Zoning request by India

Friday, 06 March 2009 00:56

Global study of chess zones approved

A new zonal distribution in Asia might be approved at the next Presidential board meeting. During the Dresden one, the All India Chess Federation has requested a separate zone for the country, similar to the ones awarded to Russia and China. As reasons have been stated the rise of chess in the country and the titles won by the players in the past several years

The General Assembly approved a recommendation by the Executive board for global study of the zone structure. A decision should be taken soon. Meanwhile, here is the official letter of the All India Chess Federation.

To His Excellency Kirsan ILYUMZHINOV

At present India, a strong chess playing nation, is in Zone 3.2 of Asia. It is a well known fact that India has emerged as a super power in chess, the following few examples consolidating it:

The present World champion Viswanathan Anand hails from India. Current World No.2 among women and of course the world’s best player in the women circuit (as World No.1 Judit Polgar is playing only in the men circuit), Koneru Humpy is an Indian.

India can be proud of being the only country to have produced the World champions in the open and girls’ category of the World Junior championships in the same year.

The success story of the Indian youth is revealed by many amazing figures – to cite a few:

i) Winning the World Youth Olympiad for two successive years 2007 and 2008, ahead of strong nations like Russia, Armenia, England, Georgia, Philippines, Azerbaijan, Armenia etc.

ii) India winning at least one gold medal every year in the World Youth championships for the past several years. India was seeded as high as second in the previous Olympiad at Turin, showcasing its overall strength India has more than 8750 registered and rated players with Elo rating. It has 18 GMs and 56 IMs, besides 9 WGMs and 19 WIMs and 69 international arbiters India organizes many official FIDE championships (2007 & 2008 – Asian Junior and Commonwealth championships) every year, besides more than 70 FIDE rated and international tournaments leading to GM and other norms.

If India is separated into a single zone, it is not the only beneficiary, as the other countries in zone 3.2 will produce many title holders and norms from the zonal championships (In the current year, India deprived other countries of winning any title or norms, as their players finished 1-2-3 in the zonals). Indirectly, it promotes chess in other countries, by evoking response from their players. Already many countries like Russia and China are single country zones. Hence, it is requested that the following proposal may be included in the agenda of the General Assembly of the FIDE Congress to be held at Dresden in November, 2008.

Proposal

It is proposed to create a new zone in Asia 3.7, with India being the only member of the zone

Thanking you
Yours faithfully
D.V. Sundar
Hon. Secretary – All India Chess Federation

Copy to
Assistant to the FIDE President: Mr. Berik BALGABAEV
Chairman Technical Commission Mr. Andrzej FILIPOWICZ
General Secretary Mr. Ignatius LEONG
Continental President for Asia Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nehyan