Open letter regarding the Women’s World Chess Championship 2010
in Antakya/Hatay
ACP – Mon Jan 17th, 19:09
We, the players of the Women’s
World Chess Championship 2010 in Antakya/Hatay who have signed this document
below, would like to share with the chess community and FIDE our thoughts about
the level of the organization of the recent women's world championship.
The reason for this letter is to make the governing chess body, FIDE, aware
of the problems that exist. We are chess professionals and would like to see
the women’s chess world championship as the ultimate chess event which
should be organized at the highest level. After qualifying for this prestigious
event, we have to pay our own expenses to come and play in this championship.
As such we would like to feel that we are the participants of a world chess
tournament rather than are being overcharged, starting from the transfer and
ending with the hotel.
There are certain points we neither understand nor accept, and to avoid disappointments
in the future, we would like to express them now, so that next time around,
the same problems do not occur.
Hotel and location:
Full board in the Hotel Anemon Antakya for the participants of the championship
cost 130 Euros. The regular price for the same hotel with no food is 60 Euro
per day. The hotel was located far away from the center of Antakya on a noisy,
dirty road with nowhere towalk around. Some players tried to book their rooms
through the official website of the hotel, where the room price per day was
about 65-75 €, including breakfast. Obviously the remaining 60 € could
be spent for a very adequate lunch and dinner. But they were informed that the
hotel was booked out, and it was impossible to book a room without going through
the organising committee.
Even though normally only the players are forced to stay in the official hotels,
in Turkey everybody who came with a player needed to stay in the same official
hotel. Which made the participation in the world championship even more expensive
for players who decided to come with their trainers. 's an easy way for the
organizers to force the players to pay more than they should.
The participants were given rooms in a four-star hotel, overlooking a dirty
and very noisy highway, with unhealthy air conditions and nowhere to go walking
at all! The walls between the rooms were so thin, the players could hear what
was going on in the rooms next to theirs. Due to to all these conditions, the
level of rest and preparation needed for players for such an important event
was lower than usual.
Comparing to Nalchik 2008, where the players were obliged to pay only for
accomodation and could buy lunch and dinner either in the hotel or in restaurants
nearby, in Antakaya we didn’t have a choice. We had to pay for the food,
but in the first few days the players were left starving, since the size of
the portions offered were quite small and there was no buffet to choose from.
In such important events as the world championships, since participants from
all over the world are taking part in the event, we believe that some variety
of food has to be proposed.
The price of 130 €, given the location and market conditions, was unreasonably
high, and players and their families had no choice but pay for poor service
at prices far above market value to the organizers.
Considering all of the above, we would like to ask FIDE that even though the
prize fund hasn’t changed or improved since 2001, at least the venue of
the championship shouldn’t become more expensive, and the event should
not be located in places where conditions seem bad and unhealthy for the participants.
Transfer & Registration Fee
The participants were charged 40 € for a ten-minute trip from the airport
to the hotel. A local taxi would have been DRASTICALLY cheaper, and these taxis
had room for at least three players. So basically we were being overcharged!
The players were also asked to pay a "registration fee" or deposit
of 100 Euros, which is something new for the World Championship, and not convenient
for the players.
Organisation
Even though, this time, there were no politically interfering circumstances
as in Nalchik, most players seemed disappointed when comparing this World Championship
to previous editions. There we were no guides or warm welcomes for the participants
in Turkey.
The first game of the first round was played in the Archeological Museum of
Antakya which is a very beautiful place but was absolutely unacceptable for
a serious chess tournament. All the noise of the road was heard inside the Museum
and was disturbing to the players. A decision to move even a single round from
the regular hall to another location is absolutely unacceptable for such high
profile events.
There were also not enough qualified arbiters for the first rounds, especially
for the tie-breaks. From the coverage of the championship, you could learn that
coaches and other players who didn’t play helped the organizers to monitor
the rapid games during the tie-breaks.This should be absolutely avoided.
Next Steps:
The 2010 Women’s World Championship was a real disappointment for most
of us. The impression we got was that the organizers wanted to spend the least
amount of money, while earning as much as possible from the players, which is
unacceptable for such high profile events. Therefore, in order to avoid such
unpleasant situations in the future, we ask FIDE to take more serious steps
for choosing a city-candidate for such important events. A FIDE representative,
preferably a female player, should visit a site which is bidding for such an
important event before it is accepted as the venue by FIDE. Before being accepted,
the organizer of a future world championship should sign a special contract
with FIDE, guaranteeing minimum quality of organization. the points we discussed
in this letter (quality of hotel, food, opening and closing ceremonies, hall
of play, payments from players, etc.) should be specified in this contract and
none of these should be changed before the event or without notifying FIDE.
We are also asking FIDE to improve the contract that all the participants
sign before the world championship, as some points are not acceptable such as
the requirements for the players to wear any clothes or brands that FIDE proposes
(point 4.4).
The contract between FIDE and the players for the upcoming world championship
should include the name of the hotel and the exact price the player will need
to pay and exactly for what services. That price should be reasonably close
to market prices for those accommodations. We hope that FIDE will take into
serious consideration this open letter and will make sure all these very important
questions are addressed in order to ensure all future events are held with fair
conditions for the players.
Elina Danielian
Nana Dzagnidze
Jovanka Houska
Tatiana Kosintseva
Alexandra Kosteniuk
Maia Lomineishvili
Evgenia Ovod
Amina Mezioud
Lilit Mkrtchian
|
Elisabeth Paehtz
Anna Muzychuk
Maria Muzhychuk
Natalia Pogonina
Marina Romanko
Irina Slavina
Soumya Swaminathan
Anna Zatonskih
Natalia Zhukova |
We asked the Turkish Chess Federation to reply to this criticism, but were
told that would not do so, but leave it to FIDE to respond. The World Chess
Federation has promised to do so in the next few days. In the meantime
a New York Times article has appeared with more information on the subjece:
