To FIDE president, Mr.Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Dear Mr. Ilyumzhinov,
Around a year ago FIDE adopted a new system of World Championship. In order to
fight for the highest title in the Chess world, last December I went to the
World cup tournament in Khanti-Mansiisk ,took 6th place and
qualified for the next stage – the Candidates matches. In December I signed a
letter of intent with FIDE. In January 2006 FIDE made the pairings and announced
that the matches would take place 20-30th of October with a minimal
prize fund of 40000 US for each match. It meant that for 2 rounds of Candidate
matches(8 of 1st round and 4 of next round) prize find should be at
least 480000 US. Taking this into account, I planned the timetable of my
preparation.
In order to reach the peak of my form for the most prestigious event of the
year, I accepted some invitations like a training match with Czech grandmaster
David Navara to have an experience in matches. However I declined some other
ones, for example, super tournament in Foros with big prize-fund. If I’d
accepted this invitation, I would be rated 3rd in the tournament and
would have good reasons to get at least 3rd prize-10000US. I also
rejected an invitation for a rapid event in Cap d’Adge at the end of October. I
would be rated 1st there and would have a good chance to win 1st
prize of 16000 Euro, as I did there already 2 times.
I also hired some players specially to analyze the games of my opponent Rustam
Kasimdzhanov and my potential opponents - Gata Kamsky and Etienne Bacrot. In
order to help me, my seconds also refused some invitations to the tournaments
and I had to compensate financially their expected losses.
During this, I didn’t receive no e-mail or any news from FIDE (which is strange
by itself) starting from new year, I was confident that matches would start on
time. Last month you confirmed it and assured “that the issue will be finalized
during the Presidential Board meeting in Elista, during the Topalov- Kramnik
match” (I quote from the translation of your interview to Yuri Vasiliev from the
Chessbase.com site on 21st of August 2006).
However, yesterday evening in official report of Presidential Board meeting
I read the following:
“In order to resolve difficulties in the organization of the Candidate matches,
the Board offered a round-robin tournament for the 16 players as an alternative
to the original form of the competition. President Ilyumzhinov offered to hold
all the matches or the tournament in Elista.”
Of course the chess players are grateful to you for your kind offer to hold such
an important event. But unfortunately, dates announced back in January should
not be changed, especially not less than a month before the event. But
especially harmful is the idea of replacing matches with a tournament. I never
heard that in any sport that the structure of the World championship may be
changed during the cycle.
I also never hear that in any sport dates of world championship in any stage
were moved in such a short notice. It is especially
dangerous to break all the rules of sport world when chess is trying so hard to
become part of Olympic games .
In case the dates of the matches would be moved from officially stated, or if
the matches will be cancelled altogether I would expect FIDE to compensate me
for my damaged, as detailed above.
I am kindly requesting you to reply to my concerns urgently, as announced dates
of the matches are within less than 1 month.
I consider the questions raised in this letter are of importance
to all chess community, and therefore I send a copy of it to
some of the most popular sites.
Sincerely yours,
Boris Gelfand, candidate for the World Championship
Rishon le Zion, Israel
(Ende des Offenen Briefes von Boris Gelfand)
Anhang :
1. Veröffentlichung der FIDE vom
23.9. 2006
Presidential Board meeting
Concurrent with the World Chess Championship Match between Veselin Topalov and
Vladimir Kramnik, the FIDE Presidential Board held its quarterly meeting on
September 22-23 in Elista, Russia.
The Board evaluated the process initiated two years ago and judged it a success.
The key result is the stabilization of the chess world, and the Topalov-Kramnik
Championship Match is the best sign of this process.
President Kursan Ilyumzhinov presented his visionary view and strategic plan for
the next four years of FIDE. He strongly emphasized the task to elevate FIDE to
new heights, to make it a financially stable and the powerful international
sports organization that strengthens its relationship with and its role within
IOC, the International Olympic Committee. In order to achieve these aims, he had
decided to establish a company which can serve as a commercial arm of FIDE. A
commercial license agreement between the Company and FIDE will be drafted and
dealt with in the Presidential Board Meeting in December 2006, in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands.
