64th World Congress of Chess Composition
Fujairah, UAE
November 12-19, 2022
24 member countries were present. India was welcomed as a new member country of the Federation.
Sanctions on Russia and Belarus: The WFCC meeting confirmed the continuation of the earlier sanctions decided in the online meetings of March 2022: a) Individual solvers from Russia/Belarus are allowed to participate in ECSC/WCSC 2023 if they appear without country designations or under the FIDE flag. No RUS/BLR team result is applicable; b) The results of new solving tournaments (including ISC 2023 Cat.1 & Cat.2) organized in Russia and Belarus are not included in the calculation of solvers’ ratings.
An Ethics Working Group was formulated to review Peter Gvozdják’s report. The Federation accepted the suggestion of the Ethics Task Force and issued a warning to Evgeny Fomichyov for his behaviour in the MatPlus forum.
WCCT: The results of the 11th WCCT that were announced on the site in October 2022 were confirmed as final. The director emphasized that ALL compositions that received points and a place in the award are considered published with the source “Nth Place WCCT 2021-22”. Only the compositions that received zero points and the excluded compositions of the RUS/BLR teams are original and can be published by the composers elsewhere. The committee will study during next year Marko Klasinc’s suggestion and David Hodge’s alternative proposal regarding score adjustment in specific cases. The spokesman and the committee should start the preparation process for the next WCCT.
WCCI: The results of the 8th WCCI 2019-21 that were announced on the site in September 2022 were confirmed as final. A spokesman needs to be found to co-ordinate the committee members’ work.
FIDE Album: The 2016-18 album was available in the congress as scheduled. Work for the 2019-21 album has started as planned.
The suggestion of V. Crișan and N. Shankar Ram to introduce an individual section for help-selfmates was examined by the committee and it will be further discussed during the year. The committee will also study the alternative suggestion made by the WCCT committee to introduce instead a section of “light” fairies (stalemates, series-play, reflexmates, help-selfmates, all without fairy pieces or conditions).
Solving: It was decided to amend Rule 4.2 (changes in bold): “All countries are entitled to enter one team, the organising country two teams and one team of juniors or women or mixed juniors and women. A country participating with a team(s) is allowed to nominate one further solver for the individual championship.”
Marek Kolčák will be the new spokesman. World Solving Cup 2022-2023, as in previous cycle (director: Roland Ott; assistant directors: Axel Steinbrink and Marek Kolčák).
New titles:
- International Grandmaster of the FIDE for Chess Compositions: Emil Klemanič (SVK), Valery Semenenko (UKR)
- International Master of the FIDE for Chess Compositions: Amatzia Avni (ISR), Kostas Prentos (USA), Árpád Rusz (ROU), Ivo Tominić (CRO)
- FIDE Master for Chess Compositions: Dirk Borst (NED), Branislav Djurašević (SRB), Luis Miguel González (ESP), Igor Kochulov (RUS), Aleksey Oganesyan (RUS), Jan Timman (NED)
- International Solving Grandmaster of the FIDE: Aleksey Popov (RUS)
- International Solving Master of the FIDE: David Hodge (GBR), Ilija Serafimović (SRB)
- FIDE Solving Master: Ulrich Voigt (GER)
- International Judge of the FIDE for Chess Compositions: Elmar Abdullayev (AZE, 3-movers), Sergey Borodavkin (UKR, selfmates), Mark Erenburg (ISR, n-movers and selfmates), Kenneth Solja (FIN, extension to 3-movers)
Elections: The Presidium for the years 2023-2026 will be: President: Marjan Kovačević (Serbia), 1st Vice-President: dr. Abdulla Ali Aal Barket (United Arab Emirates), 2nd Vice-President: Vidmantas Satkus (Lithuania), 3rd Vice-President: Dinu-Ioan Nicula (Romania). Harry Fougiaxis (Greece) was nominated Honorary President and Hannu Harkola (Finland) Honorary Member.
19th International Solving Contest (ISC) on 29.1.2023, directors Axel Steinbrink and Luc Palmans.
16th European Chess Solving Championship (ECSC) in Bratislava, Slovakia 2-4 June 2023
65th World Congress of Chess Composition (WCCC) and 46th World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC) in Batumi or Tbilisi (Georgia), August or September-October 2023. Place and dates will be announced in due course.