ACP protest against FIDE world championship

We received the ACP open letter a few days ago. Since it was addressed to FIDE we decided to forward it to the Chess Federation with a request for a reply. Unfortunately none of the higher FIDE officials were present in the Athens headquarters. The letter was passed on to Elista, where the officials are attending the Women's World Championship. Then, last night FIDE reacted: by publishing the final list of participants for the Libyan World Championship. There are no Israeli players on it. We bring you a summary of the ACP Open Letter, the original text as we received it, and FIDE' final participants list.

Summary

It the open letter the ACP complains that no announcement had been made (at the date of writing) of the final list of participants, although this is long overdue. Furthermore the status of qualified players holding an Israeli passport remains unclear. FIDE's assurances that visas will be granted to all participants has been cast in doubt by statements by Mohammed Gadhafi, the President of the Libyan Olympic Committee (see links below). Now Libya is stating that participants of the WCC will be given their visas upon arrival at the Tripoli airport, which would compel the Israeli participants to travel to an Arab country without possessing a visa. Furthermore Israeli participants would be granted a Libyan visa, but trainers or close relatives would be denied entrance.

The ACP states that as a sports federation affiliated to the IOC, it is the duty of FIDE to ensure that qualified competitors from all origins are given equal access to the WCC. In view of difficulties and protests by some players FIDE has refused to reinstate Malta as a secondary venue. The ACP demands that FIDE provide written evidence from the Libyan authorities, unambiguously stating that Israeli players will be granted a visa upon their arrival in Tripoli. General formulas, whereby the Libyan government "will pleasantly provide entry visas to all qualified participants" is not explicit enough.

"Unless that document is produced shortly, it is very unlikely that Israeli players will agree on a hazardous journey to Libya and therefore, they will be forced to renounce their participation in the WCC. At present, the assumption prevails in the chess world that this is precisely the way FIDE hopes this embarrassing problem will be settled."

Open Letter from the ACP to FIDE President, Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Dear Mr President,

The next FIDE World Chess Championship (WCC), to be held in Tripoli (Libya), between the 18th of June and the 13th of July 2004, is due to start soon and yet, many pressing questions remain unanswered. To begin with, although the deadline for reserve players to submit their undertakings has elapsed on the 5th of May 2004, no announcement has been made by FIDE regarding the final list of participants. Three weeks after the deadline and less than a month prior to the event, you will appreciate that such an announcement is long overdue.

Secondly, the qualified players holding an Israeli passport, some of them representing a different country than Israel, are clearly concerned that they will not be allowed to enter Libya and will, as a result, simply be excluded from the World Championship.

Despite assurances from the FIDE Secretariat that visas will be granted to all participants, several facts have recently cast serious doubts on this claim.

1) On the 6th of May 2004, Associated Press have quoted Mr Mohammed Gadhafi, the President of the Libyan Olympic Committee, who also heads the Organizing Committee of the FIDE WCC, as denying that Israeli participants would be allowed inside Libya. The wording of the statement was very strong and left no doubt as to its meaning: the Israeli players are not welcome in Libya.

2) Upon inquiry at the Libyan embassy in Paris, it has been confirmed that a person applying for an entry visa to Libya should not have "an Israeli visa or a trace of passage on Israeli territory" in his or her passport, let alone have an Israeli passport. This necessarily implies that visas would be granted in exceptional conditions for the sole purpose of the FIDE World Championship, however, at this point in time, Libyan consular authorities do not seem to be aware of such exceptional measures.

3) For unclear reasons, the participants of the WCC will not be able to obtain their visas at any of the Libyan embassies in various parts of the world, but only upon arrival at the Tripoli airport. This effectively compels the Israeli participants to travel to an Arab country without possessing a visa, a most unpleasant condition given the tense geopolitical situation in the Middle East.

4) The Israeli Chess Federation has been informed by FIDE that only Israeli participants would be granted a Libyan visa, whereas accompanying persons holding the same passport, such as trainers or close relatives, will be denied entrance to Libya. This fact alone contradicts all rules of fair and equal treatment to all participants of a major sports event, it is certainly in breach with FIDE's Code of Ethics.

As the President of FIDE, an international sports federation affiliated to the IOC, it is your duty to ensure that qualified competitors from all origins are given equal access to the World Chess Championship. In view of the abovementioned difficulties, the choice of staging the most important event on the FIDE calendar in Libya is a poor one. Despite numerous open letters and press releases emanating from several national federations (namely those from the United States, Russia and Israel) and WCC participants themselves (namely the American player Boris Gulko), FIDE has consistently refused to consider reinstating Malta as a secondary venue.

In the present circumstances, the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) demands that FIDE provide written evidence from the Libyan authorities, unambiguously stating that Israeli players will be granted a visa upon their arrival in Tripoli. In view of the problems that have arisen since the publication of the official invitation from the Libyan Olympic Committee, general formulas whereby the Libyan government "will pleasantly provide entry visas to all qualified participants" is no longer explicit enough. Unless that document is produced shortly, it is very unlikely that Israeli players will agree on a hazardous journey to Libya and therefore, they will be forced to renounce their participation in the WCC. At present, the assumption prevails in the chess world that this is precisely the way FIDE hopes this embarrassing problem will be settled. Such an outcome, however, would greatly tarnish the reputation of FIDE among other sports federations and would effectively render FIDE's acclaimed motto "Gens Una Sumus" totally meaningless.

It is our sincere hope that you, Mr President, will use your power to remedy this situation and will not allow the exclusion of the Israeli players from the World Chess Championship.

Sincerely,

Joel Lautier
President of the ACP
Paris, 26th of May 2004

ACP president Joel Lautier (right, with GM Pavel Tregubov) in a board meeting

Links

• World Championships in Libya (19.03.2004)
• To the Shores of Tripoli (15.04.2004)
• World Championship in Libya – for all participants! (28.04.2004)
• Libya will not allow Israelis in for FIDE KO (06.05.2004)
• FIDE says Israelis can play in Libya (07.05.2004)
• USCF, Israeli GM protest FIDE decisions (10.05.2004)
• Anti-Defamation League, Seirawan, Levy, Keene (25.05.2004)
  
• The Association of Chess Professionals (web site)
• Classical Chess World Championship announced (13.05.2004)
• Board meeting of the ACP in Wijk aan Zee (28.01.2004)
• Joel Lautier, frankly speaking (18.12.2003)
• Kramnik backs a new chess association (06.09.2003)
• Problems in Paradise (hotel dispute in Silivri, 11.06.2003)
• The problems continue (07.07.2003)
• The Turkish Chess federation replies (08.07.2003)

FIDE Final List of participants of the
World Chess Championship 2004
18 June - 13 July 2004 Tripoli, Libya

Published on May 28, 2004

• FIDE web site