New FIDE Undertakings to Promote Women's Chess

I just saw this at GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog. She is co-chairperson of the FIDE Women's Commission along with GM Susan Polgar. Two proposals submitted by GM Kosteniuk have been approved by the FIDE Presidential Board: KOSTENIUK CAISSA AWARD PROPOSAL From the Co-Chair of the Fide Commission For Women's Chess Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk: FIDE CAISSA AWARD The CAISSA AWARD will be awarded annually, every year in the Spring to the best female player of the preceding year. The voting will consist of 2 stages. The first phase: Any women chess player, rated above 2300 ELO, who played more than 10 rated games in the previous year (for example 2009), can apply to get this award, by sending her application to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" before February 10 of the voting year (for example 2010). She should indicate her best results of the previous year (for example 2009) and number of rated games and exact results of each tournament played. The second phase: Out of the valid received applications, candidates shall be proposed by the members of the FIDE women’s commission based on a voting system (each member of the women's commission can suggest up to three candidates, with the 1st place getting 5 points, 2nd place getting 3 points and the third place getting 1 point, by email to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" ) . The winner will be the player who gets the greatest number of points. The co-chairmen will count the number of points for each candidate and will propose the winner to the PB before the 1st quarter Presidential Board of each year. The PB shall review the results, decide in case of a tie, and after the result is known, the winner of the Caissa award is to be notified and announced officially by FIDE. The decision of the PB will be final. The winner is awarded with the FIDE CAISSA AWARD (for example 2010) and thus named the best female player of the year (for example 2009). Prizes: Grand Prize: 1,000 euros and a statuette. (The prize comes out of the FIDE Commission on Women's Chess) Winners may receive additional prizes if sponsors come forward. Winners must sign an affidavit and license and will be responsible for paying any taxes they may owe on the prize. KOSTENIUK GOLDEN ORGANIZER PROPOSAL From the Co-Chair of the Fide Commission For Women's Chess Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk: PROPOSAL FOR NEW YEARLY FIDE GOLDEN WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER AWARD. The organizers of tournaments with any time control and any system (except the official FIDE tournaments such as the World Championships, Chess Olympiads and so on) that have been held at least 3 times before the voting year with 10 or more female chess players took part in the tournament of the voting year can apply to get this award. In order to receive this award the organizers should send an application with the following information: 1. Name, place, dates and rules of the tournament. 2. Number of female participants that took part in the event. 3. Number and quantity of prizes for the female participants and other financial conditions. RULES FOR FIDE GOLDEN WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER AWARD 2010. Submission should be sent to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to:"WOM Fierro Martha" starting from January 1, 2010 until February 20, 2010, about qualifying tournaments that took place in 2009. By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees to the rules of the contest. Who may enter: The organizers of the tournaments with any time control and system (except the official FIDE tournaments such as the World Championships, Chess Olympiads, etc.) that have been held at least 3 times before and including 2009 with 10 or more female chess players took part in the tournament can apply to get this award. Entry deadline: All entries must be received by February 20, 2010. Judging: The winner shall be proposed by the members of the FIDE women’s commission to the FIDE Presidential Board based on a voting majority system. The name of the winner shall be announced by PB of FIDE on the 1st quarter Presidential Board of each year. The decision of the PB will be final. The winner will be notified and awarded with the FIDE GOLDEN WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER AWARD 2010. The organizer of this event will receive a prize of 1,000 euros (from the budget of the FIDE comission on women's chess) which he/she should use for increasing the prize fund for women chess players in his/her next tournaments.

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As I understand it, players who meet the requirements can submit applications for 2009 events for the Caissa Award and 2009 organized events that meet the requirements will be eligible for the Golden Women's Tournament Organizer Award to be awarded in 2010. Please read the entire post for further information at GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog.

I wonder if Susan Polgar's tournaments for girls (open and invitational) might qualify? Not sure about the US Women's national CC as that may fall under the FIDE exception. Also not sure about the Kasparov event for girls held every year. Would state qualification championships for girls qualify? What about the U.S. Women's Open?

I hope the end result will be that more organizers put together tournaments for female players.

Be Surprised By How Much Difference You Can Make!

