Schacksnack

ACP har skickat ut ett pressmeddelande angående hur de ser på förändringen FIDE önskar göra i den pågående Grand Prix och VM-cykeln. Det de starkast vänder sig mot är att förändringen genomförs under pågående spel.

Press-release: The ACP objects to FIDE’s abrupt changes in the World Championship cycle

The ACP objects to the modifications imposed by FIDE in the World Chess Championship cycle. The system of the World Championship cannot be changed once the cycle has started. This statement relies on an opinion study made by the ACP among chess players rated above 2700.

Changing the Regulations of the World Championship in progress negatively affected top players who were already involved in the cycle, and eventually led to several withdrawals. The ACP therefore suggests that FIDE regularly consults with top players on all essential questions such as the World Championship.

At the end of November in Dresden, FIDE put forward a new format for the World Championship cycle started earlier this year. The General Assembly approved this proposal. The ACP Board subsequently contacted all players rated above 2700. Many of them eventually sent their answers, while some others expressed their views directly in the press. The whole procedure took a couple of weeks but enabled the Board to determine how the ACP had to react in order to represent top players’ opinions in the most objective way.

The ACP draws the following conclusions:

1) The essence of the World Championship is to let all greatest chess players fight to obtain the precious title of World Champion. Changing the regulations once the cycle has started, means changing the qualification process which participants have agreed to go through. Thus, players’ rights have been neglected.

2) Considering its pure content, the new system proposed by FIDE has the right to exist. It actually bears a certain resemblance to what has been tried in the past few years. However, the problematic point, which has been contested by numerous players, concerns the selection to the candidates tournament (or matches). The ACP believes that the qualification system has not been worked out in the most adequate way. It is crucial to select players according to the most objective criteria, so that the World Championship can be held at the highest possible level.

Taking into account the aforementioned points, the ACP recommends FIDE to build a sustainable dialog with chess players, where the ACP could play a role of mediator. Consultation and discussion are the key words to lay the foundations for a fair World Chess Championship cycle.

ACP Board, December 16th 2008

På ACP:s hemsida kan man läsa en sammanfattning – av Bartlomiej Macieja - om vad som diskuterades under FIDE kongressen i Dresden. Schacksnack har plockat ut några av de mest intressanta punkterna. De flesta besluten skall träda i kraft den 1 juli 2009.

FIDE Deputy Chairman Georgios Makropoulos officially informed that FIDE had never been registered and promised to ”improve” the current situation. Obviously, it was a shocking news.

New ”Elite Grandmaster” title
Several officials proposed to introduce a new title ”Elite Grandmaster” (higher that ”Grandmaster”), due to the enormous growth of the total number of Grandmasters.According to my statistics, the situation is not as obvious as it may look at the first glance, as the total number of rated players grows even more rapidly.Let’s compare the total number of Grandmasters to the total number of rated players, as well as to the total number of players rated over 2200:

1972:
83 / 794 = 0.105
83 / 692 = 0.120

2008:
1158 / 96509 = 0.012
1158 / 21023 = 0.055Relatively, there is less and less Grandmasters…

Frequency of rating lists
A decision was taken to publish rating lists every 2 months.

Olympiad 2012
With +95-40 result (and one invalid vote) the organisation of the Chess Olympiad 2012 was granted to Istanbul (Turkey). The only opponent was Budva (Montenegro).

Mobile phones
According to the new rules it becomes possible to have mobile phones (or other electronic means of communication) in the playing venue, if they are completely switched off.

Coming late for a game
The Rules and Tournament Regulations Committee proposed to add the following article to the FIDE Laws of Chess: ”Any player who arrives at the chessboard after the start of the session shall lose the game, unless the arbiter decides otherwise. Thus the default time is 0 minutes. The rules of a competition may specify a different default time.”. The proposal was accepted by the Executive Board and recommended for the General Assembly to be approved. The final decision was however postponed till the Presidential Board Meeting.

The majority of changes will come into effect starting from the 1st of July 2009.