MEMORANDUM ON THE COMMERCIALISATION OF FIDE

FEDERATION INTERNATIONAL DES ECHECS

Recognized by the International Olympic Committee

Avenue de Beaumont 9, CH-1012 Lausanne, Switzerland Postal Address: P.O. Box 166, CH-1000 Lausanne 4, Switzerland

Tel: (41) 21-310 39 00 Fax: (41) 21-310 39 05 E-mail: fide@fide.ch URL: http://www.chessweb.com

MEMORANDUM ON THE COMMERCIALISATION OF FIDE


Since my election in 1995 I have, as you are aware, attempted to address the problem of funding in FIDE, particularly for the World Championships. We have also tried to finance our activities at continental and national levels while focusing our attention and resources on the recognition of chess as a sport by the International Olympic Committee.

In 1997 at the 68th FIDE Congress, I came forward with a proposal to sponsor the next series of 10 World Championships for men and women as part of my efforts to give financial stability to FIDE -- The General Assembly then gave the rights to the World Chess Foundation to organise the next 10 World Championships.

For the last two World Championships, the World Chess Foundation has covered all the costs and I in turn have funded the World Chess Foundation. To date there has been no income from these events and our experience since Las Vegas has clearly brought home the point that we must seriously address the problem associated with the commercial sponsorship of FIDE.

As you were advised in my circular letter of 4 June 1999, I started to implement a structured programme to address funding in the long term for chess and the World Championships. FIDE Commerce PLC was thus put in place to exploit chess on a commercial basis.

Since its creation in May 1999, FIDE Commerce PLC under Artiom Tarasov has clearly shown its capabilities and commitment. Through the initiative of this company, it has developed a business and marketing plan, for the commercial activities of FIDE, the FIDE web site for the Internet, live coverage on the Internet of the World Chess Championship, and provided the opening and closing ceremonies for the event in Las Vegas. In addition, FIDE Commerce has successfully provided on-line services for the European Team Championship in Batumi and organised the 75th Anniversary in Paris. It is also developing a number of projects including the FIDE Club International cards presented together with Visa as a future partner, during the Presidential Board meeting in Paris. Another project is FIDE Inform (a computerised linking system for all national federations). This will make it possible for Internet services to be provided to connect all of us as one union of organisations. It will certainly bring us necessary benefits such as daily exchange of information, creating an efficient and speedy system of collecting tournament results and data for purposes of rating and many other facilities, such as conference facilities and use of cheaper telephone communications. Arrangements have almost been concluded for an international chess magazine for FIDE and for TV programmes on chess. I am aware that more than USD 500,000 has been spent on developing these projects.

These projects are exciting and will in the future create income for chess, but in order to achieve all these goals, there is an urgent need for us all to create an enabling environment for the projects to materialise.

I now need your approval to take matters forward generally, formalise the structure, commence activities, sign documents and authorities and generally implement this strategy solely along the principles contained in this memo.

I therefore propose the following resolutions:

1. That, subject to the rights granted to the World Chess Foundation, all chess rights belonging to FIDE be assigned to FIDE Commerce PLC for the purpose of commercial exploitation on the following basis:

a) FIDE Commerce PLC will become an affiliated member of FIDE;

b) FIDE Commerce PLC will report regularly to a special Committee of FIDE to be created by the Presidential Board on its financial results;

c) The World Chess Foundation shall use its income generated from projects introduced by FIDE Commerce PLC to cover the costs of the World Championships and any surplus will be split between the World Chess Foundation and FIDE.

d) Net profit (after tax) of FIDE Commerce PLC itself will be distributed as follows:

70% to the World Chess Foundation;
30% to FIDE Commerce PLC

2. That each National Federation and each Continental Federation assist FIDE Commerce PLC and its corporate branches in its activities as required by FIDE Commerce PLC. This co-operation will be realised purely on commercial contractual basis and FIDE Commerce PLC will pay each National Federation and each Continental Federation for assistance provided at its request, on a reasonable commercial basis.

