FEDERATION MONDIALE DU JEU DE DAMES

Minutes of the meeting of members of the board FMJD
Date: February 9, 2002
Place: Utrecht (Boswell Institute - University of Utrecht)

Present:
W. v. Beek, President; V. Ptitsyn, Vice-President + Coordinator Asia; J. Pawlicki, Vice-President + Coordinator Europe; A. Presman, Tournament Director 100 sq.; E. Holstvoogd, Treasurer; G. Hubner, Secretary General; A. Tchizhov, Representative of players; H. Wiersma and R. Brouwer, Repr. FMJD sponsor bureau; J. Bastiaannet, Office Director FMJD; H. Fokkink, Repr. Technical Commission; L. Springer, Repr. Propaganda Committee; P. Oudshoorn, Asst. Tournament Director 100 sq + Editor in chief, LMD; S. de Bruijn, Repr. Problemism Committee (CPI).

Absent with knowledge:
A. Yatsenko, Vice-President, President 64 sq. section; D.O. Etogo, Vice-President + Coordinator Africa; R. Alias, Vice-President + Coordinator America; T. Tansykkuzhina, Repr. female players.

Session: Saturday, February 9, 2002, 10h45

1. Welcome, Opening and Communication

Mr. van Beek welcomes the members of this CD meeting. We can use the building until 16.00, so we will stick to decisions. Mr. van Beek welcomes Alexei Tchizhov, representing the players and Mr. Tchertok, and Mr. Oudshoorn, now appointed by the city of Amsterdam to work on draughts.

Mr. van Beek proposes to change the agenda and talk immediately about the situation in Russia.

2. Approval minutes CD meeting of November 2001

Mr. Fokkink mentions there is information in the French summary not present in the official minutes (in English). Mr. Hubner will send an updated French summary without this irrelevant information.

3. Communication
Mr. van Beek
Mr. Wallen wrote to Mr. van Beek asking to recalculate his rating himself. He is welcome to do so if he likes.
Mrs Tansykkuzhina has not received the invitation; the post is probably responsible.

News: the IOC schedule is very clear. The actions to be taken will be scheduled by Mr. van Beek, Holstvoogd and Hubner.

3a Situation in Russia

There is a claim for a new Russian federation headed by Mr. Tchertok and supporter, a.o. by Mr. Tchizhov. Mr. Tchizhov presents this new RIDF (Russian International Draughts Federation) was created lately in Ufa, backed by a very big oil company in Russia. to solve some problems of international draughts. In fact, in Russia, the status of international draughts has become minor wrt 64. Leading players have expressed the need for a new structure. Mr. Ptitsyn confirms that all regions and all players, who one by one recently withdrew from RDF - sometimes against their will, rejected by RDF - , are represented by this federation.
In Russia, the presence of several federations is legal, but the Sports Committee has to choose one for international representation. The position of the sports committee is neutral with respect to the two, provided they get accreditation (legal existence). RDF has no bank account, no legal personality… RIDF is preparing to get this existence. RIDF has already organized one championship. The board of this federation has 9 members, representing main regions, and has set a calendar.
The FMJD is asked by Mr. Tchizhov and Ptitsyn to state which federation is recognized.
The Secretary states that the statutes are clear up to now: FMJD recognizes one national federation. However, the recent reform has opened the way to possible recognition of federations by sections (based upon their statutes), provided that statutes allow it.
The recognition of different federations for a same country by different sections is a decision that has to be taken by an extraordinary general assembly. Currently, the 100 squares CD can recognize the RIDF as a regular member of the FMJD, provided this decision is ratified at the GA.
The CD is aware that international draughts is not properly promoted by RDF, and that the juridical status of RDF is insufficient for legal existence. Especially, the documents sent by Mr. Klimashev upon request of Mr. van Beek actually concern the 1995 registration of RDF (made by Mr. Ptitsyn), not properly confirmed in 1999 (no valid address, no open bank account, no tax status,…), which is absolutely not enough for complete recognition. The next assembly of RDF will appoint responsibles for the 100 squares section: in the absence of representative players, there might be simply nobody appointed. However, the legal issue is in principle an internal Russian problem. The FMJD has since 1956 recognized the RDF and that history cannot and will not be changed.
Mr. Tchizhov also provides a memorandum document (in Russia and in English) and a set of information to be discussed by the CD.

The CD proposes to accept the RIDF as member of the 100 squares section of the FMJD. An official FMJD letter stating this decision will be given to Mr. Tchizhov before his departure to Moscow.

