Open Letter from GM Loek van Wely
Dear ChessBase,
In case of the cycle 2005-2007, in my opinion changing the format should not
be done, unless a) the existing conditions were not acceptable or clearly inferior
to what is proposed now; or b) all parties agree.
Top Dutch GM Loek van Wely
The "already old" cycle was certainly chaotic, but also given the
circumstances, acceptable. The new cycle is still chaotic, but unfortunately
favours some players more than others. Some players are getting privileges,
where the intent was to abolish them as much as possible.
FIDE claims they have consulted both ACP and the players present in San Luis.
Since I am an ACP member I am very curious what the role of ACP has been in
these consultations. For sure I am not happy with the outcome of it. As far
as the players from San Luis are concerned, they certainly got themselves a good
deal. Five of the eight got themselves a sure seat into the second or final
phase of the next cycle (and most likely two more). Seven of the eight players
in San Luis qualified by rating. Maybe someone can explain to me why someone with
a slightly inferior rating has to start his trip via Siberia, whereas those
players can quietly wait (and prepare) for the world championship tournament?
In my opinion only Topalov, the winner of Siberia, the highest rated player
in the world, and perhaps Kramnik (although he did not do much to deserve this)
should be seeded for the final eight. The last four places could e.g. go to
the winners of supertournaments , such as Wijk aan Zee, Linares, Sofia and
Dortmund, or according to ACP ranking list. Also Fide managed now to devaluate
the Siberia World Cup. Finishing in the top ten does not bring you much further
in the cycle.
All what Fide needs to do is to make a good and clean cycle, to have clear
dates, so that other organisers and players can program their schedule better,
and to have a guaranteed prize-money, which after the Fide Grand Prix and the
Kasparov-Ponomariov matches is no excessive luxury.
Now that I am finished with the World Cup in Siberia, I would like to say
also something about the World Team Championships in Israel. Between the WTCh
2001 and the WTCh 2005 three European Team Championships have taken place,
of which The Netherlands managed to win two. Unfortunately this did not give
us the right to participate in the WTCh. As you can see, Fide really appreciates
winning the strongest continental championships. Nevertheless we Dutch still
thought that we would have a chance based on our eighth place in the Calvia
Olympiad. If you start counting: 1) host = Israel; 2) World champion = Ukraine;
3) European champion = Russia; 4) Asia = China; 5) Africa = Egypt; 6) America
= Cuba; then start to count from Olympiad 7) Armenia, 8) USA 9) India 10) The
Netherlands.
Unfortunately this logic did not work out, and somehow Georgia's third place
at the European Team Championship in 2003 (for those who remember it) was rewarded
with an invitation. Given also the fact that a Chinese women's team was invited
did not give us a more positive feeling towards the WTCh. Then however, due
to the cancellation of Africa, we received an informal invitation three weeks before the
start of the event. On such short terms it did not seem possible to find the
necessary sponsorship, so we had to decline the invitation.
A few days later we suddenly got hope to get the necessary pecunia. On our
inquiry if the invitation was still open, Fide answered that 1) we should not
have been invited in the first place, according to regulations it should have
been India; 2) India is not going to be invited because they need a visa to
enter Israel and the time was too short to arrange that; 3) the reserved rooms
had already been assigned to others (as if such a small problem could not be
dealt with). All I can conclude is that Fide prefers to have a World Team Championship
with nine weaker teams than with the ten strongest teams.
ACP reply to Gata Kamsky
Dear Gata
I have just read your
comments to the last changes in the FIDE World Championship Cycle. As you
have proved to Mr Sand, the changes make a task of the FIDE World Cup qualifiers
much harder.
Polish GM and ACP Secretary Bartlomiej Macieja
It is not my aim now to compare advantages and disadvantages of both systems,
I would just like to stress, that the changes made me no less surprised than
you, though I participated (on behalf of the ACP) in the meeting with the FIDE
representatives in Athens (July 2005). The FIDE World Championship was one
of the discussed subjects, the ACP made a few proposals to improve the system
of events, however the proposals were different from the currently applied
by FIDE and, additionally, concerned only the following cycles. Let me quote
just one sentence from the report of that meeting:
"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 announced and may not be changed."
Thus, all words of the criticism or of the support to the current changes
should not be addressed to the ACP, as the ACP was not aware of them.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to remind you of two important changes
which have been proposed by the ACP and approved by FIDE:
- The schedule of the FIDE World Cup has been modified, in order to have
one extra day for tie-breaks in every round. This means that every round
will be held over three days instead of two.
- For the FIDE World Cup, a contract between FIDE and organisers will be
added as annex in players' undertakings.
The first change has already been applied, I am very surprised that the contract
has not been added yet.
In the end, I would like to confirm your doubts, that not all professionals
are ACP members (yet!), however the number constantly grows and currently:
- 56 out of 112 so far announced participants of the FIDE World Cup 2005
are ACP members
- 7 out of 8 participants of the FIDE World Championship in San Luis are
ACP members
I am aware that the information about the ACP activity and achievements has
not always been widely known, I admit that the ACP has not every time succeed,
however I sincerely hope, that you will one day consider joining the ACP. As
more chess professionals are united in the association, as more it can achieve.
Best
regards
GM Bartlomiej Macieja
ACP Secretary
http://www.chess-players.org
Report
of the ACP-FIDE meeting, May 2005
Report
of the ACP-FIDE meeting, July 2005
