From: Phil Haley, Zonal President and FIDE representative, Canada
After review with the executive of the Chess Federation of Canada I am in a position to formally advise the following:
1. The Chess Federation of Canada formally protests the manner in which the new time control plan was promulgated. The minutes of the General Assembly meeting in Istanbul make it very clear that the fact that there was no objection to giving the Presidential Board authority in this area was based on the understanding given to the General Assembly that a questionnaire would be given to every player in the Olympiad. This was not done.
2. The Chess Federation of Canada strongly supports the present system of qualifying from Zonal championships directly to the World Championship and strongly supports the continued emphasis on the importance of Zones and Zonal championships and the ongoing ability to win FIDE titles directly as a result of achievements in Zonal championships. We understand that Dr. Pedro Barrera, Continental President of the Americas, feels the same way
3. The Chess Federation of Canada supports the idea of Continental championships qualifying additional players directly to the first round of the World Championship.
4. The Chess Federation of Canada would like clarification of a number of important points including the question of how many players from Canada will be eligible to participate in the Continental championship. We also recommend that Canada and all other single country zones be able to decide internally on how these players will be chosen that is Canada may or may not decide to use the Zonal championship for determining these qualifiers.
5. Because of the significant prize fund being provided to the Continental championship, the Chess Federation of Canada recommends that their zonal champion be allowed to participate in the Continental championship if he or she so chooses in addition to participating in the first round of the world championship itself. The Zonal champion would be eligible for prizes in the Continental championship but would not take one of the qualifying places for the World Championship as the Zonal champion would have already qualified for the first round of the World Championship. Any Zonal champion who decides to play in the Continental will result in an additional number of players in the Continental and will not have any impact on the allocated number of entries from each Zone to the Continental.
6. The Chess Federation of Canada proposes that the present time control structure in use in the World Championship be maintained until such time as a thorough player survey is completed. This could be done at the Olympiad in Bled. In the intervening period the proposed new time control system should be tested and evaluated in several major tournaments.
7. The Chess Federation of Canada expresses concern that the Continental championships are planned to be held in July. For the year 2001 in particular this presents two serious problems:
(a). This provides very little time for details to be finalized, bid packages to be prepared and bids to be obtained and compared.
(b). The early date is inconsistent with the plans of any Zones that propose August or later for the date of their Zonal championship.
If FIDE does not change the July timing for the 2001 Continental championships, then each zone should be given the right to determine their qualifiers to the first round of the World Championship and their qualifiers to the Continental championship by some other means rather than by their Zonal Championship.
The Chess Federation of Canada expresses general support for the protests of the Chess Federations of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland and expresses the opinion that the number and intensity of these protests reflects to a large degree the fact that there was an inadequate degree of discussion, communication and agreement in advance of decision making.
Phil Haley, Zonal President and FIDE Representative, Canada March 10, 2001