Mr. van Beek will go to Russia in order to communicate the position of the FMJD officially. Furthermore, Mr. Hubner states the Title II, Article VI of the Reglement Interieur (official, not translated in English so far) clearly states as a motive for refusal of adhesion the hinderance or refusal by a federation to organize or promote 100 squares tournaments. This happened in UFA, where EDC observed that RDF tried to prevent the organization of the (official) European Cup. Based upon a letter by EDC, the FMJD is free to interpret this item of the Bye-Laws and act accordingly.

The CD decides to ask RDF to postpone all requests for homologation until the GA. RDF is free to organize all tournament up to now, but with no homolgation. The provisional acceptance of RIDF by the CD FMJD 100 squares (to be confirmed by the FMJD) allows this new federation to propose a calendar or tournaments and to get qualification to official FMJD tournaments from these tournaments. Concerning qualification prior to this decision, the CD asks the two federations to reach a consensus, because the past ought not to be changed.

4. Finance: current issues
Mr. Holstvoogd
The organization of a GA outside a tournament provided an exceptional expense in 2001. Together with payment to the GAISF, this brought expenses up. However, results were globally positive.
Four countries responded to the proposal for the new fee system. Only one (Georgia) took the low fixed annual fee. Mr. Holsvoogd will send a reminder. No payment has been received from RDF yet.

No comment is made on the provisional accounts.

The proposal for sections 64 and checkers (distribution at the meeting) features that
· the sections pay 25% of their entry fees to the FMJD;
· these entry fee may not exceed 1.5 x the ones for 100 squares tournaments;
· federations that are active in these sections may be members of the FMJD and pay the entry fee of € 160 to the FMJD.

5. Section 64 Russian/Brazilian

Mr. Presman holds several letters issued by Mr. Yatsenko.
Mr. Yatsenko is sending an invitation to all presidents of federation to the GA of the section 64 R/B: 19-21 April in Kiev, with elections scheduled then. The president of FMJD will be invited. Mr. Pawlicki considers it would be a good idea. The CD is very pleased with so clear information.
Mr. Yatsenko also informs that Section 64 R/B is planning to organize the WC 2002 Brazilian in October, whereas WC Russian is planned in 2003. So Mr. Klimashev's request to organize WC 2002 Russian in Samara would be backed by Mr. Yatsenko if it were followed by documents guaranteeing that he would fulfill his commitment (especially prize-money), as well as that the FMJD requirements would be met. Another problem is that RDF, and not MARSH, should be the organizer. Since Mr. Yatsenko did not receive any document by Mr. Klimashev, and since previous evidence stated by Mr. Tchizhov shows that the qualification system has never been proved to be clear in tournaments organized by MARSH (which is headed by the same persons as RDF), FMJD cannot at this point recognize the tournament.
Mr. van Beek reminds that GA Tallinn decided that MARSH should not be involved in organization of WC 64 again. This is again evidence of breach of this decision.
The CD fully backs Mr. Yatsenko in his decision and agrees with his proposal for the calendar of tournaments. Since the Samara tournament will be actually held, and it cannot be anything else than an invitation tournament for the FMJD, so the CD should write a letter to Mr. Yatsenko and Mr. Klimashev confirming this view.

6. Section Checkers

Mr. van Beek and Mr. Springer have fresh information
Several federations are affiliated, but the world champion Mr. King (from Barbados) was challenged but the match has been postponed. The ACF (American Checkers Federation), in the middle of that, has taken the title from Mr. King away (for one year) and wants to organize a new match. The English federation (EDR) has expressed some problems with this decision.
Since ACF and Barbados memberships have not been ratified by the GA, FMJD should not formally handle it. The FMJD acknowledges the ACF action, but since EDR is a member of the FMJD, this point still has to be discussed. Mr. King, who was asked to participate, set conditions that were so that ACF had to refuse.
The problem for checkers is that, beyond the already existing federations (ACF and EDR), some small federations appeared. It is no problem for EDF, but it remains a problem to compose the Checkers Section with an imprecise structure of other federations. This issue must be settled in the Sectional Assembly in Las Vegas in August. Only then FMJD may then intervene directly.
Mr. van Beek and Tchizhov have been invited to the board of ACF, and the FMJD has been integrated in the Checkers Hall of Fame (Petal, Mississipi).
In the meantime, the CD insists on how serious decisions to take away world titles and introducing new challengers can be.

7. Commission of Problemism
Mr. de Brujn
Concerning the last world cup, the decision to recognize individual results seems reasonable; it is only challenged by Mr. Yuskevitch now. In particular, Mr. Bastiaannet obtained the 2nd place. The CD congratulates him and Mr. Ptitsyn awards him his cup and medal.
The new source of trouble comes from Mr. Kaciuska, who claims he is not a member of anything anymore. The CD reminds that this commission had some autonomy in the past, but its functioning as "Commission" restricts membership to people appointed by the CD.
The CD decides that Mr. de Bruijn may propose a list of CPI members who will be automatically confirmed by the CD, until Article 45 of the Bye-Laws is revised at the EGA (proposal to be made by Mr. de Bruijn and Hubner). In the meantime, Mr. Hubner will write to Mr. de Brujn in order to confirm this decision.

