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?

Whoa! World female chess players shame Turkey

From news.am
January 15, 2011 | 12:22

Participants of the recent 2010 Women’s World Chess Championship in Turkey, including Armenian chess players Elina Danielyan and Lilit Mkrtchyan, wrote an open letter to FIDE complaining about poor level of organization of the tournament.

They also ask FIDE to take steps to improve the situation before the next Women’s World Chess Championship. The letter is posted on chessblog of Alexandra Kosteniuk.

It is signed by Elina Danielian, Nana Dzagnidze, Jovanka Houska, Tatiana Kosintseva, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Maia Lomineishvili, Evgenia Ovod, Amina Mezioud, Lilit Mkrtchian, Elisabeth Paehtz, Anna Muzychuk, Maria Muzhychuk, Natalia Pogonina, Marina Romanko, Irina Slavina, Soumya Swaminathan, Anna Zatonskih and Natalia Zhukova.

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This letter should not be taken lightly.  It it signed by some of the top female chessplayers in the world, including the 12th Women's World Chess Championship, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who plays under the Russian flag but lives in the U.S.  IM Anna Zatonskih, one of the highest-rated female players in the U.S. and a multi-times U.S. Women's Chess Champion, also signed the letter.  Well, FIDE, what are you going to do about this, heh?  By the way, GM Kosteniuk is co-Chairperson with GM Susan Polgar of the Women's Chess Committee of FIDE. 

The letter and comments can be found at GM Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess blog.  Kudos to Kosteniuk for posting this letter.  The situation as described in the letter is absolutely disgusting.  FIDE, when are you going to get honest, and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening, just for the sake of some $$$ in kick-backs?