FIDE officials want to eliminate chess

[Roger de Coverly]

Why is it that FIDE officials seem so keen to propose rule changes that would have the effect of discouraging (to say the very least) participation in chess events?

What do we make of this proposal? http://www.fide.com/images/stories/news ... nex_22.pdf

2.1 A player who fails to appear at the start of the game shall lose the game by default. In addition,
the player shall be charged a penalty of 500 euro.

or this one http://www.fide.com/images/stories/news ... nex_25.pdf

Proposal: By the 1st January 2010 any player or arbiter, who is member of a federation, to
participate to any international event should get the permission of the federation he/she is a
member. Without permission of national federation a player or an arbiter shall not be accepted to
international events by organisers.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The ECF's response to the latter would surely be that they consider any ENG-registered player to have their permission to play unless they explicitly state otherwise. And lo, we have another pointless loop.

[Tim Spanton]

Why is it that FIDE officials seem so keen to propose rule changes that would have the effect of discouraging (to say the very least) participation in chess events?

Proposal: By the 1st January 2010 any player or arbiter, who is member of a federation, to
participate to any international event should get the permission of the federation he/she is a
member. Without permission of national federation a player or an arbiter shall not be accepted to
international events by organisers.

I'm not sure this proposal goes far enough. Surely it would be better to ban players completely from competing in tournaments outside of their national federation's jurisdiction unless representing their federation in a recognised international team event? This could be followed in due course by a ban on international team events in order to return chess to its national and regional roots.

[Wilf Arnold]

I wouldn't worry about people being put off entering, reading this bit means there won't by any competitions to enter anyway!

1.5 All organizers of FIDE competitions must send to the FIDE Secretariat the list of registration of
participants one day after the registration deadline. The organizer shall be fined 5,000 euro for
failing to do so.

Don't think I'm risking that!

Wilf

[John Saunders]

Dear oh dear... some FIDE-istas really don't get it, do they? They are looking to compare chess with major sports and their well-paid professional players. Of course it is possible (arguably necessary) to hog-tie football and athletics pros with all manner of rules and regulations and potential penalties, because they stand to earn lots of money and have to obey the rules if they are to carry on earning. But chess simply doesn't have the money to warrant this sort of heavy-handed approach, and never will have. Also, it doesn't need such rules. If a football team doesn't turn up in time for a televised match, there are consequences. But if a chessplayer doesn't show up in time for a game, 99% of the time it really doesn't matter that much and draconian measures would be disproportionate.

I had thought for some time that FIDE were steadily working towards the prevention of chess (with their new default time rule, for example) but it seems they are now developing an even more revolutionary measure - charging people a lot of money for not playing chess. I just hope that the ECF doesn't cotton on to this idea and threaten to charge me 'non-game-fee' for the 30 games of chess that I didn't play this year.

I'd suggest that, in response to this, British federations send FIDE the same one-word response that a US general at the Battle of the Bulge gave to his German opposite number who demanded that he surrender: "nuts". Let them figure out a translation for that. And perhaps we should kick FIDE into the long grass and think about signing up with (the relatively sane?) Stan Vaughan 'World Chess Federation'... http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5735

[Roger de Coverly]

But if a chessplayer doesn't show up in time for a game, 99% of the time it really doesn't matter that much and draconian measures would be disproportionate.

It's ok for Wimbledon winners as well (as previously noted by Richard Bates)

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis ... id=4288735

WIMBLEDON, England -- Serena Williams walked onto Court 2 for her match Friday six minutes late. Otherwise she remained right on schedule at Wimbledon.

The two-time champion became the first player to earn a spot in the second week of the tournament when she beat Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-4 in the third round.

As Vinci waited for her tardy opponent to arrive for their noon start, there was brief speculation Williams might be a no-show. Once that ended, so did the prospect of an upset.

Williams said she was late heading to the court at the south end of the club because she was awaiting an escort.

[Ola Winfridsson]

Surely someone's hacked Fide's website? They can't be serious about those proposals. A 500 euro fine for being late for the game? Sounds like a perfect recipe for umpteen mid-tournament withdrawals.

[Roger de Coverly]

Surely someone's hacked Fide's website? They can't be serious about those proposals. A 500 euro fine for being late for the game?

It comes from the same individual who insisted that the Dresden Olympiad should have zero default time. Elsewhere the ex-CEO Martin Regan commented that the ECF board spent very little time discussing FIDE matters. To judge from the proposals on the FIDE website, FIDE has been taken over by proponents of batty ideas and the ECF really should publicly condemn such notions as totally unacceptable. I'm not holding my breath for action though.

[Ola Winfridsson]

Surely someone's hacked Fide's website? They can't be serious about those proposals. A 500 euro fine for being late for the game?

It comes from the same individual who insisted that the Dresden Olympiad should have zero default time. Elsewhere the ex-CEO Martin Regan commented that the ECF board spent very little time discussing FIDE matters. To judge from the proposals on the FIDE website, FIDE has been taken over by proponents of batty ideas and the ECF really should publicly condemn such notions as totally unacceptable. I'm not holding my breath for action though.

Oh dear. What does this person hope to achieve? This would just be totally counterproductive. No amateur (which clearly Fide wants to encourage by lowering the rating floor to E1200) without extremely deep pockets would risk playing in any event where there's the slightest risk of oversleeping for instance (such as a 9am or 10am start).

[Jonathan Bryant]

...

Proposal: By the 1st January 2010 any player or arbiter, who is member of a federation, to
participate to any international event should get the permission of the federation he/she is a
member. Without permission of national federation a player or an arbiter shall not be accepted to
international events by organisers.

This doesn't bother me personally too much - for the reasons that Jack outlines earlier. It does seem rather concerning, however, that federations keen to take a less liberal view can effectively end a player's career (be that player a pro or amateur).

Presumably this regulation would not be legal in Europe (restraint of trade and all that).


Jonathan

PS: By europe I mean the E.C. of course

[Roger de Coverly]

It does seem rather concerning, however, that federations keen to take a less liberal view can effectively end a player's career

The proponent of this proposal is the President of a growing chess federation. Perhaps he's looking for the power that if one of his country's leading GMs were to compare him to the HIGNFY's Hattersley substitute, then he could retaliate by refusing travel permission.

Presumably this regulation would not be legal in Europe (restraint of trade and all that).

Indeed - and as the President of a chess federation in an EU aspirant country, he should look at the rules and conventions which his country would be expected to sign up to.

[Ian Thompson]

This doesn't bother me personally too much - for the reasons that Jack outlines earlier. It does seem rather concerning, however, that federations keen to take a less liberal view can effectively end a player's career (be that player a pro or amateur).

As has happened in America - see recent comments by Susan Polgar on the USCF's termination of her membership.

Also, many years ago, I started to play a postal game against the Stan Vaughn mentioned elsewhere in this thread. The game got to move 3 or 4 when the ICCF informed me that he was being replaced in the tournament by another player, with no explanation why. It turned out that the USPCF had banned him.

[Jonathan Berry]

Proposal: By the 1st January 2010 any player or arbiter, who is member of a federation, to participate to any international event should get the permission of the federation he/she is a member. Without permission of national federation a player or an arbiter shall not be accepted to international events by organisers.

Every rule should have a latin or technical name, but it should also have a common or friendly name. I propose to call this the "Viktor Kortchnoi Boycott Rule", harkening back to 1976 and the following years. Under this rule, Kortchnoi could not have played anywhere, and FIDE would have been the Soviets' accomplice.