Background
The 5th edition of the Chess Grand Slam Masters Final was formally
announced last December: "the tournament, considered one of the world’s
most prestigious, is scheduled to take place from September 24 to October 13,
2012 and, as in previous editions, the world’s top-ranked players will
participate. As in previous years, Bilbao will once again host the 5th edition
of the Chess Masters Final, and simultaneous negotiations are being held with
five of the world’s main capitals to share the hosting of the 2012 tournament.
In 2010 Bilbao was joint host along with Shanghai and in last year's edition
it was the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo that hosted the event along with the
Biscayan capital."
On February 10th came
the news that FIDE would be staging the Candidates Tournament for the World
Championship in London, from October 23 to November 13. A few days later the
world's highest ranked player expressed
surprise at the scheduling of the Candidates:
Last year I played the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao, in September
and October, and the Bilbao organiser has already publicized similar dates
for the 2012 final. I really enjoyed playing the Grand Slam Final last year.
It’s well organized and the combination of Sao Paulo and Bilbao suited
me very fine. I have qualified for this year's Final as well, and my plan
is to go there. News reports indicating that the next Candidates will take
place just after the Grand Slam Final worries me. If the rumours are correct,
there will be ten days only between the two tournaments, and that is obviously
too tight. I know how hard the top level tournament organizers struggle to
get everything in place for their event, and the obvious choice for FIDE would
be to avoid the fourth quarter for their Candidate events. The Tal Memorial
has already been moved, but the Candidates would still have serious consequences
for the Grand Slam Final and probably for London Chess Classic as well. FIDE
must have a very good reason to schedule the Candidates in the fourth quarter
instead of for instance the late first quarter or the second quarter of 2013.
I’m really curious to know what would drive FIDE to schedule the candidates
in the middle of the high season of top level tournaments.
Bilbao Grand Slam Masters Final asks FIDE for agreement on dates
Now the Director of the Chess Grand Slam Masters Final, Juan Carlos Fernández,
has sent a letter to the President of the FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, asking him
to reconsider the dates for the Candidates Tournament, as they would harm many
other tournaments, including the Bilbao Final.
At the moment Magnus Carlsen, world number one and winner of the last Grand
Slam, Vladimir Kramnik, who has been world champion and winner of the 2010
Final and Levon Aronian, the current world number two, have all been officially
invited to participate in the Grand Slam Final. The three great international
masters would also have confirmed their presence at the FIDE Candidates Tournament.
If the reported dates are adhered to, only ten days would separate the two
maximum level competitions which would seriously harm the Bilbao competition,
among others.
In order to avoid this possible clash of dates and thinking about the search
for synergies and the common good of the sport, the Chess Grand Slam Masters
Final organisation has suggested to the World Chess Federation “that
the Candidates Tournament be disputed during the first six months of 2013
as it has a lot more of tournament-free weeks than the second half of 2012.
This proposal has the support of the elite amongst players and organisations,
amongst others Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik.
The Masters Final organizers also propose “a meeting of the FIDE with
the organizers of the most important tournaments so that, in the best spirit
of cooperation, certain dates can be reserved for the top class competitions
of the FIDE and for private tournaments.” In this way, it is intended
that the dates of the different professional tournaments are “the same
(or very similar) each year, unless a change of date was applied for with more
than one year’s notice and with legitimate reason.”
Juan Carlos Fernández with the world's number two GM Levon Aronian
Here is the full letter by the Director of the Chess Grand Slam Masters Final,
Juan Carlos Fernández, to the president of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov:
To The President
His Excellency Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE World Chess Federation Dear Sir,
Common sense suggests that the FIDE and the organizers of the biggest
private tournaments should work together in harmony to avoid the possibility
of a clash of dates. This kind of collaboration is something that takes
place habitually with the most important professional sports.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen in the world of chess. Since
the Grand Slam was created five years ago, the associated tournament organizers
have approached the FIDE various times with solid proposals and always
with a spirit of cooperation in mind. However, our feeling is that the
FIDE sees us as enemies, not as allies.
Although you visited us personally during the 2010 Masters Final, what
is more typical is that the FIDE does not even reply to our proposals.
An example of this was a letter respectfully sent to you by the Secretary
General of the Grand Slam three weeks ago after the meeting in Wijk aan
Zee. In that letter, apart from referring to the Grand Slam Tournament
calendar and the dates for the Final, we explained to you the inconvenience
of the dates unofficially announced by you for the Candidates Tournament.
These dates will seriously harm various big tournaments in general, but
our Masters Final in particular.
So, we appeal again to common sense to ask you to consider the following
proposals:
-
As many top class players and organizers have recently expressed,
we suggest that the Candidates Tournament be disputed during the first
six months of 2013. This period has a lot more tournament-free weeks
than the second half of 2013.
-
We propose a meeting of the FIDE with the organizers of the most
important tournaments so that, in the best spirit of cooperation,
certain dates can be reserved for the top class competitions of the
FIDE and for private tournaments. These dates would be the same (or
very similar) each year, unless a change of date was applied for with
more than one year’s notice and with legitimate reason. All
the attendees at the meeting would make a commitment to respect this
agreement every year.
With the hope that we can finally reach a reasonable agreement, I look
forward very much to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
Juan Carlos Fernández
Tournament Director Grand Slam Masters Final |
Web
site of the Bilbao Chess Masters Final 2012
