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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
On behalf of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Kamen Toshkov welcomed the delegates
and wished a successful work.
The GA listened to the new anthem of ECU and to the Bulgarian anthem. It was
noted that according to the decission of the Board and with the consent of the
European Union this “Ode to Joy”-theme would be the official ECU
anthem.
The GA started with a minute of silence in memory of the deceased members of
the federations, among them
The result of the roll call (annex 1) was
37 (from 53) federations present, including proxies.
President Kutin emphasised that due to the work of the Board and the organizers the number of events and participants in the European events have continued increasing. He stated that additional remarks on some issues would be made later.
The proposal of the Georgian Chess Federation to amend the Statutes (which was already tabled in Bled 2002) was accepted by 36 votes in favour and 1 vote against.
“In order to facilitate the tasks of the President a new post of Vice
President is proposed. The Vice President is included as voting member in the
Board and is elected upon nomination of the President.”
Thereafter Boris Kutin nominated Javier Ochoa de Echaguen as Vice President.
The report of the Ad hoc Committee concerning the structure of the Statutes was noted (annex 2). Due to the illness of Peter Rajcsanyi the work could not be finished, but will be continued.
5.1 ECU Homepage
Horst Metzing announced that business cooperation between ECU and MM View GmbH
would be signed. The main idea is to commercialise the ECU website, to attract
sponsors and finally to achieve some income to ECU. There will not be any financial
obligation for ECU. The current contract with EDAMI will expire at the end of
this year.
5.2 Manual 2003
The GA noted that national federations have received copies of the
updated Manual and are requested to inform the Secretariat about any change
of address or additional information to be published.
5.3 Tournament Rules
5.3.1 The motion of the tournament directors to adapt the following Tournament Rules was amended by the proposals of the Board.
Section B.4.1.1 is deleted. In individual championships it makes no sense to avoid pairing of players from the same federation. The players are fighting for their own result, not for their respective federations.
New B.5.3.1 - The rate of play in team competitions.
Delete F.3.5.
New B.13.7 – players in individual competitions or teams in team competitions who are not present at the technical meeting.
Section D.1.2.1 the minimum age for women is be 50.
Section D.3.1.2 the number of rounds for the Women’s Individual Chess Championship.
Article E: As the European Senior Team Championship becomes an official ECU tournament the regulations for that tournament are included in Article E.
Section F.4.1.1: the minimum total prize fund in the European Club Cup for men is raised to 12.000 Euro and the number of prizes to six prizes.
Article M - Change of Team Pairing Rules.Art. B.5.3.1 was carried out by 29 votes in favour, 5 votes against and 3 abstentions.
All other articles were accepted unanimously.The new wordings are published in annex 3.
In addition the proposal of Evgeny Eletsky concerning the start of the last rounds (at the same time as previous rounds) in all tournaments will be taken up by the board.
5.3.2 The proposal of Werner Stubenvoll to add a new article D.3.3.1.1 was accepted unanimously.
“In case that more than three tie-break rounds have to be played, the Chief-Arbiter – after confirmation by the ECU President or his representative – may change the playing schedule in such a way that the tie-break matches can be finished within one day.”5.3.3 On proposal of Treasurer Egon Ditt the fees for European chess events were unanimously adapted (annex 4). The GA took notice and agreed to the information given by Egon Ditt, that according to a decision by the Board the entry fee for senior tournaments (individual and team) will be waved for the next two years.
5.3.4 Additional motions:
The motion of the German Chess Federation to hold the European Individual Championships (men and women) according to the knock-out system was forwarded to an expert commission to be established by the Board.The motion of the French Federation to wave the obligation for the participants in the European Men’s and Women’s Individual Championships to be lodged in the hotel chosen by the organizers (official hotels) was rejected by 29 votes, 5 votes in favor and 3 abstentions.
The proposal of the Polish Chess Federation concerning the extension of the number of players in the women team championships from two to three boards was amended by the Turkish Chess Federation by a motion to have four boards plus one reserve player.
This amended motion was carried out by 20 votes in favour, 13 votes against and 2 abstentions.
This stipulation will be valid from 2005.The motion of the Polish Chess Federation to reintroduce the under 20 European championships was rejected by 25 votes, 6 in favour and 4 abstentions.
6.1 Report of the Treasurer
Treasurer Egon Ditt referred to his written report (annex
5). He pointed out that ECU would have a higher income because of the agreement
with FIDE concerning the distribution of the fees. He thanked the federations
for their cooperation and their payments on time.
Mikko Markkula criticised the travel expenses of the Board. He asked the Board to be more active concerning sponsors.
6.2 Report of the Auditor
Willy Iclicki as auditors referred to his report (annex
6). On his proposal the Treasurer was discharged (1 abstentions).
6.3 Discharge of the Board
Mikko Markkula forwarded the motion to discharge the Board. It was accepted
unanimously by the GA.
6.4 Budget 2004
The budget 2004 of ECU proposed by the Treasurer (annex
7) was carried out (1 vote against)
7.1 European Team Championships
As the Turkish Chess Federation withdrew their bid for the 2005 European Team
Championship there remained only those from Gothenburg/Sweden and Heraklion/Greece.
Zurab Azmaiparashvili asked the GA to reject the bid of Gothenburg, as the
proposed date does not follow the ECU Tournament Regulation, section D.2.1 concerning
the dates. The Championship shall be organised between October 15 and November
30. The offer of Gothenburg is for July 29 – August 8.
Mikko Markkula pointed out that also the dates of the original bid of Heraklio
were not within the period foreseen in the Tournament Rules.
