In word and deed

A list of FIDE achievements of the decade 1996-2006

The past decade was undoubtedly the decade of chess unity within FIDE. Immediately after his first election in 1996, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov promised to stop all the fights within FIDE and he succeeded. A new spirit of democracy has been internally established since then. The opposition was invited to join the work of the FIDE Presidential and Executive Boards, Commissions and Committees. With the support of people from all continents, our team managed to overcome the danger of splitting FIDE and the chess community after the severe internal crisis of 1994-1995.

Today we are proud to look back at our past and see how much has been done during all these years.

Here is just a short list of FIDE achievements of the decade 1996-2006.

? Under the personal lead of Kirsan, chess was finally recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1999, a development which enabled many of our National Federations to receive additional funding by their local Olympic Committees. As a positive consequence, chess is now included as a medal sport in many regional events affiliated with the IOC, such as the SEA Games, the All-African Games, the Asian Games, the Arab Games, and the Central America Games. Furthermore, FIDE also became a founding member of the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) in 2005. This is a new global organisation, based in Monaco, which includes the International Federations of Chess, Bridge, Go and Draughts with the aim of organising the ?World Mind Sport Games? every four years under the aegis of the IOC.

? FIDE established an honest and productive relationship with the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP), the official body which today represents the interests of most of the top chess players.

? The World Champion and the Women?s World Champion received ex-officio positions as members of the FIDE Presidential Board, with full voting rights. This development enables now our World Champions to express their views within FIDE in the most official way.

? The main administrative office of FIDE was transferred from Lausanne to Athens in 2004, a move which enabled FIDE to save 250,000 CHF annually in operating costs. Apart from the financial savings, the FIDE office is now located at a strategic geographical crossroad of three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe.

? The effectiveness of the FIDE office has increased considerably. In the past two years, our organisation was able to attract sponsorships of over 5 millon USD as prize money for the World Championships and further additional amounts for the organisational costs.

? A new format for the World Championship has been introduced, including large knock-out events of 128 players (or 64 for the Women?s World Championship). This modern format now gives the opportunity to a large number of top players, especially from Africa, Asia, Latin and Central America to qualify and compete in world-class events for substantial money prizes, an opportunity which was non-existent before 1996. Furthermore, the new system, together with the financial assistance of FIDE, has strengthened the value of the Continental Championships in which hundreds of players now participate in order to win money prizes and to qualify for the next stages of the World Championship cycle.

? The World Youth Championships have grown into Olympiad-size events with many candidate organisers every year and an increasing number of participants. A new age category for Under 8 year olds has been introduced in response to demand.

? The Chess Olympiads have become financially stable and for the year 2010, FIDE has received six (6) very good bids by candidate organisers! It is the first time that FIDE has received so many bids for an Olympiad, a fact which justifies Kirsan?s efforts during these years for the promotion of chess in all parts of the world.

? For the further development of Women?s Chess, the FIDE Presidential Board made a very important decision last year in San Luis. It introduced two new events for top women players: the Women?s International Grand-Prix and the Women?s World Cup. Several candidate sponsors have already expressed interest in these new projects and the initial discussions give us a very optimistic feeling about these future events.

? CACDEC has proved a valuable tool for the promotion of chess in developing countries. It has been assisting FIDE developing federations since it has been created, in the 1970?s. The foremost and fundamental aims of CACDEC have been to establish a system which provides basic equipment and literature in areas where there was a real need and scant resources, to organize courses and seminars for players, arbiters and organisers and prepare the groundwork for chess development in these areas. Several visits were made to federations in order to support approaches to official bodies with requests for further recognition and aid.

There has been tremendous progress in many countries. On the other hand, there are still federations in which progress is insignificant to say the least. Naturally, the support that CACDEC can give to federations has always been influenced by the financial situation of FIDE. In the past few years, CACDEC has supplied equipment to almost all its members, arranged seminars in all the Continents and financially assisted all its members.

? The Continental Assemblies have been granted independence from FIDE in several aspects, including the ability to raise funds of their own.

? New events have been introduced successfully, like the World Senior and World School Championships. The titles of FIDE Trainer and FIDE Instructor were also introduced and have already become well-established on a worldwide scale.

? The long awaited World Championship Match Topalov-Kramnik will undoubtedly end any confusion about the World Championship status after the unfortunate schism which occurred in 1993. At the beginning of Kirsan?s first term as FIDE President, back in 1996, our team promised to work for unity within FIDE in all aspects. As for the World Championship title, it was not easy to satisfy all demands of the involved parties, but during all these years we have always kept our principles and actions within the true spirit of our motto GENS UNA SUMUS. Our efforts have been justified in this case, too!

? The World Championship Tournament 2007 is financially secured after the agreement with the Mexican organisers. The new World Championship system shows beyond doubt its market attractiveness and we are now able to secure sponsorship on time for our events. FIDE has already been receiving offers for the World Cup of the cycle 2007-2009 as well!

? Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has stood by FIDE during all the difficult times of the past. His tremendous personal contribution was vital for World Championships, Continental Championships, the Elista Olympiad and other important chess events.

Kirsan has proved that he is always there when needed and he does not appear only for the elections!

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