GM Susan Polgar and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk are co-chairs of the FIDE Women's Chess Committee (they will hold their chairs through the 2010 FIDE elections). Yesterday (September 21, 2009), GM Kosteniuk posted at her blog that the FIDE 80th Annual Congress will be held in the period from October 11th to 18th in Kallithea, Halkidiki, Greece. During this time, the Women's Chess Committee will meet. This Committee is not light-weight! Almost all of the participants are famous titled female chessplayers with years of international playing experience under their belts. They know the ins and outs of playing professional competitive chess against males and females over many years - they've seen it all: [Co-chairs: GM Susan Polgar and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk] Secretary IM Martha Baquero Fierro Ecuador Councilor 1 GM Xie Jun China (former Women's World Champion) Councilor 2 GM Maya Chiburdanidze Georgia (former Women's World Champion) Member 1 GM Antoaneta Stefanova Bulgaria (former Women's World Champion) Member 2 GM Xu Yuhua China (former Women's World Champion) Member 3 GM Zhu Chen Qatar (former Women's World Champion) Member 4 GM Nona Gaprindashvili Georgia (former Women's World Champion) Member 5 Mrs Franca Dapiran Italy GM Kosteniuk asked for suggestions and recommendations to present to the Committee, and several people responded. I put in my two cents' worth, too. I liked what I wrote so much (hey, I'm an egotistical Leo, what can I say?), I'm posting it here, too: In countries where the culture encourages equality between females and males, we can encourage more girls and women to play chess by offering separate prizes for the females who play in mixed events. While I enjoy reading about and looking at the games in female-only chess events because they are gender-neutral, women playing against other women is a velvet trap ratings wise. The way to advance one's ELO is to play against and eventually prevail against higher-rated players. When the best players in the world are ranked 2760 and above (all men), one must bite the bullet and mix it up with the guys. The best female player in the world today has dropped below 2700; and the top range of other female players is below 2600: 1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2687 0 1976 2 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2595 25 1987 3 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2585 9 1994 4 Zhao, Xue g CHN 2542 8 1985 5 Kosintseva, Tatiana m RUS 2536 11 1986 Rating alone may not be a true representation of one's relative playing strength, but it is what is looked at by everyone as a measure of success. Until women are encouraged through prizes and other incentives to play A LOT OF chess against males, as a whole females will not escape the ELO ghetto that they stay in by playing against each other and, I think, as a consequence, may continue to subconsciously consider themselves as second-class players. I'm working with others to encourage more girls and women to participate in small to medium sized local and regional tournaments. We do this by offering prizes for the female players. We have had success. This has encouraged us to put more money into local events. Start local and go global. Players like GM Kosteniuk, GM Susan Polgar, IM Jennifer Shahade, and many others are working tirelessly to promote the game of chess for females. We need all of these efforts, and more! And we need support. Stop schmoozing about it and start doing something about it! Get out and volunteer to teach chess to little ones. Start a program at a local library. Put your money where your mouth is - contribute to local programs that promote chess literacy. Contribute to organizations such as 9Queens and the Susan Polgar Foundation that support female chess initiatives. Got $100? Fund some prizes for chess femmes at a local chess tournament, and then work to publicize that event as much as possible. That's what we do - and let me tell you - it works! THOSE THINGS are just a few of what you can do to make a difference. Chessplayers are really cool people. Put your coolness to good use: do a little mentoring; publicize promotional efforts and chess femme results on blogs and websites; engage in outreach. It's as easy as starting a conversation with the person sitting next to you on the bus or standing in line at Starbucks :) People aren’t put off by chess – they are intrigued by it, and sometimes slightly frightened because they think you have to be a ‘genius’ to learn to play. You can show them otherwise. Enthusiasm is contagious. GM Kosteniuk has given everyone at the Hales Corners Chess Challenge X (Milwaukee, Wisconsin October 17, 2009) a big boost by providing, without charge, books, CDs and DVDs to hand out to chess femmes who participate in the tournament! GM Susan Polgar is donating her time without charge to determine the winner of the 2009 Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award in the 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship (she also did this in 2008). You don't get if you don't ask! So get out there and start doing, and ask – you’ll be amazed at what can happen.