Report on the 80th FIDE Congress Executive Board 2009

[benedgell]

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... ss2009.doc

"A proposal by the Presidential Board that players who fail to appear at the start of a game, not only lose the game by default, but also give them a penalty of € 500 (a second time € 1.000 and a third time € 2.000) met a lot of opposition and was taken back. Possibly it will return next year in the General Assembly."

"The World Chess Championship Cycle 2009 – 2011 will not include Grand Prix series. The final match will – as now planned – be staged in London, before the Olympic Games."

[Mike Truran]

More proof (if any is needed) that FIDE's Presidential Board consists of a bunch of anti-chess muppets. The sooner we're shot of these incompetent venal dickheads the better.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Well, the second para sounds good ...?

Richly deserved too.

[Alex Holowczak]

"The World Chess Championship Cycle 2009 – 2011 will not include Grand Prix series.

Don't understand this. The next line says:

The venue of the Candidates matches will - for 50% - be Azerbaijan. It is not possible to stage them all there, because Aronian (Armenia) cannot play there because of political differences.

If the Grand Prix series is not included, then Aronian won't qualify, surely?

[Richard Bates]

Is the World Championship in London REALLY a serious prospect? I can't see the Prime Minister of the UK guaranteeing the prizefund somehow...

One could also foresee rather a lot of unwelcome (to FIDE) press coverage - since there must be a reasonable possibility of a reopening of many of the allegations that surrounded the early years of Ilyumizhanov's Presidency?