IMPORTANT DECISIONS TAKEN BY AICF AT THE CENTRAL COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT PUNE ON 19.10.2014

IMPORTANT DECISIONS TAKEN BY AICF AT THE CENTRAL COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT PUNE ON 19.10.2014

1.  In future AICF decides to reimburse the FIDE title fees of GMs / WGMs.

2. To honour the five players (GMs K.Sasikiran, Parimarjan Negi, B.Adhiban, S.P.Sethuraman and M.R.Lalith Babu) who brought glory to our country by winning the bronze medal in the Tromso Olympiad, it was decided to organise a Category tournament for which the AICF will take care of the prize money of Rs.10 lakhs. Six foreigners around 2700 ELO will be invited to join the five players for this category tournament. There will be no replacement for the above five players if anyone is not available for the tournament.

3. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has allotted the World Junior Chess Championship 2016 once again to India and the same will be organised at Bhuvaneswar.

4. AICF congratulates Mr.D.V.Sundar for being elected as FIDE Vice President by getting the maximum number of votes (103) among the 13 contestants from various other countries at the FIDE congress held at Tromso, Norway.

5. AICF congratulates Mr.Bharat Singh for being elected as Deputy President Asian Chess Federation, President Commonwealth Chess Association and Chairman technical committee FIDE.

6. AICF congratulates Mr.R.M.Dongre for becoming the President of Asian Zone 3.7.

7. AICF nominates committee comprising Mr.Bharat Singh, R.M.Dongre and Mr.Vivek Tibarewal and Mr.Kishor Bandekar with Hon. Secretary V.Hariharan as the Convenor to look into the complaints received from District Associations against All Assam Chess Association.

8. Action initiated against FIDE Arbiter Mr.Binoy Shah for Wilful disobedience of the directives of the AICF.

9.Arbiters Asit Baran Chowdhari and Goutham Battacharjee are suspended for three months from all activities of the AICF and all other Affiliates in any manner and in any capacity for not following the laws of chess during the National Under 7 Chess Championship held at Kolkata.

10. The existing Rules regarding participation of players in ELO restricted tournaments to continue for one more year.

11.It was decided to implement the Maharashtra model where by  permission for an Elo restricted tournament will be given only on the following conditions.

a) Approval for ELO restricted tournaments will be considered only if open FIDE rated tournament (without ELO restrictions) is organised along with it.

b) Prize money for the open tournament should be more than the ELO restricted tournament.

c) All other Rules for rating tournaments to be followed.

12. Book on Indian Chess History :

India’s first International Master, Nine times National Champion and Arjuna Awardee Manuel Aaron along with V.D.Pandit has brought out a 600 pages book on Indian Chess History. The book was released by Mr.D.V.Sundar, Vice President, FIDE and the first copy was received by the President of the All India Chess Federation Mr.P.R.Venketrama Raja in the presence of Mr.Ashok Jain, the President of Maharashtra Chess Association.

Condolence over the demise of Dr.N.Mahalingam former President of AICF. 21.3.1923 – 02.10.2014.

The members were informed of the sad demise of Dr.N.Mahalingam former President of AICF. He was the President of AICF from 1985 to 1989 and served as the President of Tamilnadu State Chess Association for two terms from 1975 to 1984 and again from 1999 to 2002.

Members recalled the enormous work undertaken by Dr.N.Mahalingam for chess development and how his tireless work made AICF one of the strongest National Sports Federations of India.  When Dr. Mahalingam was President of AICF, with Manuel Aaron as Secretary, he put in place a lot of procedures and practises which gave meaning to the constitution of the All India Chess Federation and evoke high praise by members till today. Speaking on the occasion, D.V.Sundar recalled how Dr Mahalingam used his good offices to convince the Government at Delhi to include Chess in the list of sports recognized by the Government, thereby creating opportunities for chess players to get Government and Quasi Government jobs.

During 1988-1989 when the Government did not extend financial support to the activities of the Federation, it was recalled that Dr.Mahalingam as President of AICF kept the activities running without interruption by his personal funding. Long before the Government thought of granting cash incentives to chess players becoming International Masters and Grandmasters, Dr Mahalingam had already conceived of such a scheme and was granting cash awards to high achievers from personal funds.

On the death of Dr.N.Mahalingam we have lost a clear thinker, a philanthropist, an ardent chess lover and a rock on which the AICF was built. It was resolved to convey our deepest condolences to his family.