42th Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia
25.7. – 1.8.1998

MINUTES

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Official Participants

Bedrich FORMÁNEK	Slovakia	President
Hannu HARKOLA	Finland	1st Vice-President
Kjell WIDLERT	Sweden	2nd Vice-President
Bernd ELLINGHOVEN	Germany	3rd Vice-President
Günter BÜSING	Germany	Secretary
Agchin MASIMOV	Azerbaijan	Delegate
Petrovich SITCHOV	Belarus (new member)	Delegate
Ignaas VANDEMEULEBROUCKE	Belgium	Delegate
Josip VARGA	Croatia	Delegate
Jiri JELINEK	Czechia	Delegate
Jan MORTENSEN	Denmark	Delegate
Michel CAILLAUD	France	Delegate
David GURGENIDZE	Georgia	Delegate
John RICE	Great Britain	Delegate
Byron ZAPPAS	Greece	Delegate
Gabor CSEH	Hungary	Deputy for Tibor Szabó
Uri AVNER	Israel	Delegate
Tadashi WAKASHIMA	Japan	Delegate
Kir SIVERTSEV	Kazakhstan (new member)	Delegate
Zivko JANEVSKI	Macedonia	Delegate
Albert IVANOV	Moldova (new member)	Delegate
Sonomun CHIMEDTZEREN	Mongolia	Delegate
Henk le GRAND	The Netherlands	Delegate
Wladislaw ROSOLAK	Poland	Deputy for Jan Rusinek
Mircea MANOLESCU	Romania	Deputy for Virgil Nestorescu
Jakov VLADIMIROV	Russia	Delegate
Marko KLASINC	Slovenia	Delegate
Thomas MAEDER	Switzerland	Delegate
Jewgeni REITZEN	Ukraine	Delegate
Newman GUTTMAN	USA	Delegate
Milan VELIMIROVIC	Yugoslavia	Delegate
Barry BARNES	Great Britain	Honorary Member
Victor CHEPIZHNY	Russia	Honorary Member

Initially 22 of the 35 member countries were represented. After the
late arrival of some delegates and acceptance of the new membership application
by Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova (see § 3) 30of the 38 member countries
were represented.

The following persons were excused:

Helmut ZAJIC	Austria	Delegate
Fadil ABDURAHMANOVIC	Bosnia-Hercegovina	Delegate
Francesco SIMONE	Italy	Delegate
Manuel MUNOZ	Spain	Delegate

It was noted that the Italian delegate could not attend the meeting
because he had not received a visa for Russia. Other participants had also
problems to get visa. The organisers informed the Commission that there
had been problems with the registration at the Russian foreign ministry
which were solved at a very late stage.

No delegates were nominated by Brazil, Bulgaria and Latvia. Estonia
had nominated as a new delegate Toivo LUKATS who, however, was not present.

Active visitors fulfilling tasks as members of subcommittees, tourney
directors, assistant directors, etc., were: Barry BARNES (Great Britain),
Ofer COMAY (Israel), Colin SYDENHAM (Great Britain), Neal TURNER (Finland),
Igor VERESHCHAGIN, Andrei SELIVANOV, Anatoli SLESARENKO, Oleg PERVAKOV,
Nikolaj KRALIN (all Russia) and Viktor MELNICHENKO (Ukraine). Also several
Russian assistants worked very effectively in the background.

§1 Opening address, remembrance for deceased problemists

After words of welcome President Bedrich Formánek remembered
the Commisison of the great Russian history in chess composition and mentioned
in particular that 9 Russian composers have been awarded the title of grandmaster
for chess composition. He expressed his thanks to Jakov Vladimirov, Andrej
Selivanov and to the Russian Chess Federation for the invitation to the
meeting, and then declared the meeting open.

Thereafter the President regretted the death of several prominent problemists.
A minute of mourning and remembrance was held for:

Roald Bukne (11.2.25 – 10.10.97), Attila Koranyi (18.2.34 – 17.11.97),
Pekka Massinen (4.1.21 – 4.12.97), Cyril Swindley (10.6.35 – 17.9.97),
Alexandr Guljajev (Grin) (18.11.08 – 18.2.98) and Tividar Kardos (26.9.12
– 15.5.98).

