To all who are well disposed towards the chess tournament of Groningen

Groningen, November 22, 2001

Chess tournament Groningen cancelled

Dear all,

You will probably not believe it, but it is the harsh reality. The 40th International Chess Tournament Groningen, and the European Championships have been cancelled due to a lack of co-operation of the world chess federation (FIDE) and the European chess union (ECU).

It all seemed so good. In September 2000 Groningen was granted the organization of the European Chess Championships of 2001. Things looked good especially when it turned out the Gasunie was willing to act as a main sponsor. The chess tournament of Groningen had a bright future. The Dutch government (along with the local government) was also willing to financially support the European Championships. Groningen was heading for a unique chess festival. Unfortunately, things now turned out differently.

The problems already started in January when FIDE suddenly decided that from now on the continental championships would be the only qualification tournaments for the World Championships. Since the tournament in Groningen is traditionally held in December, and the World Championships take place in November, Groningen could only be a qualification tournament if the tournament would be moved to a different date. In January we held an emergency meeting with the board of the ECU. After intensive negotiations we came to an agreement and signed a new contract.

The contents of the contract were as follows: Groningen was going to organize the EC 2002 (from 20-12-2001 to 04-01-2002) and would be a qualification tournament for the WC 2002. The FIDE granted us 46 qualification places and f 230,000 additional prize-money. The ECU had already found an alternative for the organization of the EC of 2001. Ohrid in Macedonia, at the time plagued by rebelling militias, was appointed as tournament-city.

After the agreement, an organizing committee was formed in Groningen and the work could finally begin. Nothing could get in our way, although FIDE did quickly decide that due to the WC the pace of playing should slowed down. Even though we heard a rumor in May and June that all this might be turned back, the ECU firmly denied these rumors. However, in retrospect it turned out these rumors were true.

In August, Groningen had finished an informal draft of the organization of the European Championships. We believed we had complied with all demands. Consequently, the concept was offered to the ECU who would return their assessment before September 1. However, we did not receive any reaction. Also, we did not receive a reply at our request to send the forms back on time. And a few weeks later we found out why. The "Week in Chess" informed us that there would not be a WC 2002 because the FIDE had decided to change the World Championships from a one-yearly cycle to a two-yearly cycle. So there was not going to be WC 2002, and perhaps also not an EC 2002 with qualification places and additional prize-money. However, the ECU did not inform us about this until the end of September.

The following negotiations with the ECU did not go well and the president of the ECU even threatened to ‘sell’ the EC to another country. The European Chess Federations did not receive our invitations until the third week of October, although we had already sent them in August. Several chess federation justly reproached us for this, but the ECU pretended as of they did not know anything about it.

All our proposals attempting to save the event were rejected by the president of the ECU. Our talks with the board in Leon (Spain) on November 11 were again not successful. Even a final attempt by our main sponsor Gasunie could not yield a positive result. However, we did find out the reason why we could not come to an agreement. The president of the ECU accidentally told that the EC 2003 with practically all the emoluments, which had been granted to Groningen, were now granted to Turkey. Even though the ECU had urged Groningen to ensure at least 300 hotel rooms were available, it now turns out the federations had hardly received any requests. Only around thirty players had registered at the closing day for applications; not something worthy of an EC. A large part of our budget is related to the organization of the EC. In order to limit the financial damage, it is therefore necessary to cancel the whole tournament. Of course we regret this decision, but we simply have no other choice. As said before, we are disillusioned, but will learn from this experience, that is no more business with FIDE/ECU. We realize what is must be like for hundreds of chess players to be informed at this moment that the whole tournament has been cancelled. Nevertheless, we hope that you can understand our decision.

Our main sponsor, Gasunie, is also disillusioned. It has to be stressed that they have supported us in above-mentioned problems from the beginning onwards. For that they truly deserve our respect. We had imagined the 40th tournament to be quite differently; we would have like to welcome you in Groningen, spend Christmas with you, and with some of you even New Year’s eve. But unfortunately it is tough doing business with boards that are unreliable.

Despite this negative news I wish you, on behalf of the organizing committee health, luck and a lot of chess fun in the coming year!

Johan Zwanepol,

President of the organizing committee