Zone President Mr. Paris Klerides welcomed the delegates of ESNA and presented a summary of the activities of ESNA over the past year and also used the opportunity to thank the European Chess Union for their continued support.
The statutes of ESNA relating to membership was to be reviewed with caution as the membership was dictated by a General Assembly decision in 2010 in Khanty Mansiysk, based on the fact that all the nations had very low average ratings and would not result in any significant advantage to any of these nations. It was therefore important to clarify that Iceland would lead to requests by Montenegro and other countries hence creating a new issue with FIDE.
Regarding the 2nd ESNA Individual Championship in Luxembourg this year, Mr. Olivier Jeitz indicated that the tournament was a success and was very happy with the execution of the tournament. Players also expressed their satisfaction with the organisation, level of athleticism and the friendly atmosphere. Olivier thanked the European Chess Union for the financial support which was the key to the success of the tournament and also expressed gratitude to FIDE for the World Cup spot. The winner of the tournament was Helgi Ziska, Faroe Islands.
The President of ECU stated that they continue to support ESNA as they have provided fixed amounts to the Association for the past few years and have committed to do so until 2018. However, he also encouraged ESNA to obtain similar levels of support/contributions from FIDE.
ECU President, Mr Zurab Azmaiparashvili explained that a number of other zones were now lobbying for some place in the FIDE World Cup to be given directly from the ECU allocations. Mr Azmaiparashvili said that of course they were open to discussions with all zones including Fide Zone 1.10.
Forthcoming Events of ESNA:
2017 – Team Championship in Andorra.
2018 – Individual Championship in Faroe Islands
2019 – Team Championship in San Marino
2020 – Individual Championship in Monaco
2021 – Team Championship in Liechtenstein
Paris Klerides informed the members that he was able to successfully negotiate with the Arbiters Commission Chairman, for a free Arbiters’ Seminar in one small nation every year. Preferably in the nation that hosts the event that year. The organisers have to cover the accommodation and board for the lecturer. Geoffrey Borg also offered that if any Federation wished to organize a Trainer Seminar he would do this free of charge.
