Is the 2011 European Women's Individual Chess Championship Back On?

Who knows?  I didn't check chess news yesterday and found this today at Dylan Loeb McClain's chess blog at The New York Times:

January 19, 2011, 12:52 pm About Face: Turkish Federation Offers to Organize Event It Dropped
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN
[Excerpted] Late last month, the Turkish Chess Federation withdrew as host of the 2011 European Women’s Championship. The reason given by Ali Nihat Yazici, the federation’s president, was that he and the federation had been treated badly by the European Chess Union, the governing body of the game in Europe.

Wednesday, in a letter sent to Silvio Danailov, the president of the E.C.U., Mr. Yazici wrote that the Turkish Federation was again ready to organize the event, but he said that he did not want to communicate with Sava Stoisavljevic, the general secretary of the E.C.U., who mostly dealt with Mr. Yazici in the earlier negotiations over the contract. He also asked for an apology from Mr. Danailov.

(Ms. Stoisavljevic wrote in an e-mail that she regretted using the words “double standards” in one of her e-mails to Yazici and was willing to apologize for that.)

Accompanying his offer, Mr. Yazici included a contract with the regulations for the championship. On the question of whether late entries would be accepted, which was the sticking point in the earlier negotiation, the contract says, “After the deadline, no players will be accepted to the event. This is the decision of ECU. If ECU wants a player in event after the deadline, 300 euro penalty should be paid to organizers.”

Ms. Stoisavljevic had said that late fees were unacceptable, but that the Turkish Federation could bar late entries if it was concerned about higher costs that it might incur.

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The rest of McClain's blog post is about other very interesting matters, including a bombshell of an open letter signed by 18 high-level participants at the recently concluded 2010 Women's World Chess Championship also held in Turkey - about the outrageous prices for hotel rooms, nearly doubled those advertised on the hotel's website, the requirement that not only players stay at the "official hotel" but also all accompanying them!, the lack of decent portions and varied foods to suit the palattes of a range of international visitors, about the outrageous price charged for transfers from the airport to the hotel, the lousy accomodations with thin walls, on a busy, noisy road so the players could get no rest, no place to walk for peace and quiet, etc. etc. The open letter was posted at the 12th Women's World Chess Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog.  I blogged about it on January 15th.

I posted about the Turkish Chess Federation's cancellation of its commitment to host and fund the 2011 Individual European Women's Chess Championship on January 1, 2011. 

Not to toot my own horn - oh hell, yes I am.  LOL!  Chessbase reported on the latest TCF renewal of its offer to host the 2011 IEWCC and said this in the intro:

TCF renews offer to host the 2011 European Women Championship

19.01.2011 – Three weeks ago the Turkish Chess Federation withdrew its offer to host this attractive event, due to a conflict with the European Chess Union. According to a New York Times report the ECU President Silvio Danailov implied that the TCF had simply run out of funds. Now the Turkish side is renewing its offer: we will stage if you will be polite. Open letter + new NYT article.


See - I told ya, darlings, it was all about money, filthy lucre!  And the Muslim regime in control of Turkey now that is slowly and insidiously destroying the Attaturk legacy - well, that speaks for itself, doesn't it. 

Soooooo - is the Championship on - or is it not?

Turkish Chess Federation Gives the Finger to Female Chessplayers

Turkey threw a hissy fit because one person didn't like what an "uppity woman" from the European Chess Federation wrote in a certain email, and Turkey decided it does not abide by the rule of contract law after all, and has CANCELLED the European Women's Individual Chess Championship for which the TCF (Turkish Chess Federation) had bid for and won the bid to host in 2011. 

So much for the Turks thinking they are Europeans!  Since the Muslims have taken over the Turkish government it appears that this kind of sexist Muslim baloney sausage is happening more and more.  And FIDE - the international chess federation which is in charge of all this - has remained SILENT.  WTF?  Darlings, it's all about money.  It's always money.  And women and female chessplayers get THE FINGER once again.

The news was FIRST reported at Chessbase.com - and it was not picked up on by any of the major chess blogs other than Susan Polgar's chess blog where I first saw the news - offered without any comment from SP.  The Chessbase.com story was NOT picked up by any news service until, I see, this report at The New York Times chess blog, finally, tonight.

I had refrained from reporting anything on the story, waiting to see what would shake out - I wanted to see who would report what, comment on what, see if FIDE would actually exercise a leadership role and lay the law down to Turkey.  But - NOTHING!  And thus, the Turkish Chess Federation and FIDE have made it explicitly clear what they think about female chessplayers and female-only chess events.

So, Turkey, up yours.  I now know exactly what to think of YOU.   I've known for some time what to think about FIDE but, as the saying goes, hope springs eternal...
 

GAMBIT
The New York Times Chess Blog
December 31, 2010, 8:45 pm T
Turkey Withdraws as Host of European Women’s Chess Championship
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN [Excerpted]

In a letter posted on the Turkish Chess Federation’s Web site on Wednesday, Ali Nihat Yazici, the federation’s president, announced that Turkey had withdrawn as host of the European Women’s Chess Championship. It was to be held in March 2011 in Gaziantep, a city in the southeastern part of the country.

[This may well be the key:] The prize fund was to be 104,000 euros (about $139,000 at current exchange rates), which would have exceeded the 101,000 euro prize fund ($135,000) for the overall European Championship, which will be held in Aix-les-Bains, France.  . . . .
[Darlings, the "overall European Championship" is MEN, with perhaps a token woman or two playing in the event.] . . .  .

This really frosts my butt (an old Wisconsin saying).  If TURKEY does not want to pay the prize money to female chessplayers, just come right out and say so, don't give the world a line of bullshit.

Shame, SHAME on FIDE for not IMMEDIATELY CENSORING this kind of behavior from a contractee.  Shame, SHAME on the Turkish Chess Federation. Shame, SHAME on the government of Turkey for allowing this behavior on TCF's part to go forward.

Well, for my part, there is nothing I can do other than lodge this public protest against such barbaric behavior.  From now on, no mention of any Turkish chessplayer or any Turkish-sponsored chess events will be reported at this blog or at Goddesschess/Chess Femme News. 

Here is the original report at Chessbase.com.