§2 Verification of Attendance and Voting Rights

Initially, 22 member countries out of 35 were represented. The meeting
was declared legal.

§3 Application of new Members

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldava applied for new membership in the Commisison.
The nominated delegates of these countries orally repeated the application
and informed the Commission about the situation of chess composition in
their countries. In separate votes, the applications for membership were
accepted with results as follows: Moldova: 23 in favour (unanimous); Kazakhstan:
21 in favour, 1 abstention; Belarus: 22 in favour, 1 abstention.

§4 Approval of the Pula minutes 1997

The minutes of the 40th Meeting in Pula (1997) were approved with the
following addendum in Par. V.I. on page 7, after line 7:
"Before the vote was taken, the President once again urged Delegates
to approve the 4 proposals presented by Russia and Georgia, even though
the presentation had been made at a late stage in this year’s series of
PCCC meetings."

§5 Checking of the Standing Subcommittees

1. Codex:

G. BÜSING Spokesman
B. FORMÁNEK
C. SYDENHAM
I. VERESHCHAGIN
K. WIDLERT
Last year’s member H. Axt was not present.

2. WCSC:

(H. AXT) Spokesman
U. AVNER
M. KLASINC
J. VLADIMIROV
V. MELNICHENKO
The regular spokesman H. Axt was not present and was replaced this year
by U. Avner.

3. WCCT:

U. AVNER Spokesman
J. VLADIMIROV
J. JELINEK
B. ZAPPAS
Z. JANEVSKI
E. REITSEN
J. RICE
M. Velimirovic resigned from this subcommittee. Last year’s member H. Gruber
was not present.

4. FIDE-album:

K. WIDLERT Spokesman
U. AVNER
B. ELLINGHOVEN
J. RICE
A. SELIVANOV
Last year’s member D. Blondel was not present.

5. Qualifications:

I. VANDEMEULEBROUCKE Spokesman
H. HARKOLA
J. JELINEK
M. MANOLESCU
K. WENDA
Last year’s member K. Wenda was not present and was replaced by D. Gurgenidze.
V. Nestorescu was also not present and was replaced by M. Manolescu (as
already in 1997).

6. Computer Matters:

H. le GRAND Spokesman
T. MAEDER
M. VELIMIROVIC
N. GUTTMAN
Last year’s members B. Stephenson, R. Staudte and K. Solja were not present
and were replaced by N. Guttman.

7. Studies:

J. ROYCROFT Spokesman
D. GURGENIDZE
O. PERVAKOV
O. COMAY
V. VLASENKO
N. KRALIN
Last year’s members N. Elkies and Y. Afek were not present (Mr. Afek arrived
later) and were replaced by O. Comay, V. Vlasenko and N. Kralin.

8. Terminology:

J. RICE Spokesman
B. FORMÁNEK
A. SLESARENKO
Z. JANEVSKI
M. DRAGOUN
Last year’s members M. Bonavoglia and K. Solja were not present.

9. Presidium Election:

For organising the election of the new Presidium during this meeting,
an ad-hoc subcommittee was established consiting of:

B. BARNES
G. BÜSING
A. SLESARENKO

10. World Championship for Composing:

M. KLASINC Spokesman
A. SELIVANOV
P.A. PETKOV
D. GURGENIDZE
K. WIDLERT
V. MELNICHENKO

§6 Proposals by Members

6.I Proposal by several countries

The delegates of Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, France, Switzerland
and Honorary President K. Wenda had submitted the following proposal ("international
proposal"): "The title of "World Champion" determined
on the basis of the FIDE Albums, as decided in Pula, should be withdrawn
for the current album (1992-94) and for all future Albums. Instead, a special
subcommittee should be established to consider how a World Championship
might be organised."

The President defined the questions to be discussed as follows:
1. Do we need a world championship?
2. If yes: Should the FIDE-album be the basis for determining the world
champions?
3. If the answer to question 2 is no: Should published or original problems
be taken into account?
4. How many compositions should be taken into account?

He suggested that the Commission should discuss and decide on the first
and second of these questions and then give the matter to a subcommittee
for a detailed discussion of the method to be adopted.

