The chess world celebrated yesterday’s balanced decision regarding teams participation in the Olympiad. The Board of the Organizing committee underlined the “satisfaction with the FIDE President’s statement in a recent interview that the Chess Olympiad will not be moved from Tromsø”, while FIDE was happy to publish that all teams will participate.
However, multiple questions from FIDE’s strong reaction remained unanswered by COT, and the world chess governing body has returned to them today with an open letter. The first issue is the visas problem for teams. Here is the full text of the letter:
№ 01/226
21 July 2014
Moscow
Organising Committee “Tromso 2014″
Dear Mr Hans Olav Karde,
Thank you for your letter of today 21 July.
I am pleased with the decision of the Organising Committee “Tromso 2014″ to comply with FIDE regulations and to accept the late registration of all federations.
For the success of a large sport event, such as the Chess Olympiad, the roles of FIDE as the governing body of the sport and the role of the Organiser are distinct and with a clear division of authority between them. Both sides should work together, each performing its own job, with a spirit of co-operation and mutual effort for the success of the event. I believe that yesterday’s decision of the Organising Committee “Tromso 2014″ was a positive first step towards this direction.
I am expecting that the Organising Committee “Tromso 2014″ will continue to co-operate in the same spirit with FIDE’s World Championship & Olympiads Committee, and the FIDE Secretariat, in order to resolve the remaining organisational issues of the Olympiad.
I would especially like to remind you about the other serious problem, mentioned in my letter of 18 July, concerning the issue of visa to all participants, including the delegates of the FIDE Congress. In your letter of today there was no reply to this question, which creates the impression that some of the players may not be able to come with their teams and that some of the delegates may not be able to attend the assembly. As “Tromso 2014″ promised from the first moment it applied for the Olympiad, it should do everything possible, in co-operation with the Norwegian Government, in order for all applicants to receive their entry visas for Norway.
Gens Una Sumus!
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE President
The other questions of the FIDE President may come up in the next days, review all issues noted by Ilyumzhinov here
Timeline of the COT – FIDE disagreements
Nine teams excluded from the Tromso Olympiad 2014
Interview with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
RCF to take action, issues official position
FIDE with strong reaction and deadline to the Organizing Committee
Open letter by IM David Levy (London)
Russian support continues, open letter by Andrey Filatov