The calendar of CPI primarily features a competition for problemists in the next future.

The CPI has proposed a set of internal rules, submitted to the FMJD, including the claim for the right to award the title of World Champion problemists. The CD proposes to have these statutes approved by the GA, who will be responsible for checking whether they are not contradictory with the FMJD statutes and bye-laws.

Mr. Hubner advises CPI to have a proposal for statutes ready for the GA. A possible 'Internal regulation' could also be prepared, with the difference that changes in this IR would not have to go through the GA.

The statutes of CPI feature as main change wrt titles (article 2.4):
- The creation of the title of 'FMJD Master' for 50 IMP;µ
- The possible award of the title of International Grandmaster Problemism to someone with 300 IMP.
The CD acknowledges these changes.

Mr. Ptitsyn confirms that the quarrel between Mr. Zubov and Mr. Yuskevitch is practically settled. Mr. Zubov acknowledges that his presidence is now over. The CD also confirms that the title given to Mr. Matus is 'World Cup Winner'.

8. Section 100 squares (1/2)

Challenge mondial in Cameroon
The reason for the difficulty to organize it is that it is heavy, costly whereas it does not give a title; which makes it hard to promote. Historically, it had to be held in Italy, then Mali, then now Cameroon. The sponsor who had committed has been recently involved in a lawsuit, preventing it from promoting its brand abroad. They are still willing to sponsor a FMJD event, but not in 2002. So Cameroon had to resign organization of the Challenge.
Mr. Ferrero has recently offered to organize the tournament in Brazil. Go/no go will be known in a couple of weeks. Our obligation is to know the name of the challenger in 2002, because the WC will be in Zwartsluis in May 2003.
Mr. Presman stresses the importance of sponsoring. The way we tried to organize the challenge was too focused on politics. This is related to the situation of the sponsor bureau. In particular, Cameroon failed but Mr. Presman was informed by Mr. van Beek, but not involved. This situation must change.

9. Sponsoring

The situation of sponsoring was clear even before Moscow. Mr. van Beek contacted Mr. Brouwer then. At the last GA, the same name was proposed but Mr. Buzhinski suggested the name of Mr. Wiersma. From the GA, nobody has been confirmed to the post of the sponsor bureau, and the responsible person would in principle not be a CD member. However, the GA clearly unanimously decided that this person would be a CD member. So Mr. Hubner will make it clear in the minutes of the GA..
Mr. Wiersma fears that FMJD is paralyzed. So we need to clarify things: who is responsible for what, and then on how we organize tournaments, because he has clear ideas on how to work on this.
Mr. Brouwer has worked on a cycle with Rutac and has a clear idea of his mandate. However, Mr. Presman recalls that the agreement was only on the principle of this plan; not on the details of it. Furthermore, the CD did not want to decide on November before having the opinion of the absent CD members. Mr. Pawlicki favors everything that is good for draughts; he needs details before reaching a conclusion on this particular proposal. Mr. Tchizhov's opinion is partly or even totally negative: certainly for matches, that should not be included, because on the prize money level but also because it is also a matter of federations whose players are involved (i.e. Tansykkuzhina). For tournaments, he would like to see precised details of the commitments before deciding. Mr. Ptitsyn, based on the Rutac proposal, considers that the amount is too low and the formula 3 years in a single place) does not correspond to the aim of the FMJD.

It is decided to vote on who would be the CD member representative for marketing (Marketing Officer) of the FMJD. The vote yields 5 votes for Wiersma, 1 vote for Brouwer and 1 blank vote. Mr. Wiersma immediately expresses his willingness to work with Mr. Brouwer and hopes he will keep on working with the FMJD.

8. Section 100 squares (2/2)

Calendar of events

- WC Cadets: Decision in Huissen was to experiment a new formula in Minsk. To summarize, it was an absolute success. Organization was perfect, and the formula was also well taken. A sponsor came after tournament announcing he would like to sponsor again. Mr. Fokkink claims that a high number of players may not be possible to handle. Concerning the question of whether we should have the strongest players at the WC, Mr. Presman explains that the classification in national tournaments cadets is likely not to be that representative of the level of players some months later. The CD proposes to keep the formula alive as an option, but not to impose it. Mr. Tchizhov also mentions that there is a threat that only wealthy youngster would register. This must be stated in a CD proposition for the GA. For 2002, Mr. Macaux should confirm the candidature of France.
- Challenge: Mr. Oudshoorn urges that the go/no go decision as well as the date should be released very soon for planning purposes. If nobody organizes a challenge, the problem becomes important, because we need an alternative solution. So there should be a tournament in a lighter form. Mr. Pawlicki thought about a last resort solution: to use an existing open tournaments to give an offer to the challenger. The problem is that competitors should be hosted by the organization: then, if the financial side is solved, Mr. Presman finds it easy to accept. The bottom line is that we have to find an alternative solution, because we need an immediate solution. In practice, people who are entitled to become challengers are fewer than 26.
- Match WC Women: possible to be held in Bashkortostan ; the issue must be discussed with the president of this region. The problem now is that there is now too much attention on draughts with respect to other sports (Mrs. Tansykkuzhina was even elected personality of the year). Another possibility would be in Latvia (Mrs. Golubeva is challenger). Thus we need to find sponsors for this event.