In the ensuing discussion, formal and substantial points were raised.
In particular, Uri Avner considered last year’s decision for introduction
of the title as invalid because no two-thirds majority was reached in the
vote. Different opinions were expressed whether the two-thirds majority
requirement in § X of the Statutes applies only for life titles (Masters
and Judges) or for all kind of new titles. In this context, H. Harkola
suggested to clarify the wording of the statutes. B. Ellinghoven stated
that the discussion went into the wrong direction because he felt that
most of the delegates wanted to maintain the title. The discussion should
therefore concentrate on the method.

D. Gurgenidze reminded the delegates that last year’s proposal, which
had been made by Russia and Georgia, was intended as an incentive for composers
to further advance compositional chess in general. He observed that some
well-known composers have supported the open letter of the so- called "Album-Rescue-Campaign".
He would like to find a reasonable compromise such that the album will
be saved and world championships are also maintained.

J. Vladimirov defended the decision as taken in Pula and considered
it as the most reasonable one. He did not support the idea of having a
new competition for the determination of world champions. If a subcommittee
should be established in accordance with the proposal, such subcommittee
should not exclude from its considerations that the album might in future
form the best basis for determining world champions.

In a vote, the international proposal as defined above was accepted
with 21 delegates in favour, 2 against and 2 abstentions. Subsequent thereto,
the Subcommittee was established as indicated in §5.10 above.

6.II Further proposals

Further proposals were discussed in various subcommittees and are referred
to under other paragraphs of these minutes (§8 FIDE Album, §9
Qualifications).

§7 Competitions

7.I  22nd World Chess Solving Championship

Jakov Vladimirov selected the problems for the 22nd WCSC. Victor Melnichenko
and Neal Turner directed the WCSC.

The final results of the 22th WCSC were as follows:

a) Teams:
1. Israel 149.50 points, 651 min. 2. Russia 137.00, 703 3. Ukraine 136.50,
695 4. Finland 129.75, 640 5. Yugoslavia 128.75, 606 6. Great Britain 128.75,
623 7. Russia-2 117.00, 712 8. Germany 106.00, 707 9. Netherlands 101.50,
712 10. Poland 98.00, 718 11. Slovakia 94.00, 717 12. Japan 92.00, 720
13. Georgia 86.75, 712 14. Azerbaijan 85.25, 714 15. Belarus 83.75, 720
16. Latvia 78.50, 711 17. Slovenia 76.75, 718 18. Czechia 57.00, 710 19.
Moldava 56.50, 719 20. Belgium 42.00, 702 The team Russia-2 was an inofficial
participant.

b) Individuals:
1. Georgy Evseev (Russia) 74.50 points, 355 min. (World Champion) 2. Valery
Kopyl (Ukraine) 74.50, 356 3. Ram Soffer (Israel) 70.50, 332 4. Ofer Comay
(Israel) 67.00, 337 5. Jorma Paavilainen (Finland) 66.75, 336 6. Jonathan
Mestel (Great Britain) 66.00, 316 7. Marjan Kovacevic (Yugoslavia) 64.25,
332 8. Michel Caillaud (France) 62.75, 353 9. Mark Erenburg (Israel) 62.50,
342 10. Pauli Perkonoja (Finland) 60.00, 304 11. Milan Velimirovic (Yugoslavia)
58.00, 292 12. Sergej Rumjantsev (Russia) 57.00, 353 and 58 further participants.

7.II  6th WCCT
Uri Avner reported that a delay in the study section had occured because
the judge changed his reply to a very important question concerning the
theme. After consultation between Hemmo Axt, the director of the 6th WCCT,
the spokesman of the subcommittee and the President of PCCC, it had been
decided to postpone the closing date for the study section by three months.

Günter Büsing reported to the Commission on behalf of the
tournament director Hemmo Axt that 35 countries are taking part in the
competition. The number of entries is as follows: 2#: 90; 3#: 78; n#: 64;
studies: not yet known, due to postponed closing date in this section;
h#: 92; s#: 81 and fairy: 83. The entries are presently harmonized and
a brochure containing all of them will presumably be distributed to the
team captains and the judges until end of 1998. After the following 4 month
protest phase, the judges have to consider the problems and the possibly
raised protests. Provided that all the judges work as expected, the result
of the 6th WCCT may be available by the end of 1999.

