Chess Olympiad without the Russian team?
A bid to deprive two-time Olympic champions of the right to defend their
title
An unprecedented situation has arisen over participation by the Russian
women’s chess team in the World Chess Olympiad in Tromso (Norway,
1–15 August).
On 16 July 2014, the Organising Committee of the World Chess Olympiad published
an open letter to FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman announcing that
the Organising Committee had decided to prohibit participation by teams
that had registered their participation after 1 June 2014. The decision
directly affects the Russian women’s chess team, winner of the last
two Olympics. The team submitted its final application on 16 June 2014.
If the decision of the Chess Olympiad Organising Committee remains unchanged,
the Russian women’s team will not be able to take part in the Chess
Olympiad.
The Russian Chess Federation (RCF) considers the Organising Committee decision
to be unlawful and will challenge it in court.
Background
According to the Regulations
for the Chess Olympiad published on the official website participants
should be registered in two stages.
Stage one: four months ahead of the Olympiad, the countries
confirm their application to participate. The Russian Chess Federation (hereinafter
RCF) confirmed participation by its men’s and women’s teams
in a timely manner, i.e., before the deadline set by the Organising Committee,
that is, before 1 April 2014 (clause 3.6.1). According to Clause 3.6.1 of
the Regulations, teams that have not applied before that deadline are not
allowed to take part in the Olympiad.
Stage two: two months before the start of the Olympiad,
the countries register the lineups of their teams. The Olympiad Organising
Committee set the deadline of 1 June (clause 3.7.1). Under the regulations,
failure to meet the deadline does not carry any sanctions other than a minor
fine (clause 3.7.2).
Having set the application deadline for 1 June, only on 5 June 2014 did
the Organising Committee publicly announce that the Olympiad would go ahead.
Until that time, the Organising Committee representatives repeatedly expressed
doubts in the press, claiming they had not received enough funds from the
Norwegian Government.
The Russian men’s team was registered before 1 June 2014 and was
accredited shortly afterwards. Registration of the women’s team was
complicated by the situation that arose because Ukrainian chess woman grandmaster
Kateryna Lagno had transferred from the Ukrainian Chess Federation (UCF)
to the Russian Chess Federation (RCF). In accordance with the FIDE rules
on transfer of players, Kateryna Lagno applied to transfer to another federation
on 6 March 2014. The three-month period for Lagno’s transfer from
the UCF to the RCF expired on 7 June on the condition that there were no
written objections from the Ukrainian side. In this connection, on 4 June,
the RCF asked the Olympiad Organising Committee of officially to extend
the registration deadline, explaining that the delay was due to a valid
reason: the RCF was waiting for Lagno’s transfer to be completed and
intended to register the team in its full lineup. The request went unanswered.
On 16 June, it became clear that the transfer of Lagno from the UCF to
the RCF would drag on indefinitely, so the RCF registered its incomplete
women’s lineup in the system: Alexandra Kosteniuk, Natalia Pogonina,
Valentina Gunina, Olga Girya and three coaches: Sergei Rublevsky, Alexander
Ryazantsev and Evgeniy Najer. The late registration did not meet with any
objections on the part of the Organising Committee. Moreover, on 7 July
2014, the Norwegian organisers sent an invoice to the RCF for participation
in the Olympiad by both teams: the men’s (5 players) and the women’s
(5 players). The invoice was paid by the RSF in a timely manner.
On 12 July, after the decision of the FIDE Presidential Council, Kateryna
Lagno was transferred to the Russian rating list and was able to join the
Olympic team. On that same day, on 12 July 2014, the RCF sent FIDE and the
Organising Committee a letter with the final lineup of the Russian women’s
team including Kateryna Lagno. It should be noted that, under clause 3.7.2
of the Regulations for the Chess Olympiad, late notification of the team
lineup is accepted by the Organising Committee up to 20 hours before the
start of the tournament (i.e., effectively until 31 July 2014) and is punishable
by a fine of 100 euros per person.
Even so, the question of the final accreditation of the Russian women’s
team remained open until 16 July. In their private correspondence, FIDE
and the Norwegian organisers referred to the Organising Committee meeting
on 16 July, which was to give final confirmation of participation by the
Russian women’s team. The RCF position on the issue remains unchanged:
FIDE is the main body responsible for holding the Chess Olympiad. In addressing
the President of FIDE the RCF proceeded in accordance with clause 6.1 of
the Regulations for the Chess Olympiad, whereby the President of FIDE has
the deciding vote in all the disputes concerning the Olympiad in general.
