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| Here you can read about 2 nd ACP-FIDE meeting :
http://www.chess-players.org/eng/ne...cle.html?id=407
FIDE office, Athens,
12-13.07.2005
report by Joel Lautier and Bartlomiej Macieja
I. Duration: 6 hours
II. Attendance
From FIDE:
G. Makropoulos (Deputy President)
Z. Azmaiparashvili (Vice-President)
I. Gelfer (Presidential Board member)
D. Jarrett (Presidential Board member)
From ACP:
J. Lautier (President)
B. Macieja (Secretary)
III. The following subjects were discussed:
The creation of the Joint Commission (JC) between the ACP and FIDE has been
confirmed. It is composed of 6 people: 3 members of the World Chess
Championship Committee from FIDE and 3 Board Members of the ACP.
Currently, this means the following persons: G. Makropoulos, Z.
Azmaiparashvili, I. Gelfer, J. Lautier, B. Macieja and P. Tregubov. The
creation of the JC will be submitted for approval at the next FIDE Executive
Board in Dresden, starting August 21st, 2005. The function of the JC is to
issue recommendations on all important chess matters, to be approved at
official FIDE meetings such as Presidential and Executive Boards, as well as
General Assemblies.
A) Anti-doping control
At the request of the ACP, FIDE plans to organise a meeting with WADA (the
official doping control body which works with IOC), in order to explain why
chess should be controlled differently than other, more physical sports
which are part of IOC. The aim is both to exclude unnecessary controls for
drugs which are useless in chess, and to add controls against drugs which
might actually be useful for chess players. FIDE will also discuss this
issue with the newly created IMSA (International Mind Sports Association),
of which FIDE is a member, directed by Mr Damiani, President of the World
Bridge Federation. FIDE will also gather information from medical experts
acquainted with chess, in order to submit a fully detailed proposal to WADA.
B) Anti-computer and anti-mobile devices control
As pointed out before, this issue has become particularly relevant, given
the constant progress in technology, and is a highly important one for ACP.
FIDE will submit to the next GA (General Assembly) a proposal to include new
articles in the FIDE rules, which will allow organisers and arbiters to
fight effectiveley against cheating through the use of portable computers or
other electronic devices during a game. This proposal shall include the use
of metal detectors at the playing venue, as well as strong sanctions against
proven cheaters in all official FIDE events.
C) Fighting pre-arranged tournaments
FIDE agrees with the ACP that the powers of the current Ethics Commission
should be extended, in order to fight against pre-arranged tournaments and
fixed results. The ACP will submit a complete list of cheating issues to be
investigated by the Ethics Commission. The Ethics Commission is politically
independent and is entitled to apply sanctions when necessary. Sanctions
decided by the Ethics Commission may be subjected to appeals.
D) Cooperation on rules
During the first meeting between the ACP and FIDE, the new FIDE rule
forbidding players to write down the move on the score sheet before playing
it on the board was discussed. Following several discussions on this
subject, it has appeared that this new FIDE rule was in fact well received
among a large number of players. ACP decides not to pursue this issue any
longer.
FIDE agrees to include a list of players to be proposed by the ACP in the
FIDE Rules and Tournament Committee.
G) Time-control
At the present moment, the ACP and FIDE have agreed that two time controls
are possible:
- FIDE official control: (90'/40 + 15') 30"
- 7-hours control: (100'/40 + 50'/20 + 15') 30".
The FIDE time control will be used in the World Cup, Continental
Championships and Olympiads, while the 7-hour time control will be used in
the Last Chance Tournament and the Candidates' Matches (or Tournament).
However, the ACP and FIDE agree to aim for one official time control in all
official events in the near future, in order to avoid the constant changes
in different tournaments due to the existence of numerous time controls,
which currently cause unnecessary confusion for chess professionals. After
long discussions, both sides suggest the following unique time control:
(100'/40 + 30') 30", that is 1h40 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes after
move 40 for the rest of the game, and a 30-second increment for each move
starting from move 1.
This proposal can be considered a middle term solution between FIDE and ACP
positions on the subject, ACP being a strong supporter of the seven-hour
time control.
However, before implementing it, FIDE would like to obtain the opinion of a
large number of top players, especially those among the top 50 in the world.
If a majority of players is against it, then FIDE would keep both time
controls presently recommended.
H) Fighting short draws: the Corsican rule
Since the first meeting between FIDE and ACP, it has transpired that the
rule used in Sofia, forbidding draw offers, originates from Corsica, where
it was first applied in tournament play. It was witnessed by the organisers
of the Sofia tournament and thereafter adopted by them, hence this rule
should from now on be known as the "Corsican rule".
The experiment in Sofia was successful, however more evidence is required
before applying this rule on a large scale. Since this is a sensitive issue,
ACP proposes to hold an opinion poll on its website, in a similar way to the
one conducted by them last year, on the subject of time control. FIDE
agrees.
I) Future World Championship Cycles
1) General Structure of the WC
The rules for the next FIDE World Chess championship cycle, which includes
the World Cup, the Last Chance Tournament and the Candidates' Matches, have
been anounced and may not be changed. For the following cycles, the ACP
considers that the Last Chance Tournament is a debatable concept, both from
the sporting and marketing points of view, and might be improved.
One suggestion from ACP is to include qualifiers from the ACP Tour into the
general structure of the FIDE World Championship cycle. The ACP Tour gives
rankings based on results in the most important tournaments around the
world, hence it could serve as a reliable qualifying tool. If the ACP Tour
would serve as a qualifier for the FIDE WC cycle, the current rules would be
modified accordingly. For instance, results from all players would be
counted and not only those of ACP members, as is currently the case.
FIDE is willing to consider this possibility and will study it carefully.
Regarding the next World Cup, ACP demands that the schedule of this event be
modified, in order to have one extra day for tiebreaks in every round. This
means that every round will be held over 3 days instead of 2. To reduce the
length of the tournament, the rest days are removed. In total, this means a
schedule of 22 days instead of 18.
2. Zonal tournaments
The ACP favours a World Championship structure where players, who are not
already qualified to the World Cup by other means (such as rating seeding,
world junior championships, etc.) may only qualify through Continental
Championships. This essentially means that the concept of zonal tournaments
would have to be abandoned.
This is already the case in Europe and it has helped to make the European
Championship an important and strong event. The ACP thinks this model should
be extended to other continents as well. After discussion with FIDE, the ACP
understands that in some parts of the world, the abolishment of zonals might
create problems, as some countries are not able to send players to
Continental Championships if they take place in a distant location. In
general, FIDE agrees that this is an important, but sensitive problem. The
ACP would like to open a discussion with Continental Presidents to try to
resolve this issue.
3. Continental Championships
According to the ACP, the current qualifying procedure from the Continental
Championships should be improved. Players should be qualified according to
strict and clear rules. In the case that the World Championship Cycle is
played every two years, players may currently be qualified in three
different ways: by participation in two successive Continental
Championships, or by rating seeding. In order to avoid problems met in the
past, priority should be given to the qualification of players from the
Continental Championships of two successive years. The remaining qualifiers
would then be the players who are seeded by rating. This list of seeded
players should therefore adapt itself to the results of the Continental
Championships, and not the other way around. In the case that some players
seeded by rating have already qualified by their play in the CC, then they
are replaced by the next players in the list of qualifiers seeded by rating.
For the European Championship, FIDE and the ACP propose to reinstate the
limit of 2400-rating. However, the top 3 finishers (e.g. the medallists)
from any national championship should be allowed to play, even if their
rating is lower than 2400. This last measure is important for small
federations who may not be able to field many players otherwise.
J) ELO rating system
ACP will make proposals to improve the current rating system. Some of the
possible measures might include: increasing the value of the "K" factor in
the ELO rating formula, making a difference between results with White and
Black, modifying the ratings of players who are inactive for long periods of
time.
Both FIDE and the ACP are aware of the proposal published by GM John Nunn on
the ChessBase website, as well as the various reactions to his article.
These ideas will be discussed to better refine the qualifying procedures
where seeding by rating is used.
ACP will propose several candidates to become permanent members of the
Titles and Ratings Commission, which FIDE is ready to accept.
K) Creation of a new title.
ACP and FIDE have discussed the possibility of creating a new title,
superior to the Grandmaster title. Due to the continuous devaluation of the
GM title over the years, this idea has already been suggested many times in
the past. The ACP and FIDE are open to any outside feedback and suggestions,
as to whether this is a necessary step and which criteria could be used to
define this new title. ACP and FIDE agree on the basic premise that if
implemented, this title should be a very exclusive one.
IV. Conclusions
The meeting went in the same efficient manner and productive spirit of
cooperation as the first one. FIDE is satisfied that, through cooperation
with ACP, it is able to hold frequent and direct working discussions with
chess professionals, something that was lacking in the past. FIDE encourages
those chess professionals who haven't yet joined the ACP to do so, in order
to have even better and wider representation.
The next meeting is scheduled to take place in approximately 2-months' time.
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