3. That the President on behalf of FIDE be and is hereby authorised to carry on the activities, referred to in the resolutions, do any act and sign any documents in the name of FIDE in connection therewith and to implement the structure proposed and to assist FIDE Commerce PLC in its commercial activities in relation to chess and the World Chess Foundation in relation to the World Championships.

When FIDE Commerce eventually goes public, it is proposed that some of the shares of the company should be made available to officials of FIDE, national federations and individual members of the FIDE Club International.

STRATEGY OF ACTION

In order to achieve commercial success for the structure, now in place, we need to take certain decisions, which would strengthen us collectively and individually as an International Chess organisation, Continental Assembly or National Federation. Let me also state from the onset that these decisions are crucial for our collective survival and I shall also explain the two reasons why we must take them. The first reason is that FIDE has just been appointed by the IOC as the sole body responsible for the game of Chess and its Championships. Both my predecessor in office, Honorary President F: Campomanes, Deputy President G. Makropoulos and I can tell you from our experience in dealing with the IOC that they expect total order and discipline in our organisation. If we are to make real progress in this field, we have to streamline our activities, like in other successful International Federations.

The second reason is borne out by the fact that we have competitors, who are actively taking steps to erode the financial and economic benefits that should accrue to FIDE and its affiliate organs/members. These people in concert with some organisations are prepared to continue weakening us as an organisation, until it could be said that FIDE is no longer viable and that would indeed be a sad day for chess.

Experience in our approaches to potential big corporate sponsors of FIDE, who are interested in investing millions of dollars into Chess on a global scale each year, has made it more desirable that we take urgent steps in this direction. They have emphasised that they would not be ready to go with us unless we as FIDE, put in place and meticulously execute with the help of our Continental and National bodies a program, where FIDE has total management and control of all activities related to chess. It is absolutely clear that to find the big corporate sponsor, which we all badly need we must be seen in the world as a cohesive unit; a united, strong and viable international organisation with 159 member countries and over half a billion devotees with the same aim, goals and vision.

How do we now address this problem: I propose the following steps:

1. All international tournaments must obtain prior approval at the level of National, Continental and FIDE depending on the average category of the event.

2. FIDE will require prior approval for all tournaments with an average elo of 2500 +.

3. FIDE shall in consultation with representatives of Continental Assemblies and Federations, revise the fees payable for each level of tournament.

4. An annual meeting of top level tournament organisers and representatives of FIDE, Continental and National Federations shall be held each year with a view to stabilising the calendar at least 1 year in advance and bearing in mind the need to give priority to the World Chess Championships, top level tournaments and those tournaments that bring prestige to FIDE in terms of high prize monies, TV and Internet coverage etc.

The procedure for obtaining the necessary prior approvals shall be as follows:

1. The organiser must forward a written application to the National Federation, who shall in turn forward same to the Continental Secretariat or to FIDE, depending on the category or type of tournament.

2. Approval shall automatically be granted if the following conditions are met:

a) The tournament will not be in conflict with previously approved FIDE events, including continental and regional Championships that have been included in the Calendar of chess events.

b) The decision will also depend on the presentation from the Organiser of the Tournament for certain necessary conditions:

(i) prize fund;

(ii) names and average elo of participants to be invited, none of whom shall be under any form of suspension or ban or censure from FIDE, the Continent or National Federation;

(iii) financial viability of organisers and sponsors;

(iv) relations between the organising body and FIDE;

(v) special budget for implementing publicity through live transmission of the tournament via Internet through the official FIDE web site, using equipment and technology developed by FIDE.

3. The decision of FIDE, the Continental Secretariat or National Federation not to approve and support the tournament can only be based on the following grounds:

a) The Organiser(s) or any of their partner(s) or associate(s) have a bad relationship with FIDE or have a bad reputation in the chess world, the world of sports or in the world in general.

b) That any commercial rights to exploit these tournaments will be taken out without the express approval of FIDE.

CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO OBTAIN FIDE APPROVAL FOR TOURNAMENTS AND MATCHES

When any event does not have the approval of FIDE and the organiser still intends to proceed with staging the event, FIDE and its members/affiliate organs shall view such attempts as going against the principles and interest of our organisations. The event will merely be classified as a friendly or training tournament or match and it will not be recognised for rating and title purposes by FIDE and all members of FIDE and its affiliates. FIDE and the Continental bodies and National Federations especially the concerned national federation, shall take a collective step to publicise their negative reaction to the concerned tournament or match and prevent their players from participating in the event.

Where any member or affiliate of FIDE supports the holding of a non-approved FIDE event, this member or affiliate will be brought before the Ethics Commission to explain the basis of their action, failing which, sanctions could be imposed.

THE WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

As we are all aware, the World Chess Championship represents FIDE's most prestigious event. This is also one of our highest prized possessions, which was given to our Federation in 1948 to administer following the death of World Champion Alexander Alekhine. FIDE shall continue to manage and administer this event with the full support of the General Assembly and our Continental and national federations. We shall continue to organise the series of qualifying tournaments starting from the national Championships to zonal tournaments played around the FIDE Zones in the world, including the use of the qualification system through the elo rating from over 5000 tournaments rated globally by FIDE each year to the preliminaries and final matches of the World Chess Championship. FIDE therefore, as custodian of the rich worldwide heritage of the game of chess and as the supreme body recognised by the IOC as responsible for the game of Chess and its Championships cannot therefore abdicate its responsibility by recognising any other event as a World Championship.

Accordingly, I propose the following regulations for your approval:

1. The World Champion in order to remain the World Champion must defend his title in every World Chess Championship as organised by FIDE.

2. All our World Chess Championships are to be known as The World Chess Championship and not "FIDE World Chess Championship" as the latter title gives the impression that there is another World Championship title recognised by FIDE.

3. If any World Champion declines to defend his title, he will immediately become and be regarded as ex-World Champion, in which case, FIDE and all FIDE members and associates will use their best endeavour to ensure that all media refer to that person in that capacity.

4. FIDE, all National Federations and affiliates of FIDE are under a duty to recognise the World Champion from any World Championship approved by FIDE as the only World Chess Champion. It is prohibited for any National Federation or affiliate of FIDE or any person or body to organise a chess tournament or competition and name it as the World Chess Championship in any other format that is different from the approved format of FIDE.

5. All individual matches, including matches with the participation of active, present and past World Champions cannot qualify as a match or tournament for any struggle for the World Championship.

ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF OUR TOP LEVEL TOURNAMENTS

Every year over 5,000 international tournaments are considered for rating by FIDE. While it must be acknowledged that it is impossible to select every tournament for us to concentrate efforts to raise their level and prestige, we necessarily must at this first stage of our commercial development select at the level of FIDE, Continents and National Federations, particular tournaments for this purpose.

By enhancing the prestige of these tournaments through improved conditions, bigger prize fund etc, we shall stimulate top level players to participate and this model could be extended to other tournaments down the line with enhanced multiplier effects.

I am therefore, requesting the Board to approve the following:

1. That a Committee be set up immediately to consider applications from Organisers of existing tournaments with a good history, for purposes of upgrading them to be known as White Castle Tournaments that will form part of our Grand Prix. The number of such tournaments should be no more than 10 each year at the level of FIDE, Continental and regional bodies.

2. Such selected White Castle Tournaments should have the possibility of attracting additional weighted points for the rating of the players. At the same time, it is proposed to also have additional weighted points for various levels of Championships, at zonal, continental and global levels to be determined by this Committee, for immediate implementation.