The RCF considers the Organising Committee decision published on 16 July
on the official website of the Olympiad to be unlawful. It is illegitimate
because the Regulations do not stipulate any sanctions for breach of clause
3.7.1 (registration before 1 June). It is also illegitimate because it ignores
the position of FIDE expressed by its Vice President Mr Israel Gelfer (to
allow the teams registered after 1 June 2014 to participate). It is important
to add that the history of World Chess Olympiads (held since 1924) has seen
many precedents of late registration by teams and not a single precedent
of a team being banned from the Olympiad.
The RCF will uphold the right of the Russian women’s team to take
part in the World Chess Olympiad in Tromso by all legitimate means, including
an appeal to the Sports Arbitration Court in Lausanne and the courts of
Norway and Switzerland.
President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov
I
appreciate the position of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on the issue
of banning national teams from taking part in the Olympiad in Norway. I
consider it to be a fair, honest and sportsmanlike decision. Nevertheless,
the Russian Chess Federation intends to pursue a legal investigation into
the illegitimate actions of the Organising Committee of the World Chess
Olympiad. All the materials relevant to this case were handed over to a
legal company yesterday.
Our interests in the litigation are represented by the American Quinn Emanuel,
a leading international company specialising in court and arbitration procedures.
I am confident of the unequivocal outcome of the legal proceedings and deem
it necessary to set up a precedent to prevent such situations from arising
in the future. Chess players of any national team must feel secure, and
chess officials must act in strict accordance with the law and refrain from
arbitrary actions.
The American law firm Quinn Emanuel will represent the interests of the
Russian Chess Federation in connection with the excluding of the Russian
women’s national team from participation in the Olympiad in Tromsø.
Quinn Emanuel is the world’s biggest law firm dealing with court and
arbitration proceedings. The company lawyers have already worked with 2,300
disputes and have won 88.4% of disputes. Quinn Emanuel specialists have
already examined the Olympiad Organizing Committee decision and are ready
to maintain the Russian Chess Federation’s position that implies the
decision is illegitimate.
- Letter
by Quinn Emanuel to the Tromsø Organizing Committee
(PDF)
The letter ends with the paragraph: "We demand that you provide
us with written confirmation that our client's men's and women's teams
are eligible to compete in the 2014 Chess Olympiad. If you do not comply
with the foregoing demands by 5 p.m. CET today, 18 July, 2014, we will
take all appropriate steps to protect and enforce our client's rights,
including, if necessary, commencing legal action and pursuing all appropriate
remedies, which may include injunctive relief, claims for compensatory
and exemplary damages, attorneys' fees, and all other costs associated
with RCF's claims."
- Letter
of the FIDE lawyers, Lausanne, to the Tromsø Organizing Committee
(PDF)
This one ends with the paragraph: "In case the OC would
unfortunately not (i) reverse its decision of 16 July 2014, (ii) allow
legitimate delegates to attend the FIDE Congress, (iii) exclud e biased
members and (iv) fully comply with the let ter and the spirit of FIDE
regulations, FIDE will (i) r equest urgent measures before the CAS and
(ii) sue individually the members of the OC and/or signatori es of the
decision of 16 July 2014 for the financia l damages caused by their infringements
of FIDE regul ations, in particular (but not only) if the Chess Olympiad
in Tromsø must be cancelled and be held in another country.
Anatoly Karpov weighs in
ITAR-TASS – 17 July 2014
Anatoly Karpov: Only FIDE can decide who will play at the Chess Olympiad
The 12th World Chess Champion has called the actions of the Olympiad Organising
Committee in Norway ‘an outrage’.
Moscow, 17 July / Correspondent Artem Kuznetsov for ITAR-TASS/.
FIDE, the International Chess Federation, may consider outright cancellation
of the World Chess Olympiad, in response to the Organising Committee’s
decision to prevent the Russian Women’s Team from competing. TASS
learned of this announcement from the 12th World Chess Champion, Anatoly
Karpov.
The decision to exclude the Russian Women’s Team from the competition
– due to take place in the Norwegian town of Tromso on 1–14
August – was taken by the Organising Committee of the Chess Olympiad.
The Committee explained that the Russian side had failed to lodge its competition
application on time – submitting its application after the 1 June
deadline. The Russian Chess Federation (RCF) has asserted that it lodged
the application on time, and that the organisers have no business in taking
such decisions.
“Permission for one team or another to take part in the Olympiad
rests entirely with FIDE. And only FIDE is empowered to decide whether there
has been any infringement of the submission rules. I remain certain that
the Norwegians must admit all competitors to the event who have obtained
the necessary permission from the World Chess Federation. They have no right
to set their own rules in this matter” said Mr Karpov. “If the
Organising Committee fails to carry out its job, then FIDE has the full
right to take appropriate action in response – including the complete
cancellation of the Olympiad”, he added.
