By USCF Delegate to FIDE, FIDE Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky

The second day of the FIDE Congress coincided with a day off for teams participating in the Olympiad. Our players used the day off to explore the city of Istanbul, visiting famous historic places.  

Meanwhile members of the USCF delegation at the Congress took part in the meetings of the various of FIDE Commissions. USCF President Ruth Haring was instrumental at the meeting on FIDE electoral regulations. A lot of work was done in discussions with the FIDE leadership and at the meeting as well. Although many issues were resolved and agreed upon, work on the statutes is still in progress and Ruth will report when it will be completed.

Garry Kasparov attended and actively participated at the session of that meeting by proxy as a representative of the French Chess Federation.

FIDE Zonal President Frank Guadalupe and Walter Brown represented us at the, Arbiters Commission and Rules and Tournament Regulations Commission respectively. According to them, most relevant issue so far for US players and arbiters are differences in the FIDE and USCF rules on score keeping while one of the players is under 5 minutes and the other is not.

USCF rules allow both players to stop notation of the moves if even one player has less than 5 minutes on the clock. FIDE rules require a player who has more than 5 minutes to continue to keep the score even  if his/her opponent has less than 5 minutes on the clock.

Tony Rich attended the Swiss Pairing Program Commission chaired by Christian Krause and Secretary Roberto Ricca. The latter is a creator of the JavaFO engine which allows tournament directors to test the programs they are using. In the US tournaments our TDs use WinTD and SwissSys programs. There are different programs in use in some other countries, for instance, Dutch System, which was discussed at yesterday’s meeting. Therefore it is recommended to make a revision of the system to bring the rules in line with current practices.

I participated in the meeting of Trainers Commission as its Councilor. The meeting was chaired by GM Adrian Mikhalchishin and Secretary GM Efstratios Grivas. In his report GM Mikhalchishin acknowledged an increase of FIDE Trainers seminars organized by the Commission in cooperation with other Commissions. We also discussed a recommendation by FIDE to encourage a creation of the FIDE Academies all over the world. It is confirmed that those Academies, if created, must be endorsed by its national federations. Since fees will be established for such Academies, it is recommended to keep these fees at the level of 200 Euros for registration and 300 Euros annually until revised at the next FIDE Congress.

Trainers annual awards will be presented at the FIDE General Assembly. The US chess community will be pleased to know that the Panel of Judges created by the Trainers Commission and FIDE office voted to induct Jack Collins and GM Leonid Shamkovich to the FIDE Trainers Hall of Fame.


Also see FM Mike Klein's latest dispatch from Istanbul and look for his report after six rounds later today.