MEDITERRANEAN CHESS ASSOCIATION
c/o Villa Babushka,
San Pawl Ta Targa NXR06,
Sunday,
June 29, 2003
Minutes of
2nd Board Meeting held in
Members
Present:
President
- H.E.
Treasurer -
Dr. Sakis Kouvatsos (
General
Secretary - Mr Geoffrey D Borg (
Guests
:
Deputy
President - FIDE - Mr
George Makropoulos
President
African Chess
Excused:
Deputy President
-
Vice
President - Dr. Ammar Houry (
1.
INTRODUCTION
The
President of the Libyan Chess Federation welcomed the Mediterranean Chess
Association to
Mr
George Makropoulos also said that this was a very important meeting. He was
happy to be back again in
2.
APPROVAL OF LOGO
Following the submission of the logos as attached in previous
e-mails by the General Secretary to the Board members, the logos were discussed
and it was agreed that the MCA needed to finalise a logo which would be simple
and effective at the same time. It was very important to incorporate the three
Olympic rings of the continents represented in the Mediterranean, namely yellow
for Asia, black for Africa and blue for
q
The pawn represented the common Mediterranean
person who in life could advance to different stages like a pawn in the chess
game can be promoted to any piece i.e. a knight, bishop, rook or queen.
q
The colours were simple and effective so that
production costs in future would be kept to a minimum
q
The blue swish represented in its way the C for
chess and also a wave in the
The
Board agreed that the logo with the letters 'MCA' would be used by the MCA for
promotional items such as badges, t-shirts etc... The logo without the letters
MCA would be used on the letter head and the full words and address of the
Mediterranean Chess Association would be printed on the right hand side.
The
General Secretray said that it was important that for the internet web-site the
logo be extruded to come up with the modem image that internet needs to portray
and the graphic artist would work with some specialist 3-D people to come up
with an extruded logo for the internet.
3.
WEB SERVICES
The Treasurer said that he had some direct ideas
for the web pages and services that the MCA should have. Firstly, it was
important that the web-site serve as an information centre whereby players and
journalists from all over the Mediterranean would get news of all activities'
that were or had taken place in the Mediterranean basin. Enough interest should
be built to ensure that people submit regularly news events as they occur.
He also felt that the MCA should be able to
create a software platform where players could play on the internet
through the MCA web server. Apart from the opportunity to play on the internet,
the MCA could organise tournaments, training facilities and on-line matches
between teams sitting in different countries in the Mediterranean. Telecom
companies across the Mediterranean were prime targets for sponsoring such
matches and these would be held from the respectives company premises in
different countries.
It
would also be easy to organise an e-mail tournament between Mediterranean
countries with very low costs. There were two options where either an agreement
could be reached with people like the Internet Chess Club (ICC) or Chessbase
who had developed popular packages. It was very important to extend the possibility
to all players in the Mediterranean to communicate and make new friends. This would be a
very big weapon and the Board should investigate how much it would cost.
The
General Secretary said that there were a number of web chess servers and the
best two were Blitzin by ICC and Playchess by Chessbase. There were also other
sites like World Chess Network. He would investigate with them two options. The
first would be the development or sale of a complete independent product which
could allow Med players to achieve the objectives discussed above. The second
option would be to reach a commercial agreement where tournaments or special
membership prices could be achieved with either ICC or Chessbase.
The
cost of developing an application from scratch was very high and one had to
keep in mind that Club Kasparov had had an excellent site with all the above
points but had become bankrupt. A balance had to be sought with the objectives
of the MCA and the resources it had. He also pointed out that there was already
an e-mail tourtlament in the Mediterranean called 'Mare Nostrum' and he
recalled that Italy, Slovenia, France and Malta were playing ... around 10 Med
countries.
The
President offered the services of Libya to help host the web server and look at
the investment cost if this was realistic and cost effective. The General
Secretary is to come back to the Council on the negotiations with ICC or
Chessbase.
4. MEMBERS
AND GUESTS
There
were currently 21 eligible Federations in the Mediterranean for membership. The
only country which for now was sitting on the fence was Spain and this was
purely a personal decision by their President. The Board were encouraged to
extend positive messages to Spanish representatives so that Spain would extend
its support, even in principle, to the Mediterranean Chess Association. Mr
Makropoulos invited the MCA President to the FIDE General Congress in Halkidiki
at the end of October this year and this would be an opportunity for the MCA
President to meet up all the relevant Mediterranean Federations who would be
attending there.
The
General Secretary pointed out that at this point in time the maximum number of
countries Iwhich could participate in an event were
23 since the Board had agreed to extend guest status to Palestine and Andorra.
These two countries bordered the Med region and could benefit .
from
the MCA initiatives. These guests would be agreed from time to time by the
Board. Currently the guest invited in the Mediterranean Games (i.e. football,
judo etc...) was Jordan.
5.
BANK ACCOUNTS AND REGISTRATION
The
Treasurer said that both he and the General Secretary had opened up an account
with different banks in Greece and Malta respectively. However given that the
MCA had not been officially registered as an organisation in any country, the
banks would not accept the registration of the account as an organisation.
Consequently the two accounts had been opened as Sakis Kouvatsos on behalf of
the Mediterranean Chess Association with the General Bank of Greece in Hania and
Geoffrey D Borg on behalf of the Mediterranean Chess Association with Bank of
Valletta in Malta. The Treasurer was proposing that the registration of the
Association take place in an EU country and the proposal was to register it in
Hania, the home address for the Treasurer. This should facilitate the opening
up of an Association account.
This
would allow the MCA also to register for assistance under various EU programs.
The registration process would take around 20 days to allow for an official
translation by the Courts of the MCA statute. There was no objection to this
although the Treasurer was requested to forward copies of the official
documents to the General Secretary once there were
formalised. Additionally it was important to ensure that the status of a
non-profit organisation would not be affected by this registration.
