This is from today’s Manila Bulletin. Anyone have an idea of how this affects the US?
Citing his desire to improve his game elsewhere, Grandmaster Wesley So formally told the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) of his intent to represent the United States in future FIDE-sanctioned tournaments.
In his letter to the NCFP, So also reasoned that his family’s permanent move to Canada coupled with his ongoing studies at Webster University in the US also played a role in his decision to end his Philippine representation that saw him achieving the elusive GM title in 2007 as a 14-year-old.
“First of all, I would like to thank you for your past support. I am proud to be a Filipino, and I will always be a Filipino at heart. I will never forget where I came from,” the 20-year-old So said in a letter posted on the website of his Webster coach and fellow Grandmaster Susan Polgar.
“However, circumstances have changed. My family has permanently moved to Canada. I now live and attend school full time in the United States (at Webster University). I plan to reside permanently here. This is where I will have the opportunity to improve my chess, and make a decent living as a professional player. I want to be able to play in top level tournaments … to get to the next level.”
The NCFP has yet to make an official response, but So needs to undergo a two-year waiting period before he can represent the US in FIDE tournaments, unless the NCFP grants his transfer request or if So pays 50,000 euros to the federation.
My guess is that any direct effect won’t take place for two years, as the NCFP is pretty unlikely to waive its transfer fee.
It isn’t immediately clear to me what effect Mr. So’s transfer would have beyond, say, the US Championsip and the US Olympiad team. Having another 2700+ FIDE player certainly wouldn’t hurt in general.
Yes, Wesley is #15 in the World. The question is whether or not he will play a World Championship match in the next 10 years, not whether he will play in norm events.
He is playing in the National Open next week.
Also, Wesley is likely to be the Team Coach for the US Team at the Olympiad in a couple of months, which is awesome.
This is great news, although people in the know have known this for months, I am glad it is finally official!
I don’t know about the National Open, but the North American Open in Las Vegas in December is a norm event. Having a lot of foreign titled players in a Swiss System tournament makes it easier for players to get norms.
I think the point is that once he is no longer a ‘foreign’ titled player he won’t help meet the foreign player requirement for norm events. I suspect he’ll be a much sought after player nonetheless.
IMO the transfer fee required to change federations is burden on the players, virtually enslaving them with an economic chain to a particular federation. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there have been hundreds of players who have come to the US to reside, to work, and to play chess on a professional level. What started as a trickle of dissidents has turned into a stream of players looking for a better place for their careers and to raise their families. The transfer fee is a vestige of internal corruption within FIDE and many of its federations. It should be abolished, not merely a device to be waived.
Did the USCF require Fabiano Caruana to pay a transfer fee?
I’m not sure there were any transfer fees when Caruana switched federations. I don’t believe the current process was approved until 2011, and he transferred in 2005.
Even if the fees were in place at the time of his transfer, though, it would’ve cost at most €1,000 for him to switch (he didn’t make IM until 2006). In hindsight, that would be a bargain for a federation or sponsor to pick up, to get an eventual top-five player in return.
I could just picture a future U.S. Championship of Caruana, So, along with the popular stalwarts to make it an even stronger event. After all, somebody out there has to give Kamsky and Nakamura a run for their money!
Did anyone else notice – on the FIDE list of players who switched national federations this year – that the highest rated player in Cambodia was formerly representing the USCF?
