ECU CIRCULAR LETTER NO. 5/2015

Dear Chess Friends,

The 1st ECU Congress took place from 7th to 11th of October. The Congress was attended by a large number of participants, delegates, representatives of National federations and members of the ECU Commissions. We would like to thank the Montenegro Chess Federation for an excellent organization and hosting of the meetings.

Main information and decisions of the meetings:

The most important decisions of the ECU General Assembly 2015 held on 10th October 2015:

  1. The new tournament regulations were approved. The new regulations will be valid form 1st January 2016 and will be published & circulated to the National Chess Federations.
  2. The changes of the statutes were approved. (Annex 1)

The new statutes are valid from 11th October 2015.

  1. The reports by the ECU Educational, Arbiters and Events Commissions were accepted.
  2. Kosovo Chess Federation was voted to become the 55th member of ECU. Any mention of Kosovo will be followed with an asterisk and the note referring to “UN Resolution 1244, without prejudice of status”.
  3. The budget for the year 2016 was approved. The General Assembly was informed that the income for the year 2015 is increased about 40% in comparison with previous year.
  4. The GA unanimously expressed its recognition, appreciation and full support to the President of Montenegro Chess Federation Mrs. Angelina Vukovic for her constant efforts to develop chess in the country, fighting in the same time against corruption in sports and chess.
  5. GA decided not to discharge the Board for the year 2014 because of the ongoing investigation for the period 1 January 2014 – 10 August 2014.  GA decided that a letter shall be sent to the previous Treasurer Mr. Almog Burstein and to require an answer in written form to the questions related to the financial matters and his duties according to the article 49 of the ECU Statutes.
  6. GA unanimously confirmed that the Open Tournaments organized on 2014 in Albena and Golden Sands, Bulgaria were not the official events of the European Chess Union.  None of the federations present were aware that such tournaments are related to the ECU Calendar 2014. The GA noted the absence of the representatives of Bulgarian Chess Federation to support such claim.
  7. With 41 votes in favour and 1 abstention, GA decided to send a letter to the Bulgarian Ministry of Sports and any other authority needed, presenting the official ECU documents related to this matter and asking all the documentation and reports that refer to alleged European Chess Union contracts, invoices and payment mandates. The letter will be sent to all related European Union authorities in Brussels as well, since the ECU is now member of the EU transparency server.
  8. GA unanimously decided to file a report to the US police investigation authorities for possible illegal actions by the company ECU LLC Delaware within the US territory.
  9. GA voted for the removal of Silvio Danailov from the position of Honorary President, with 40 agreed, 0 against, 2 abstain.

ECU General Assembly awarded the following ECU tournaments:

  • European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2016 was awarded to Mamaia, Romania. The Championship will be organized from 26 May to 8 June 2016
  • European Youth Chess Championship 2017 was awarded to Mamaia, Romania.
  • European Club Cup & Club Cup for Women 2017 was awarded to Manavgat, Turkey.
  • European School Chess Championship 2017 was awarded to Budva, Montenegro.
  • European School Chess Championship 2018 was awarded to Krakow, Poland.
  • European Seniors Chess Championship 2017 was awarded to Barcelona, Spain.
  • European Senior Team Chess Championship 2017 was awarded to Novi Sad, Serbia.
  • European Youth Team Chess Championship 201 7was awarded to Iwonicz-Zdroj, Poland.
  • European Youth Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship 2017 was awarded to Budva, Montenegro.
  • European Individual Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship 2017 was given as an option, till 31st January 2016, to Israel Chess Federation to organize it.  European Team Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship could be organized also by the Israel Chess Federation as a test event.

All the updates of the ECU Calendar can be found here:  https://www.europechess.org/calendar/

ECU Board met on 9th October 2015 and discussed all the necessary items for the preparation of the General Assembly.

The most important decisions of the ECU Board Meeting:

  • ECU Board set the annual deadline for the ECU Bidding Procedure on 30th April each year in order to ensure enough time for the inspections and evaluations.
  • ECU Board approved the co-operation with the London Chess in Schools Conference.
  • ECU Board approved the co-operation with the TV-Show Check-Mate.
  • ECU Board approved the budget for ECU Arbiters’ Council.
  • ECU Board decided to support the European Teams Small Nations Championship 2017 which will be held in Andorra.
  • ECU Board accepted the proposal of Austrian Chess Federation for the “European Teams Rapid and Blitz Championship” as a test event for 2-3 years.

The European Teams Chess Championship 2015 starts in Reykjavik, Iceland on 12th November 2015 with 36 teams in open section and 30 teams in women section. All the information can be found here:  http://etcc2015.com

The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2015 is scheduled in Minsk, Belarus from 17th to 20th December 2015. Registrations are open till 20th of November 2015.

All the information can be found here: http://champ.openchess.by/en/

With kind regards,

Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou

ECU Secretary General

CL5_2015

Annex 1_Statutes_Changes