Maybe one of my readers can inform me about the new FIDE fees. After the big fee fiasco earlier in the year, I had thought that it was only licensed arbiters that had to pay annual fees to FIDE. But in Argentina the players who have ELO’s have to pay the same fee! They are even given the information as to what exact bank they can send their fees… Can you explain this to me, or is it only in Argentina?
Sebastian Fell wrote to clarify the issue. I am still a bit confused, though. FADA charging players with ELO ratings to play in FIDE rated tournaments?! Ok…here is Sebastian’s email. (Thx!)
”Hi! I’ve read your post about the fee we (argentine people) have to pay to play in FIDE tournaments. It has nothing to do with FIDE. It’s a FADA’s fee to play in IRTs. There are some funny things about that but, as I said, it has nothing to do with FIDE.
If FIDE gets its way, then very soon national chess federations (ncf) might become little more than servile pawns whose ultimate purpose will be to provide tens of millions of euros into FIDE’s coffers. Apparently it is not enough that the rating fees that FIDE charges, as well as national dues, are enough to balance the FIDE budget…FIDE appears to be looking to make a profit while not increasing/improving or providing new services beyond what already is in place.
Directly below is a letter from the Royal Dutch Chess Federation to FIDE’s PB (Presidential Board). This letter is signed also by 9 other national chess federations (ncf) and essentially puts a blocker on FIDE’s most recent attempt to re-invent ”players’ licences”. It is expected that many other ncf’s will follow these countries’ example. Canada included.
Future FIDE logo??
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Dear Board Members,
On 25 January 2013 all national chess federations received an email from FIDE in which Regulations on Registration & Licensing of Players were announced. These Regulations were proposed by the Qualification Commission (although not all members of the QC had knowledge of this proposal) and had been approved by the Presidential Board.
These regulations imply that each NCF should register his players with FIDE by providing information such as the player’s name, gender, place and year of birth, photo, passport number, FIDE ID number (if any). This system should be effective from 1 July 2013. There were penalties announced for organizers who allowed non-licensed players to compete in FIDE-rated tournaments.
In 2011 in Krakow a proposal to introduce a license system for players including a license fee was removed from the agenda after objections by the Chess Federation of the Netherlands. In 2012 in Istanbul a proposal of this kind was not included in the agenda of the General Assembly.
It is highly peculiar, to say the least, that the PB takes such a wide-ranging decision now, without consulting the EB or the GA of FIDE.
The proposed regulations are bureaucratic, expansive and impracticable for the national federations and for FIDE. Indeed, FIDE is at this moment implementing a license system for arbiters, who should have received a license card before this year. It is now February and no-one has seen such a card yet. If FIDE is not equipped to distribute cards to a relatively small group of arbiters in due time, how will it distribute cards to tens of tousands of players? But this is only a practical quibble compared to our real objection.
The proposed regulations for players are not only bureaucratic, but the system is also an intrusion into the private sphere of players. Something we oppose wholeheartedly. Furthermore, these regulations have been passed by the PB without giving a thought to what it would entail for national federations. For, the introduction of such a licensing system would require national federations to hire extra staff, and this in a time in which many federations are faced with diminishing revenues and budget cuts due to the economic crisis.
The federations that support this letter reject the decision of the Presidential Board to introduce the proposed license system for players. These federations will not cooperate in the introduction of such a system and will not send FIDE the requested information mentioned in the decision of January 2013.
The federations, supporting this letter, urge the PB to withdraw its decision concerning the license system of players on short notice.
signed
Herman Hamers
FIDE Delegate KNSB
The National Chess Federations of the following countries support this letter:
Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark Germany Netherlands Poland United States of America Spain Slovakia Switzerland
The much anticipated 82nd FIDE Congress came to a close last Saturday without being engulfed in any controversies or confrontations regarding new FIDE fees, licences or rating hikes. This was greeted with relief thru-out the chess world. As was written in an earlier blog running up to the Congress, proposed fee-hikes threatened to bankrupt many organizers who wanted to have their events FIDE rated.
For instance a one-time 10 euro fee for every player who has a FIDE rating followed by a 30 euro annual fee. Plus heavy financial sanctions against those organizers who do not comply. The Dutch chess federation wrote a very strong objection to these new proposals, and was soon followed by other FIDE member nations.