The
General Secretary said that he wanted to clarify that the above process may
still not be enough for the Banking community since there were definite
international laws relating to money laundering and the fact that the MCA was
made up of five different nationals would always cause a high degree of
problems. The Treasurer was confident that following the registration process
this problem would be overcome. The President offered that is this problem did
persist in three weeks time he would try and intervene through the North
African Bank which was based in Lebanon.
6. TRAINING
CAMPS
The Treasurer said that this was an important
area of development since there were definite EU programs which the MCA had to
work on and address. Training camps were an important tool for achieving the
MCA objectives. They developed better communication between players, gave the
opportunity for new friendships and they promoted chess and improvement of
technical standards. The details of a current EU program called 'Advancement
of education through athletics' established financial assistance of around
6.5 million Euros. The program was split into three periods:
500,000 Euros for proposals held before
the 1st January 2004
4,000,000 Euros for proposals of
activities between the 1st January 2004 and 30th June 2004
2,000,000 Euros for proposals of
activities held after the 30th June 2004
A maximum of 185 proposals would be accepted.
The first period was too close and it was
not expected that for 2003, the MCA would be able to get any funds but
the target was agreed to have plans ready for the EU Commission responsible by
the 1 st of October so that this would qualify for thc activitics support bctwccn
thc 1st January 2004 and 30th Junc 2004. Consultants would need to be used to
ensure the maximum success rate of the application. Funding of up to 80% could
be achieved where the activities are wider than a national interest.
The common date when all Mediterranean juniors
would have time off seems to be July- September and it was proposed that any
activities should be held then. The long term objective was however to ensure
that these events should be self-financing to ensure that the organisation of
such things would continue. The Treasurer had worked out two budgets to reflect
an upgraded version with EU assistance and one without. This would cover five /
six trainers for 14 days for around 30 to 40 kids who could be invited.
Additional kids may be considered depending upon
circumstances but this would be against payment at commercial rates. The camp
would also ensure that there would be extra curricular sporting and cultural
activities to widen the breadth of the education the kids would receive. Target
age for the kids is between 12 to 16 and the camp would serve as a form of
summer holiday for the kids and parents.
q
The lower end version
would cost around 30,000 Euros with accommodation posing the greatest cost at
around 15,000 Euros, trainers would cost around 8,500 Euros (including travel
expenses). Travel expenses for the kids would be down to the individual
Federations or parents.
q
The higher end
versions would organise the event in higher qualirx accommodation costing
around 24,000 Euros, higher level of trainers and travelling costs for all the
participants would be subsidised by the MCA. It would also cover the sourcing
of training materials such as computers, demo boards, clocks, sets etc... which
would be the property of the MCA. The cost of this option would be around
60,000 Euros.
7. 1ST
MEDITERRANEAN MEN AND WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
The
General Secretary raised the request by some members who wanted to send more
than one player against payment. The President said he preferred that each
country sends its best players rather than
dilute the tournament strength. Additionally it was normal and acceptable j
that the host Federation has more players as a
token of gratitude by the MCA and also to balance the number of
players in a tournament. The choice was between a closed tournament with a high
standard which eventually could also attract special norms from FIDE and an
open tournament which could also be organised in the future under a separate
title e.g. Mediterranean Open Championship etc...
The
President requested that tournament regulations covering the organisation,
administration and bidding procedures be drafted and circulated to the Board
members for discussion and approval. The General Secretary said that he would
action this area and look at ECU regulations for guidance. He also requested
that the Board works on the countries with which they had close contact to
chase and get the answer in good time for participation in Lebanon.
The
proposal is as follows:
q
Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia Nizar
Elhaj
q
Malta, Italy, San Marino, Spain, Andorra
Geoffrey D Borg . Syria,
Lebanon, Palestine, Albania, France, Monaco Ammar Houry
q
Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia Ali Nihat Yazici
q
Greece, Cyprus, Bosnia, Serbia Sakis Kouvatsos
8. 1ST
MEDITERRANEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP, NOVEMBER
The Treasurer said that he had made some
workings on the organisation of this event possibly ~
in Greece and that this had worked out at around
157,000 Euros based on 22 teams and 9 individuals by 9 rounds. The
format would be 4+ 1 men, 2+ 1 women and one team captain. The General
Secretary said that maybe these estimates were a bit above what would actually
happen since probably around 14 men's teams would take part and 10 women teams.
There
would be around 114 players. Assuming a reasonable level of accommodation with
full board in November would costs around 20 Euros per person, the
accommodation would work out at 20,000 Euros. Assuming other costs such as
transfers, bulletins, arbiters, organisers etc... the total cost would be
around 40,000 Euros. No particular prizes were needed since the honour of the
tournament was very high. There had been some interest shown in organisation by
both Algeria and Syria although the former were more interested in the Junior
Championships in March.
The
General Secretary would speak to Dr Houry to see if he could speak to the
Syrian Federation and see if there was any interest on their part. The
President said that Libya would also consider making an offer to host the tournament.
9.
OTHER MATTERS
The
Board were also informed that Mr Bonhas Halim, the President of the Algerian
Chess Federation would like to be co-opted since he felt he could contribute to
the organisation. The Board welcomed this initiative and the General Secretary
was instructed to notify Mr Bonhas Halim of the positive decision of the Board.
The
Board also discussed the publication of a magazine at the end of the year which
would be sent to all FIDE Federations, leadingjoumalists etc.. detailing the
activities that the MCA held during 2003.
There
being no other matters the Board was adjourned. The next Board meeting is
proposed to be held during the men's and women's tournament in Lebanon between
September 26th and October 5th.