3. On this special technical issue of the weighted rating, I shall welcome suggestions on improving the formula, which is proposed below as follows:

X + (X1 x C) = Y

Where X is the elo rating, X1 is the rating difference at the end of the tournament and C is a notional entry for a coefficient to be decided upon for each level of tournament while Y is the final value, which shall become the player's new rating.

CENTRAL FINANCE SYSTEM FOR FIDE

As you all will recall, we had a lot of problems with a financial situation of the recent World Chess Championship and one of the main reason was the non-existence of a financial structure to service tournaments and chess players. It is therefore absolutely crucial for us to create and implement the financial system for FIDE. This system will be derived from two main parts:

a) The first part shall comprise banks and financial institutions, which will agree to represent the interest of the chess sport in the financial world.

b) The second part will be a system that will allow chess players to receive financial services from these banks, which will consist of their personal accounts as chess players and credit cards that could be serviced through this system.

If we create such a system, there will be several benefits to FIDE. First of all, it will provide a ready source for financing FIDE and its activities because the banks will pay part of their profits generated for servicing this system to FIDE. The selection of the nominated banks will be based on a tender between the various banks applying for them to be nominated as a selected Bank of FIDE.

Secondly, we will no longer face the same difficulties as we experienced in Las Vegas in transferring prize money to participants as this will now be transferred directly to their accounts and the players will be able to use their money through the benefit of their accounts.

The third benefit is that all members of FIDE will be encouraged to open their accounts in the same financial institution. Monies for the World Championship and other big tournaments will pass through this account and it will no longer be necessary to collect money and then move it around the world. It would also enable easy financial communication or financial payments, including financial capital, which will be created from the commercial activities of FIDE Commerce PLC and World Chess Foundation, which will have their accounts as well in the same financial system.

The foregoing activities will leave no one in any doubt of the financial stability and unity of our organisations. In conclusion, therefore, this system will be absolutely open and transparent to any member of FIDE, who participates in the system. We have concluded arrangements for this financial system to be joined with the communication network of FIDE INFO. Thus, the financial data will be seen on a daily basis through secure lines for any member who has the password. This will dispel all unnecessary rumours of the origin and sources of money as well as the expenditure of our collective financial benefits from chess.

I would therefore request you my dear colleagues to support this structure to enable me finalise the arrangements and present you with the results at the next Board meeting. I am open for full discussions with any member of the Board, who may wish to put forward their proposals and vision along these lines.

FIDE CLUB INTERNATIONAL CARDS

On the urgent need to create the FIDE Club International cards I wish to state that its creation would establish a worldwide chess forum. It will certainly support our activity of the mass popularisation of chess as a sport while unifying our various levels of professional and amateur chess players as well as the teeming millions of chess devotees around the world, some of whom may not necessarily be chess players.

The specific advantages, which accrue to the members of the Club, who shall receive the membership card, include the following:

1. Direct access to the FIDE database to obtain information and data on chess events and with the use of own password each member is able to check and correct personal information in the database.

2. Weekly calculation of members' ratings through the upgraded FIDE rating system, which is about to be commissioned to rate submitted tournaments on a weekly basis.

3. With the establishment of a base rating of 1.500 elo points many chess players can join the FIDE Club and be included on the rating list.

4. Subscription to the FIDE Forum magazine.

5. The FIDE Club Card will not only be proof of membership, it will also serve as an instrument to enable members utilise this card as a Visa credit card payment instrument with access to the Visa worldwide payment network.

6. National Federations shall have weighed membership privileges based on the number of Club members from their country.

In view of the urgent need to begin the implementation of this project with Visa International, I propose the following:

1. That FIDE Commerce begins the urgent implementation of this project with Visa.

2. That FIDE requests full support and assistance from all National Federations and individual players in the distribution of the FIDE Club Card among existing members as well as in the attraction of new members through FIDE Commerce PLC, which has been granted the worldwide rights to distribute and co-ordinate the distribution of the cards.

