competition testing.
Any
drugs taken for medical reasons can be pre-declared (with Doctor's
certification) and are then excluded from any breach of the Code.
b) The code applies to all FIDE events (see Section D of FIDE Handbook), i.e. World Championship, Olympiads etc. It binds Federations and they will have to produce their own policies inside their jurisdictions. FIDE have exempted under 16 events but under 16s playing in higher age group events are not exempt. Competitors in FIDE events will be obliged to sign a consent form before competing.
c) Dr Jana Bellin WGM serves on the FIDE Medical Commission and made a major contribution to the policy decisions referred to above. She has agreed to act as the BCF Medical Adviser and advice to competitors including the difficult issue of over the counter medicationn will be published on the BCF web site in January 2001.
d) It is important to note that the reason for the Anti-Doping regime is IOC Recognition. Chess was included as a demonstration in the Olympic Village in Sydney 2000. It has been accepted into the Asian Games and the President of FIDE is confident it will be accepted into the Olympic Winter Games.
Gerry Walsh BCF FIDE Delegate
David
Anderton BCF International Director
17 November 2000.
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