There were discussions weather this rule is too strict. The Board is requested
to discuss the dates for the championship in order to make them more flexible.
Finally GA decided with majority (2 in favour, 11 abstentions) to reject the
motion of Zurab Azmaiparashvili.
President Boris Kutin emphasized the importance of having bids from all over
Europe and proposed as an exceptional case to grant the organisation of the
European Team Championship 2005 to Gothenburg and 2007 to Crete.
Ali Nihat Yazici expressed his disagreement and announced his intention to forward
a bid of Turkey for 2007.
After a long discussion the GA finally decided to accept the proposal of the
President by 23 votes in favour, 8 votes against and 1 abstention.
The Greek organizers have to adapt their bid for 2007 and to inform the Board on due time. George Mastrokoukos confirmed that in general the financial conditions would not be changed for 2007. Even if there will be a certain increase of the room rates those will be much lower than in Gothenburg 2005. The new conditions will be checked by the Board.
Ernst Enschedé from Netherlands pointed out that he accepts the decision by the GA, but in his opinion the way to find this decision was wrong.
Ali Nihat Yazici and Zurab Azmaiparashvili did not agree with the decision and left the GA.
7.2 European Individual Championships
Regarding the European Individual Championship 2003 for men in Silivri, Turkey,
four players did not accept the decision of the arbiters concerning the tie-break
and refused to play. As a consequence it was decided that all four players lose
by default. Boris Kutin informed the GA that in the meantime FIDE decided to
allow all the four players to participate in the World Championship. The Board
already rejected this decision of FIDE. GA backed the President and the Board
in this position.
Ernst Enschedé from Netherlands pointed out that his federation fully
agrees with the way President Kutin has handled that matter.
The GA noted that next year’s European Individual Championship for men will be organized once more in Turkey, the Women’s Championship in Dresden/Germany, and that not bids for 2005 have been received.
7.3 European Youth Championship
The 2004 Championship has been granted to the Turkish Chess Federation. The
venue will be Capodoccia-Nevsehir/Turkey from 28 until 7 August 2004.
The 2005 Championship will be held in Budva, Serbia and Montenegro from 13 - 24 September.
7.4 European Club Cup (Men and Women)
The Turkish Chess Federation will hold the European Club Cup 2004 in Antalya
or Bodrum from 2 to 10 October.
The European Club Cup 2005 was granted to St. Vincent, Italy.
7.5 European Youth Team Championship
The Turkish Chess Federation will organize the European Youth Team Championship
2004 immediately after the European Youth Championship in Capodoccia-Nevsehir/Turkey.
The 2005 Championship will be organized in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
7.6 European Rapid and Blitz Championship (Men and Women)
The GA noted that no bids for the 2003, 2004 and 2005 championships have been
received.
7.7 European Senior Championship
The first editions of the European Senior Championship were well organized in
St. Vincent/Italy. Therefore St. Vincent will hold it 2004 in the midst of September
as well.
Concerning the 2005 event negotiations should be continued with the French Chess
Federation.
7.8 European Senior Team Championship
The European Senior Team Championship 2004 will be held in Dresden/Germany from
22 until 28 February. The invitations have been distributed to all federations.
In 2005 Dresden will once more organize this championship from 20 – 26 February.
7.9 European Grand Prix
It was noted that the number of the European Grand Prix Tournaments has increased
but not yet reached a sufficient level. ECU still has to finance a part of the
prize fund.
As Horst Metzing pointed out the Board is not really satisfied with the support
of federations to this event, but has decided to continue the Grand Prix at
least for two more years.
The proposals by Tournament Director Agostino Scalfi to improve the Grand Prix
will be taken up by the Board and discussed in the next board meeting.
7.10 European Chess at School events
As Alexander Kostyev, President of the International School Chess Union, was
not present no information about activities are given.
7.11 European Championships for Cadets and Juniors (Rapid and Blitz)
The Serbia and Montenegro Chess Federation organized the first three Individual
and Team Championships for Cadets and Juniors (Rapid and Blitz).
In 2004 Beograd will hold this event from 30 July to 4 August and Budva in 2005 from 24 to 28 September.
Starting with 2006 these championships will probably become official ECU events.
7.12 Mitropacup
The GA noted that the 2004 Mitropa Cup would be held in Slovakia from 28 May
to 6 June.
7.13 Internet Championship
The first European Internet Championship will be held in cooperation with ChessBase.
Preliminaries are scheduled for a period between 20 October and 7 November,
the Intermediate for 8 November and the Final for 9 November 2003. The official
announcement has been distributed to all European federations.
The Dutch Chess Federation did not accept that national federations have to collect the entry fees of 20 Euro per player. It should be paid by the players themselves. The Board accepted this opinion and will look for a solution.
8.1 Next meetings
The next General Assembly will take place in connection with the FIDE Congress
on Mallorca/Spain 2004.
8.2 Any other matter
The Proposal of the Croatian Chess Federation to establish a coordinator for
youth was accepted unanimously by the GA. The Board asked the federations for
candidates by 1 February 2004 in order to nominate this coordinator at the next
Board meeting.
President Kutin closed the GA by expressing his thanks to all delegates.
Plovdiv, 18 October 2003
Boris Kutin Werner Stubenvoll
President of ECU