7.III Future WCCTs
Uri Avner reported that, continuing last year’s discussion on this
topic, the WCCT subcommittee had again discussed ideas concerning the judging
in future WCCTs. The subcommittee made a recommendation according to which
the current system should not be continued in future. Instead, five (possibly
participating) countries will be invited to prepare a judgement within
a certain period by establishing a ranking for the top 30 problems. The
countries should by themselves decide of how to prepare the judgement.
The countries do not judge their own compositions but the remaining awards
are averaged and the thus established average is taken as a fifth ranking
for the judging country. After discussion of details of the procedure,
it was decided by voting that future WCCTs should be based on 5 judgements
(24 in favour, 5 abstentions, 0 against). Details of the method will be
defined after clarification of the mathematical method.

The next WCCT might perhaps start in 2000, but no exact date could be
given so far. Themes will be discussed during next year’s meeting. A country
willing to organize the WCCT is being sought.

§8 FIDE-Album, Report by the Subcommittee

8.I General
A proposal by Mr. Aloni related to album and title points was given
to the qualifications subcommittee because it concerns title points rather
than album points. A proposal submitted by Mr. Kusnezov was to return to
a point system with only full points because he considers the present half-point
system as too complicated. The subcommittee recommended not to support
this proposal because the present system works well. This view was generally
accepted by the Commission.
A further proposal by Mr. Kusnezov was to take into account different styles
of composition. The subcommittee’s view was that this has always been done
and saw no reason for changing the present method. This view was also generally
shared by the delegates. Mr. Garai had submitted a proposal concerning
the work of preparing and producing the album. Kjell Widlert reported that
this text could be used either as a foreword in one of the next albums
or as an annex to the Statutes (after slight revision). The matter will
be discussed next year in further detail.

8.II FIDE Album 1986-88 and 1989-91
Kjell Widlert, the spokesman of the subcommittee, reported that the
new edition of the FIDE-album 1986-88 in three languages is not yet available.
The Album 1989-91 is presently sold out but more copies will be bound in
the near future.

8.III FIDE Album 1992-94
The spokesman informed the Commission that several judges and directors
had decided to interrupt their work in view of last year’s decision to
combine the album with the grant of titles of World Champion for Chess
Composition. At the moment it is not sure whether the album can be finished.
Provided a solution to the problem of World Championship will be found
(see § 6.I in this respect), K. Widlert assumes that publication of
the album can be expected in 2000. If, however, the problem could not be
solved, then about 10 replacement judges would be needed, and a considerable
delay had to be expected in that case.

8.IV FIDE Album 1995-97
The announcement for the next album for the period 1995-97 has been
made. The closing date will presumably be 30. September 1999. Judges and
directors have been nominated. A list including the names will be distributed
after the candidates, or reserve candidates, have agreed to their nominations.

§9 Qualifications

Ignaas Vandemeulebroucke gave a report on the work of the subcommittee
which included the following proposals.

9.I Honorary Master
The proposal of the delegate from Israel to grant the title of Honorary
Master of Problem Chess to Mr. Eliahu Fasher from Israel was supported
and unanimously accepted by the Commission.

9.II International Judges
The subcommittee recommended to award the title of international
judge to:

Valeri Shanshin, Kirgistan, for twomovers
Jury Fokin, Russia, for twomovers
Jury Gordian, Ukraine, for selfmates
Mirko Degenkolbe, Germany, for twomovers, threemovers and moremovers
Jaroslav Brada, Czechia, for threemovers and helpmates
Igor Vereshchagin, Russia, for retro
Arkadi Khait, Russia, for studies.

The Commission accepted this proposal (26 in favour, 1 abstention)

9.III Titles for solvers
Based on the results of the open solving tourney and WCSC, the award
of the following titles was recommended:

Grandmaster in solving for Ram Soffer, Israel
FIDE Master in solving for Valery Kopyl, Ukraine

The Commission accepted this proposal by unanimous decision.

