FIDE news: GM title for Elisabeth Pähtz confirmed, World Championship match in Mexico?

Her good result in the Grand Swiss Tournament in Riga 2021 brought Elisabeth Pähtz her third Grandmaster norm and as she had also reached the necessary rating of 2500 before, it seemed as if she had finally achieved the title. The media started to celebrate Pähtz as the first German woman to become a Grandmaster.

But then it turned out that her second GM norm had not been formally correct though a FIDE arbiter had declared it as valid. In her recently published book "Wer den vorletzten Fehler macht, gewinnt" ("Whoever makes the penultimate mistake wins"), Pähtz explains in detail what happened and how this affected her.

The case was discussed in the FIDE committees and there were signals from FIDE that the GM title would nevertheless be awarded, since the fault here lay not with the player but with the arbiter. The player should not be punished for this.

At the FIDE Council meeting on 25 November in Jerusalem, held in parallel with the World Team Championship, the FIDE Council has now officially and finally confirmed the award of the Grandmaster (GM) title to Elisabeth Pähtz.

This makes Elisabeth Pähtz the 40th woman in the world and the first woman in Germany to win this title.

Player profile Elisabeth Pähtz

World Championship match in Mexico City?

Apart from the information about the GM title, the list mainly contains decisions about internal FIDE processes. But the last item, CM4-2022/28, with the news to hold the first 2023 session in Mexico City in April 2023, is interesting.

In fact, Mexico City is the first candidate to host the upcoming World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi. If FIDE wants to hold its first Council meeting there in April, this seems to be a very strong indication that the next World Championship will probably take place in the Mexican capital.

Date? The FIDE calendar shows the following entry:

World Championship Match
Start:07-Apr-2023
End:30-Apr-2023
 

4th FIDE Council Meeting, Jerusalem, Israel

November 25, 2022

LIST OF DECISIONS

CM4-2022/01 To note President’s report.

CM4-2022/02 To note Treasurer’s report.

CM4-2022/03 To approve the FIDE budget for the year 2023 and provisional FIDE budget for the year 2024 and to send them to member-Federations for their information.

CM4-2022/04 To approve basic guidelines for playing venues of FIDE top-level tournaments.

CM4-2022/05 To approve the changes in General Provisions and Responsibilities for Non-Elected Commissions.

CM4-2022/06 To note FIDE Organisational Chart.

CM4-2022/07 To note the information from the Council’s Working Groups on their respective assignments/responsibilities.

CM4-2022/08 To note the GSC report.

CM4-2022/09 To approve adding of dates and venue as well as starting times to the World Rapid & Blitz Championships Regulations 2022.

CM4-2022/10 To approve the World Rapid & Blitz Championships play-off system as follows:

• In case of tie for first place, the play-off should be played between all players in tie according to the tie-break system, to determine the World Rapid/Blitz Champion.
• In case of tie for the first place, the play-off should be played between top two players in tie according to the tie-break system to determine the Women’s World Rapid / Women’s World Blitz Champion.

CM4-2022/11 To note the Arbiters’ Commission’s report.

CM4-2022/12 To approve the recommendations of the Arbiters’ Commission on Seminars, Classification upgrades, Amendments to the FIDE lecturer list, FA norms and titles.

CM4-2022/13 To note the Qualification Commission’s report.

CM4-2022/14 To approve the QC proposal in respect of the changes in Article 1.5.6 of the International Title Regulations.

CM4-2022/15 To approve the QC proposal in respect of the changes related to the use of gender pronoun word as well as minor wording changes.

CM4-2022/16 To approve the recommendations of the Qualification Commission on titles.

CM4-2022/17 To approve the GM title for IM E. Paehtz (GER).

CM4-2022/18 To note the PDC report.

CM4-2022/19 To note the Trainers’ Commission’s report.

CM4-2022/20 To approve the recommendations of the Trainers’ Commission on titles and Academies.

CM4-2022/21 To approve the Events Commission’s proposal regarding FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad further to its finalisation.

CM4-2022/22 To send the proposal of the Events Commission about new Organiser titles to all National Federations for their comments following the final review by the FIDE Council.

CM4-2022/23 To request the Events Commission to update the proposal regarding parallel activities during FIDE World Cadet, Youth and Junior individual championships based on the FIDE Council input.

CM4-2022/24 To approve the recommendations of the Events Commission on titles.

CM4-2022/25 To note Continental reports.

CM4-2022/26 To note the information regarding 100th anniversary of FIDE celebrations.

CM4-2022/27 To approve the resolution on the Vanuatu Chess Federation.

CM4-2022/28 To hold the 2023 1st meeting in Mexico City in April 2023.

FIDE...