Communique of the ECU Board Meeting – CL_No2/2023

The third quarterly meeting of the ECU Board was held in Mamaia, Romania, on September 7th. Romanian Chess federation hosted the ECU Board under excellent conditions. 

Main information and Decisions:

1. The ECU Board discussed the new FIDE regulations about transgender players. ECU Board notes the following:

• ECU as main principle follows IOC framework for fairness, inclusion and not discrimination.

• ECU follows FIDE registration system and database for all chess players. Based on FIDE public database players have the right to participate in open, women, youth, or seniors’ events. 

• According to the new FIDE regulations, FIDE may temporarily restrict a player from World Women’s Chess Championships and respective WC Cycle qualifications events but allows to all other FIDE Women’s rated events. ECU notes that till today FIDE has not informed ECU or in its database about any of such temporarily restriction. (V. Non-disclosure/Privacy matters). 

• If in the future FIDE temporarily restricts any player and informs in written European Chess Union or its public database, ECU will consult FIDE on what are the open and fair criteria FIDE Council uses to waive or keep the restriction based on FIDE rules, international legislation, and IOC guidance.  

• Parallel ECU opens through its commissions a structured dialogue with ECU members, players, arbiters, organisers to listen to all opinions, concerns, and proposals. 

2.  The Chair of the ECU Trainers Commission, Ivan Sokolov, reported to the ECU Board and informed that the development of the ECU Trainers Syllabus (3 different tutorials with a total of 627 pages) has been completed. The ECU Trainers Syllabus will soon be available on the Chessable online platform after a strategic agreement was signed between ECU and Chessable. The ECU Trainers Syllabus will be the basis for the training of players and coaches by the ECU Trainers Commission.

The annual programme of the ECU Chess Academy will start on 20 November 2023 and will be completed by the end of May 2024 under the guidance of the ECU Trainers Commission

Each European National Chess Federation can register two players free of charge with the support of the FIDE Development Fund. A limited number of additional players can be registered according to the call for applications. Information and registration here: https://www.europechess.org/european-chess-union-academy/

3. ECU Board has been informed about federations requests and regulations changes submitted on time (3 months prior to the GA) for the ECU General Assembly on 19th November in Budva, Montenegro.

European Chess Championships

1. The official invitation for the European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2023 has been published.

2. The 8th European Small Nations Team Chess Championship will take place in Jersey from 28October till 5 November. 

3. The European Amateur Chess Championship 2023 was awarded to Turkish Chess Federation to be organized in Antalya Turkey from 26 November to 4 December 2023.

4. The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2024 was awarded to North Macedonia Chess Federation to be organized in Skopje from 6 to 11 December 2024.

5. ECU Board accepted the proposal by the English Chess Federation for the organisation of “European Youth Online Nations League” from January to March 2024. The teams will consist of 6 players in different age categories. 

6. The calendar for the year 2024 was approved. The exact dates for European Club Cup 2024 to be confirmed by the Serbian Chess Federation. ECU administration works to finalise and send to National Chess federations the ECU calendar for the year 2025 till December 2023. 

7. The upcoming European Youth Rapid Chess Championship in Terme Catez, Slovenia (playing days 28-30 September, 520 players) and the European Club Cup 2023 in Durres, Albania (playing days, 1-7 October, 108 teams) exceed all expectations for participation as the most European Chess Championships this year.

We would like to thank the National federations, clubs and players for their support and the boom in the European Chess Championships and hope that our 2023 Championships can conclude with four great events in Budva, Antalya, Zagreb and Monte Carlo.

Sincerely,
Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou
ECU Secretary General