3. That as part of efforts aimed at the popularisation of chess and extending our rating services to the millions of our chess players, the elo rating list should now be extended to include players with a minimum elo of 1,500. The Qualification Commission Chairman shall be required to draw up technical regulations for implementation of this rule.

4.That all players on the elo rating list shall become automatic members of the FIDE Club International.

PUBLICITY AND INCOME GENERATION

Television

Our experience with Lausanne and Las Vegas has shown that the current level of TV interest in chess is not of the level as to enable us generate the real level of income as we would desire. Rather than television companies paying money to FIDE like in other sports Federations, for our Championships, the reverse has been the case thus far. We are now discussing with experts with a view to addressing this problem within the next 2-4 years in collaboration with Eurosports on the creation of a new image for Chess and FIDE on television.

Internet

While we have not made real progress thus far on television, it must be said that we have recorded significant strides on the Internet. As we learnt from the presentation of Mr. Artiom Tarasov on behalf of FIDE Commerce in Paris, we had a total of over 35 million hits on the Internet during the 1999 World Championship in Las Vegas. We should therefore take more steps to maximise our activities on this front by taking the following decisions:

1. All tournaments with an average elo of 2,500 should be covered on-line on the Internet.

2. FIDE or its agent(s) shall certify that the arrangements made for the Internet live transmission are satisfactory and that the games are transmitted on the official FIDE web site www.fide.org or such site approved by FIDE.

3. The need to embark as a matter of urgency on the staging of FIDE tournaments at global, continental and national levels. A Committee must be set up to work out the modalities for the successful implementation of this project within the next two months.

Press relations

With so many countries and over half a billion chess lovers and supporters as members of chess and with some of them feeling cut off, with no idea on a permanent basis of the activities of FIDE, continental branches and regional organisations, it is necessary for us to urgently improve this situation.

1. We must embark on the publication of a big international chess review. This magazine must be a prestigious periodical that will cater for all tastes and reach out to the general public, like other periodicals such as Golf etc. Together with FIDE Commerce we have already made concrete steps and the results will be presented to you at the meeting of the Board in London on the 12th of May.

2. We should set up an institution of Press Commissars of FIDE in all member countries. These people must be active journalists for a major local newspaper or magazine, who will publish on a permanent basis information from FIDE, Continents and National Federations.

3. We will try to set up a conducive financial framework for the work of these press Commissars, however, national federations must take advantage of this situation and nominate these people for formal appointment by FIDE and provide them with the initial financial support, where necessary.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

As I stated earlier in this memo, I am aware that a lot of work has been put in by FIDE Commerce PLC towards giving concrete expression to the many exciting ideas that are contained in this document. It is obvious that we are now at the crossroads and we necessarily must take the bold decision that is required of us, if we are to find any relevance for FIDE in the new millennium. The advantage we have as a Board on this matter, is that here we are faced with a situation, where a lot of leg work has already been done without any financial obligation to FIDE and we should now be able to view matters from a practical rather than theoretical point of view. I am fully convinced and I am ready, willing and able to welcome any suggestions or improvements on this memo. The only thing we must not fail to do is to take the decision that is now required of us.

In due course, concrete projects on work carried out so far by FIDE Commerce will be brought to your attention. I propose that we review more details of the work of the company during the meeting of the Presidential Board in London and I have also requested Mr. Tarasov meanwhile, to liase with you as well as other interest groups, in order to explore the possibility of moving this project forward. Accordingly, the Board is invited to approve the following:

1. The principles as contained in this memo as the framework for which we can advance our project on the commercialisation of FIDE.

2. To authorise me to settle all outstanding questions in respect of this project within the principles contained in this memo and for a full presentation to be submitted to the Presidential Board meeting in London in May 2000.

3. To support the application of FIDE Commerce PLC as an affiliate member of FIDE with its President as a member of the Executive Board.

Submitted for your kind consideration.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
President


Here are links:
Sam Sloan's Chess Page

My Home Page


Contact address - please send e-mail to the following address: Sloan@ishipress.com