9.IV Titles for composers

Based on the results of the FIDE album 1989-91, grant of the following
titles was recommended:

FIDE Master

Gérard Doukhan, France (13.5 album points)
Eugeniusz Iwanow, Poland (12)
Jurij Rossomakho, Russia (12.5)
Andrej Vasilenko, Ukraine (12.83)

The Commission accepted this proposal by unanimous decision. Subject
to confirmation by FIDE, all the proposed titles were thus granted.

§10 Codex, Report by the Subcommittee

After the acceptance of the new Codex during the meeting 1997 in Pula,
the spokesman Günter Büsing reported on the progress in making
the Codex known to problemists. Publications have so far been made in German
(Die Schwalbe, XII/1997; also in Rochade Europa, V/1998 and are soon foreseen
also in feenschach [meanwhile published in VI-VII/1998]), French (Phénix
V/1998), Russian (Schachmatnaja komposizija ), English (according to I.
Vandemeulebroucke in Belgium, source unknown; foreseen also in The Problemist
[meanwhile published in VII/1998]) and partly in Czech (Sachova skladba).

The subcommission discussed first reactions on the codex and will continue
to collect reactions and consider them in view of possible amendments or
improvements of the text.

§11 Computer Matters, Report by the Subcommittee

Henk le Grand, the spokesman of the subcommittee, reported to the Commission
that the web-site offered last year by Kenneth Solja did not really work.
He mentioned that Hannu Harkola runs a (non-official) web-site into which
he puts important information concerning the PCCC.

The standard for exchanging compositions from one computer program to
another has not made progress during the last year.

From next year on, Thomas Maeder will presumably be the spokesman of
the subcommittee.

§12 Studies subcommittee

John Roycroft, the spokesman of the subcommittee, informed the Commission
that one short but productive meeting had taken place. The subcommittee
discussed and agreed on the method of how to chose in future the study
of the year. It further decided that informal minutes should be taken on
the meetings of the subcommittee, which will be published in "eg".
With regard to the paper including the result of the study of the years
1989-91 which had been distributed together with last year’s minutes, J.
Roycroft asked for feedback from the delegates on what actions had been
taken in their countries in order to publicize the results. In Great Britain,
the results had been sent to about 100 chess journalists.

§13 Terminology Subcommittee

The spokesman John Rice reported to the Commission that the work of
the terminology subcommittee proceeds, but not at great speed. The definitions
agreed so far will be circulated with the minutes of this meeting. J. Rice
hoped that terminology relating to studies will be dealt with by the studies
subcommittee, but this cannot happen before the next PCCC meeting.

§14 Future Meetings and future WCSC

Invitation 1999: A proposal from Mongolia to organize next year’s meeting
was not supported by the majority of the delegates. Milan Velimirovic indicated
that there might be a possibility to organize the meeting in Montenegro,
and Uri Avner did so for Israel. However, no details could be given during
the session. A majority of delegates favoured to have the meeting in Montenegro
and M. Velimirovic was invited to make a proposal as soon as possible.
Israel was also invited to prepare an invitation in case that the Montenegro
suggestion should fail.

§15 Presidium Elections

The election of the new presidium had the following results:

President: Bedrich Formánek (Slovakia, as before)
1st Vice-President: Jakov Vladimirov (Russia)
2nd Vice-President: Kjell Widlert (Sweden, as before)
3rd Vice-President: Milan Velimirovic (Yugoslavia).

After the elections the re-elected President informed the delegates
that Günter Büsing will continue to act as Secretary.

§16 Any other Business

16.I  Hannu Harkola distributed a new updated (third) edition
of the Chess Problem Lists. The President expressed his thanks for the
preparation of this very useful documentation.

16.II  The distribution of certificates to the most successful
composers in the FIDE-album 1989- 91, i.e. to the World Champions and the
runner-ups in the various sections, was intended for one of the sessions
but delayed for those who were present until the final banquet.

16.III  Kir Sivertsev suggested to have an official press
center in future years and to invite press to the congress.

As there was no further other business, the President finally expressed
his thanks for the good work of the delegates, the Secretary, the subcommittees
and the organizers of this meeting, and then declared the meeting closed.

Bratislava, November 1998 Dr. B. Formánek president

München, November 1998 G. Büsing Secretary

Annex: List of addresses

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