“In any case, the Norwegians are supposed to have organised enough
space for all possible competitors – actually they might well have
had to expect as many as ten further teams. And now they turn round and
say – that they lack the facilities, eh? When they accepted the hosting
of the Olympiad, we didn’t hear a word about that. There has never
been the slightest mention of controlling competitor numbers – because
it’s always been hoped that there would be a good showing from ‘smaller’
countries too”, Mr Karpov confided to our correspondent.
As far as Mr Karpov is concerned, the organisers of the Olympiad were under
obligation to prepare for the participation of teams from all 171 countries
who are members of FIDE. Mr Karpov went on to say he believes that there
is just one single reason why the organisers are refusing to permit the
participation of not just the Russian Women’s Team, and of female
teams from nine further countries too. The Norwegian organisers claim that
these other nine teams similarly failed to send their applications in on
time. But Mr Karpov is convinced it’s because they’ve not arranged
enough hotel accommodation. “I believe it’s because they’ve
simply failed to book enough hotel rooms”, Mr Karpov averred.
“But the reason doesn’t really matter. The organisers are going
beyond their remit – they don’t have the authority to decide
who participates, and who doesn’t. It’s a complete outrage!”
Mr Karpov exclaimed.
The Russian Women’s Chess Team have won the Chess Olympiad twice,
and in very recent years – 2010, and 2012. In all, the Russian Women’s
Team has taken part in ten of these Chess tournaments – taking the
Silver or Bronze medal on three occasions. The team has also won three ‘silvers’
at the World Team Championships, and has carried off the European Team Championship
three times too.
ChessBase reports
7/18/2014 – Olympiad
Tromsø: FIDE President issues a deadline
The problems of missed registrations for some teams has come to a head,
with FIDE President stating that the Organizing Committee has "performed
an unbelievable scheme of combined illegitimate actions which should never
take place in a democratic country like Norway." Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
has issued a deadline to the Norwegians to solve the issues: Monday 21 July,
11 am CET.
7/10/2014 – Visa
problems for the Chess Olympiad
In order to travel to the Olympiad in Tromsø many players require
a visa. But in countries without Norwegian embassies this can pose a problem.
European laws require biometric data to be supplied personally, forcing
players to travel to a different country. In an open letter FIDE President
has complained to the Norwegian Prime Minister, and the Olympiad CEO has
replied.
7/17/2014 – Russian
Women's team out of Olympiad
Shocking news: the organisers of the Chess Olympiad in Tromsø have
informed FIDE that federations that did not meet the June 1st deadline for
registration had been excluded from the Olympiad. One of these is the Russian
Women's team! FIDE Vice President Israel Gelfer has mysteriously blamed
Garry Kasparov for this development and advocates cancelling the Olympiad.
7/17/2014 – Garry
Kasparov on the threat to Tromsø
"Unfortunately the Organizing Committee [of the Tromsø Olympiad]
is influenced by people who are working for Garry Kasparov. They are using
it for their election purposes." That was what FIDE Vice President
Israel Gelfer said in a much-publicised video interview yesterday. After
debating the subject with Kasparov after midnight, this morning he sent
us the following statement.
6/5/2014 – To
Tromsø with Style
Norway's coastline is spectacular. As has been noted by thousands of tourists
and by Douglas Adams in his classic "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy". But what does this have to do with chess? Well, if you want
to visit the Chess Olympiad in Tromsø in August and experience the
beauty of Norway's coast there is an opportunity to combine both.
6/5/2014 – Breaking
news: "There will be a Chess Olympiad"
That's the good news the twitter account ChessOlympiadNorway could spread
to the chess world. After doubts whether the 41. Chess Olympiad 2014, which
will take place from 1. August to 14. August in Tromsø, Norway, could
be financed, the Norwegian parliament has come to the rescue. With 12 million
Norwegian Crowns (about 1.47 million euros).
5/14/2014 – Trouble
in Tromso: Olympiad underfunded
The Chess Olympiad is scheduled to begin in just two and a half months.
Everything was looking great, with participants and fans expecting to see
the biggest and finest team championship ever. But now, suddenly, the Norwegian
media has sounded alarm: apparently there is a US $2.5 million hole in the
budget, which the organisers need to fill at very short notice. Should we
be worried?
10/2/2010 – 41st
Chess Olympiad to be staged in – Tromsø!
On its last working day the FIDE General Assembly took a decision on the
venue of the 41st World Chess Olympiad in 2014. There were two cities bidding
to host the event – Albena in Bulgaria and Tromsø in Norway.
The bidding procedure lasted several days, in the end the Norwegians won
by a 95-47 vote margin. We have reported extensively on Tromsø –
here's a summary.
All
ChessBase reports on the 2014 Olympiad in Tromsø