THE US DELEGATION AT THE FIDE CONGRESS: IA Sophia Rohde, IA Walter Browne, Zonal President Francisco Guadalupe, USCF President Ruth Haring, Executive Director Bill Hall & FIDE Delegate Michael Khodarkovsky
However, the Executive Board of FIDE wisely decided to dump its proposed hikes and new licenses and many of the individual items never even made it to the discussion table. USCF President Ruth Haring wrote on the USCF website
”If you have been following the reports from Krakow you have read about a number of proposals in various commissions to impose new fees for a wide range of activities. Though some of these fee-related proposals were withdrawn or delayed for discussion at the next Congress, it is clear that there is a push by FIDE to license and regulate all aspects of chess. It seems that generation of new revenue streams is behind these ideas. I personally believe that imposition of new fees in conjunction with licensing and regulating all aspects of FIDE chess events during these exceptionally challenging economic times will result in fewer FIDE events being organized and held throughout the world.”
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So it very much appears that FIDE’s ruling elite has not permanently shelved its ambitions to expand FIDE’s revenue streams by feasting on its own flesh and blood (the average FIDE rated player) and no doubt more will be heard of this in coming years.
Maka…what is his name?!
Canada’s FIDE representative, Hal Bond, promises to write a full report on his FIDE-related activities in Krakow, once he will have physically recovered from the consumption of huge quantities of Polish alcohol and nightly debauchary….no doubt all part of his promoting Toronto’s bid for the 2016 chess OLYMPIAD (!) (PS: since this blog was posted earlier today, Hal Bond has published his report on the CFC website message board! I have always been fascinated at how quickly one can do one’s job once there is some incentive…)
Yes, that is right! A group of Toronto chess amateurs has pulled together something resembling a bid and trucked it off to the FIDE congress in Karkow. This is just the necessary first step in a very long screening process by FIDE before awarding an Olympiad bid to any potential host. The actual vote will be taken sometime in the next couple of years. Before then, FIDE representatives will visit Toronto to ascertain the level of financial committment, experience and to inspect the playing site and accomodations.
This is not the first time that someone from Toronto has tried to submit a bid for an Olympiad (in 1990 a mysterious figure–Toronto organizer Milosevich-: -went to the FIDE congress in Novi Sad to peddle his craft. He went away empty handed when it was realized that he had forgotten his cheque book back home: in those days a $50,000 deposit was necessary with the bid)
Although this writer had first heard of the 2016 bid months ago, I have refrained from writing about it because of the scarcity of information and detail. There is still very little credible information on the bid, but it appears that the city of Toronto has put up some seed money for the bid application.
I for one would love to see an Olympiad in Toronto. If memory serves me well, North America has never organized an Olympiad. This would be a first.
However, aren’t the Toronto organizers a bit out of their depths? Scanning the names of those directly involved in the administration of this proposal, does anyone involved have the past experience in a project of this size? Everyone mentioned is just someone from inside an otherwise failing Toronto chess community.
Besides, the more pertinent question is HOW MUCH?? would an Olympiad cost to organize and run in Toronto? The winning 2014-bid (Tromso, Norway) started planning in 2007 (7 years before!) and today their budget is just shy of 15,000,000 euros–approximately 9,000,000 is government money. The official contract with FIDE was only signed last week at the Krakow congress, 3 years before the event. I invite the reader to check out the winning bid’s website for details and compare it to Toronto’s effort!
Tromso
The city of Tromso has just 68,000 inhabitants. I doubt if a bid from Oslo (the capital of Norway) could have matched the fundraising capacity of the smaller city. Smaller cities usually have an easier time getting government support (they can better argue their bid in terms of regional development, international recognition and economic impact) than bigger cities. Case in point was the wildly successful 1988 Chess Festival in St.John, New Brunswick, which raised a cool $2,000,000 for the event!
1988; Chess Festival and Prime Minister Mulroney and yours truly
Tromso can argue that having an Olympiad will have a BIG impact on the city. There is no doubt there. Toronto can not argue the same! A sprawling city of some 6,000,000, Toronto is the financial, cultural and entertainment capital of the country and is an international city in every respect. Every year 25 millions of tourists visit and hundreds of international conventions are held. Let’s not forget about film festivals and professional sports! Each boosts the local economy.
A chess Olympiad in Toronto would not boost its economy and would have mimimal impact (if any) on hotels, restaurants and shops. The local organizer must pay the full lodging of each and every of the several thousands of participants. This would in turn discourage the level of government sponsorship. This means that an Olympiad organizer would probably require something like 80% of its budget from private sponsorship!
And chess players are known to be reluctant to part with their dollars…AND media coverage would be a hard sell and depressing: in 1988 CBC often focused on the waste of taxpayers money for a chess festival in the middle of winter! Would private sponsors really want this?
IN ANY CASE, I would love to see an Olympiad in Toronto! I am a Canadian chess player and that is reason enough for me! I wish the Toronto group of amateurs the best of luck with their bid
Spraggett on Chess 
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