Word from ACP President Emil Sutovsky this morning is that at the Rapid and Blitz World Championships in Saudi Arabia, women are not being required to wear any head covering in the playing hall or the hotel where the even is taking place. They must wear head covering out side of these places.
FIDE issued a statement declaring that visas have been issued for players from Iran and Qatar to enter Saudi Arabia and play in this event.
Per FIDE, "FIDE has been working very hard and in a discreet manner to organise and safeguard the process of entry visas for all participants of the event. For the first time, ground-breaking special arrangements have been made to issue visas upon arrival for over 200 persons, including the players of Iran and Qatar…As everybody clearly understands from the above, FIDE and the Saudi organisers are always ready to welcome any participant."[Emphasis Added] fide.com/component/content/a … -iran.html
“Any participant” does not include Israeli players. Gens Una Sumus------NOT!
One has to applaud Women’s World Rapid and Blitz Champion GM Anna Muzychuk for refusing to participate despite the fact that this decision means she will lose both titles. And one has to be disappointed by the fact that she seems to be the only one with the guts to do the right thing. Does Magnus Carlsen really need the money that badly?
Here is a copy of the letter sent by the Israeli Chess Association to FIDE as circulated by the ACP.
December 26, 2017
To : FIDE Attention - Mr. G. Makropoulos
FIDE’S Offensive and unacceptable behavior about the World Championship - Saudi Arabia December 25 - 30, 2017
We have read with astonishment the press release published on December 25th on FIDE website and which reads : "FIDE secured visas for Qatar and Iran ".
It is not surprising that this press release is not even signed, as it is not only an insult to simple logic but also a shame for FIDE.
There is not even a word in it about the issue of visas to Israeli players, and the “record” of the “logic” of this document comes towards its end : " As everybody clearly understands from the above , FIDE and Saudi organizer are always ready to welcome any participant " … On such sentences we say : " To read and not to believe " !
This sentence means that in the eyes of FIDE Israeli players are not included in the list of "any participant " .
Let me state very clearly that the agreement signed with Sadia Arabia federation about the event is totally illegal , contradicting FIDE statutes - Article 1.2. a , not having an official form which every bidder for an event in FIDE should fill, and therefore should be immediately cancelled.
I am aware of the fact that it is impractical to cancel the event today , but before considering taking legal actions against FIDE and / or against those who signed this contract I am demanding , in the name of the Israeli Chess Federation the following :
As mentioned, to cancel immediately the contract with Sadia Arabia federation about organizing the same event in 2018 - 2019 .
To compensate the Israeli players who were denied visas and could not participate in the event .
To declare that such a case , which ignores the FIDE statutes , will not repeat itself .
I would appreciate an answer to this letter in the coming days .
And for anyone who thinks that FIDE is going to agree to these three conditions…well…I was going to offer to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, but I’m sure you already own it.
If the ICF takes FIDE to CAS, those will likely be the demands made in the arbitration action. Not an inexpensive proposition to take a case to CAS.
I’m happy to sell you a Quitclaim Deed to any of the bridges connecting the East side of Manhattan with either Brooklyn or Queens. Special for you today only, $50.
More proper would to demand that FIDE agree to cancel the contract for 2018-2019, provided a reasonable alternative bid is received. If the bidding for the next 2 years is reopened, then there might be other federations that would/could bid on the event. After all FIDE is usually open to the idea of making more money [i.e. better/equal bids] and/or good press.
Are you suggesting, Larry, that if no other bids are received the Saudi bid is acceptable even though some nations’ players are excluded by the host country?
Or let’s change that slightly. Suppose another bid is received, for less money but with players from all nations accepted. Is that a “better bid” or a “worse bid”? I would submit that if the Saudi bid is not totally voided it would be a lot easier for FIDE to stick with it in the face of bids for less money.
The Saudi bid ($750,000 each for open rapid and blitz, $250,000 each for women’s rapid and blitz; $2,000,000 total) is more than twice the money offered in 2016. The event guidelines stipulate that 20% of that amount - $400,000 - goes directly to FIDE. The chances that someone else is going to improve on that bid are slim, and the chances that FIDE would accept a bid of lesser value just because it allowed Israeli players to compete, or didn’t force women into the status of second class citizens is zilch. For FIDE money trumps all.
The events with which there have been these type of issues have not been going through the normal FIDE event bid process. In some cases FIDE is not receiving bids and then uses that to justify the location. One might ask why there are no bids - look at the cost requirements for these events and it is easy to see why they are ending up in places where the government will pay for the losses.
Time for a new organization to simply step up, hold an event, invite all the top players and, regardless of who shows up, declare the winner the new WC in that time control. Then commence a social media campaign lauding the new, non-FIDE world champion(s).
Letters like that do nothing to change FIDE. The question is what actions will member federations take and what the top players will do. I doubt that anything short of a RICO action like that done with FIFA or a boycott by most of the top players will bring any real change to FIDE. Decent letter though.
Yes, a decent letter though as you say, actions speak louder than words.
The recent Rapid/Blitz tournaments were individual events where all the players decided on their own whether to attend - and paid their own expenses. The Olympiad, however, is an event where expenses for the team would be paid by US Chess. If - as is rumored - the next Olympiad is held in Saudi Arabia, will US Chess take a stand and refuse to appropriate any money to send a team?
This is a significant thing to understand. Further, the Womens’ World Championship in Iran was an event for which participants earned the right to attend through rating or performance and then were contacted directly by the organizer to arrange participation and payment for participation. It did not involve US Chess registration or financial commitment.
there was an Olympiad held in Israel some years ago that a number of (then) Soviet Bloc nations boycotted. But I doubt that boycott is the real that Israel has not hosted any such event since.
We will deal with the issue of future FIDE events when those happen to be announced. For now we would really like for FIDE to follow it’s own rules.
It will be interesting to see if they try to blame the current situation on the US …
It would be nice fi\or FIDE to follow its rules. That simply won’t happen when the right amount of money is offered to them. Money speaks louder than rules or human rights for this FIDE leadership group.
FIDE claimed that the Iranian “bid” (which was never announced as a bid for the event) was the only proposal that they had for that one. Of course FIDE has made these events so expensive to produce, with a 20% tax of the prize fund back to FIDE and then various requirements for observers and assorted other folks to come and be paid for by the organizer, that it makes little commercial sense to host one.