The rest of the calendar is available by the Tournament Director. We also have to consider the qualification system for WC 2003.

In practice, there will be no EC in Zeeland. With the number of foreseen participants (32), there is a possibility for a very strong tournament: after taking the reserved places and the champion of every federation in order with the FMJD, there may still be ca. 15 places left. Furthermore, EDC has the idea to receive fees that allow to increase the prize-money in the end. However, funding has not been guaranteed yet.

Mr. Wiersma is busy gathering a sponsor budget on a recurrent basis, that would be available for several kinds of tournaments, including FMJD organization. It means that the marketing efforts of Mr. Wiersma will also serve as a leverage for the organization of the EC.

New Titles
Mr. Fokkink
The new system aims at getting many more MF titles, fewer MI and only very few GMI.
With respect to the proposal discussed in November, the main change is to allow to reuse old norms for higher titles if they are replaced by lower norms (see minutes CD meeting November 2001. The revolution is that MF titles can be obtained in national tournaments.
Mr. Yatsenko reacts in a letter by stating that this system is too strict, especially for the 64 section. He claims that the proposal by Mr. Lehmann would better promote draughts and enhance the motivation of young players in a better way. He asks that if this proposal is not suitable to the board, we postpone the decision to the May CD meeting, after the GA of the Section 64. Mr. Ptitsyn supports this proposal. Mr. Fokkink reminds that this question is a matter of philosophy, and that the 100 squares section deliberately wants to limit the number of GMI whereas this objective is not shared in the 64 section.

The CD decides to postpone the approval of this decision to the May CD meeting. There will be directly a vote on proposals, and no further discussion.

The "rating" committee has received an offer by PC Best to update and take care of the ratings system. Mr. van Pul has prepared all the material to make it ready, and wishes to retire from the TC.
On the other hand, Mr. van Beek proposes the appointment of Mr. Masselink as a special responsible for the Swiss System. The CD welcomes Mr. Masselink inside the Technical Committee.

Concerning the functioning of the website, the person appointed by the GA could not fulfill his task. The site is almost ready to function; Mr. Presman announces that it is about to be active, within a very short time.

10. 11th Lustrum of the FMJD

The proposal sent by Mr. van Beek includes
- the publication of a booklet, together with Mr. Walker. Mr. Tchizhov suggests to make it available on multimedia devices, i.e. CD-ROM. Since the deadline is September, Mr. Tchizhov is ready to help. Mr. Springer will collect and Mr. Oudshoorn will do the lay out of the material.
- Special competitions, with in particular the draughts triathlon to be held in Las Vegas in August (checkers-100 squares-64 squares).

11. Assembly 100 squares

Since it is doubtful to have the EC organized, we need to find another formula. The central issue will be the coaching of youths. This theme could be financed by the Dutch government. Mr. Hubner and van Beek will work on the agenda. The time could be in late August (there is a time slot between tournaments), after Las Vegas, depending on the eventual Challenge.

13. LMD

Mr. Oudshoorn tries to integrate the international, variety and information dimensions and does a good job.

14. Schedule of meetings

The next meeting will take place on June 1st, 2002 in Utrecht or in Delft (to be proposed by Mr. Wiersma).

15. Varia

Mr. Pawlicki informs that Mr. Durdyev intervened during the last WC cadets although he was only spectator. In order to solve these kinds of problems, Mr. Hubner is asked to set up a proposal for a court of appeal.

The President closes the session at 17h50

Check-list

Mr. de Bruijn
- Prepare the statutes of CPI to be proposed to the GA

Mr. Hubner
- Propose a new text for article 45 of the bye laws
- Write a letter stating that the current CPI members are fully appointed until the next GA where there will be a revision of the Bye-Laws
- Prepare the statutes of CPI to be proposed to the GA
- Update minutes of the GA to acknowledge that the representative of the sponsor bureau is a member of the CD
- Prepare the agenda for the 100 squares assembly

Mr. van Beek
- Prepare the agenda for the 100 squares assembly