Other FIDE activities are to be strengthened and utilized. The President called
the attention to the Chess in School program, the Chess Trainers' Academy and
the World Chess Championship cycle.
In a long session, the Presidential Board thoroughly debated key elements of the
strategic vision and reviewed several practical schemes, versions, as well as
proposals regarding future format of the World Chess Championship and commercial
activities of FIDE. The Board discussed the FIDE budget for 2007 and accepted
it. It established the FIDE Public Relations and Marketing program by unanimous
decision and created the PR and Marketing Directorate headed by Mr. Peter
Rajscanyi, Hungary.
The Board approved FIDE titles for players, arbiters and organizers. FIDE
Calendar 2007/2008 has been accepted. The Board reviewed the structure of the
organization and assigned functional responsibilities to each Board member to
make FIDE more pro-active.
In order to resolve difficulties in the organization of the Candidate matches,
the Board offered a round-robin tournament for the 16 players as an alternative
to the original form of the competition. President Ilyumzhinov offered to hold
all the matches or the tournament in Elista in April 2007.
(Hervorhebung durch die Redaktion)
2.
Veröffentlichung der FIDE vom: 22.12.2005
The 16 Qualifiers of the Candidate Matches
are:
01. Garry Kasparov (RUS) - average rating 7/2004 & 1/2005
02. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) - average rating 7/2004 & 1/2005
03. Peter Leko (HUN) - average rating 7/2004 & 1/2005
04. Michael Adams (ENG) - average rating 7/2004 & 1/2005
05. Judit Polgar (HUN) - average rating 7/2004 & 1/2005
The 5 above players qualify by rating and they are replaced, in order, by:
a) Alexey Shirov (ESP)
b) Ettiene Bacrot (FRA)
c) Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)
06. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB) - World Champion 2004
07. Levon Aronian (ARM) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
08. Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
09. Ettiene Bacrot (FRA) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
10. Alexander Grischuk (RUS) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
11. Evgeny Bareev (RUS) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
12. Boris Gelfand (ISR) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
13. Sergey Rublevsky (RUS) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
14. Mikhail Gurevich (BEL) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
15. Gata Kamsky (USA) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
16. Magnus Carlsen (NOR) - World Cup 2005 qualifier
The World Cup qualifiers and R. Kasimdzhanov
are replaced by the next players in the World Cup standings:
a) Vladimir Malakhov (RUS)
b) Frascisco Pons Vallejo (ESP), etc.
3. Veröffentlichung der FIDE vom
4.01.2006
FIDE is announcing the 16 participants of the Candidates Matches for the World
Chess Championship 2007, together with their exact rating of January 2006:
01. Levon Aronian (ARM) 2751,70
02. Peter Leko (HUN) 2740,40
03. Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) 2723,10
04. Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2722,80
05. Etienne Bacrot (FRA) 2716,80
06. Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2716,50
07. Judith Polgar (HUN) 2710,60
08. Alexei Shirov (ESP) 2709,40
09. Michael Adams (ENG) 2707,40
10. Evgeny Bareev (RUS) 2698,40
11. Vladimir Malakhov (RUS) 2694,20
12. Gata Kamsky (USA) 2686,00
13. Rustam Kasimjanov (UZB) 2670,00
14. Sergei Rublevsky (RUS) 2664,90
15. Mikhail Gurevich (TUR) 2632,60
16. Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2624,90
Therefore, according to article 3.1.A of the official regulations of the
Candidate Matches, and if there is no justified appeal against the January
Rating List, the pairings are:
1. L. Aronian - M. Carlsen
2. P. Leko - M. Gurevich
3. R. Ponomariov - S. Rublevsky
4. B. Gelfand - R. Kasimjanov
5. E. Bacrot - G. Kamsky
6. A. Grischuk - V. Malakhov
7. J. Polgar - E. Bareev
8. A. Shirov - M. Adams
FIDE Secretariat
3 January 2006
4. Regularien der Kandidatenwettkämpfe:
http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=DD104