MCA

MEDITERRANEAN CHESS ASSOCIATION

Minutes 

MINUTES OF MEETING OF MEDITERRANEAN CHESS ASSOCIATION

events

MINUTES OF MEETING OF MEDITERRANEAN CHESS ASSOCIATION
Present for meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE on the 27th February 2020 :

FIDE PRESIDENT (partial) – H.E. Arkadiy Dvorkovich
FIDE DEPUTY PRESIDENT – Mr. Bachar Kouatly (France)
FIDE VICE PRESIDENT – Ms. Gulkis Tulay (Turkey)
FIDE VICE PRESIDENT (partial) – Mr. Tahar Battikh (Tunisia)
FIDE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (partial) – Mr. Willy Iclicki

DELEGATE ALBANIA CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Erald Dervishi
PRESIDENT ALGERIAN CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Azzedine Brahim Djelloul
DELEGATE ANDORRA CF (partial) – Mr. Javier Ochoa
DELEGATE CROATIAN CF (partial) – Mr. Alojzije Jankovic
DELEGATE CYPRUS CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Paris Klerides
PRESIDENT EGYPTIAN CHESS FEDERATION – Dr. Hesham El Gendy
PRESIDENT GREEK CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Georgios Makropoulos
PRESIDENT LEBANON CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Khaled Badieh
PRESIDENT FEDERACAO PORTUGUESA (partial) – Mr. Dominic Cross
PRESIDENT MALTA CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Geoffrey Borg
DELEGATE MONACO CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Patrick Van Hoolandt
PRESIDENT SYRIAN CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Ali Abbas
PRESIDENT TUNISIA CF (partial) – Mr. Khaled Arfa
DELEGATE TURKISH CHESS FEDERATION – Mr. Ozgur Solakoglu

The General Secretary of the MCA, Mr. Geoffrey Borg, opened the meeting and welcomed the FIDE President, H.E. Arkadiy Dvorkovich who expressed his support for the Mediterranean Chess Association (MCA) and augured that the MCA would reactivate, as the 26 country members not only had a long tradition of organizing chess events, but had an important role to play in chess development in the region. He said there were three FIDE Board members and a former FIDE Deputy President in the ranks of the MCA and this experience was invaluable. Furthermore, the FIDE team will assist in the projects and events that MCA would organize.

  1. The General Secretary of the MCA, Mr. Geoffrey Borg, opened the meeting and welcomed the FIDE President, H.E. Arkadiy Dvorkovich who expressed his support for the Mediterranean Chess Association (MCA) and augured that the MCA would reactivate, as the 26 country members not only had a long tradition of organizing chess events, but had an important role to play in chess development in the region. He said there were three FIDE Board members and a former FIDE Deputy President in the ranks of the MCA and this experience was invaluable. Furthermore, the FIDE team will assist in the projects and events that MCA would organize.
  2. The General Secretary thanked FIDE President and informed the participants of the meeting that the Association was originally set up in 2002 in Bled and had organized ten Open and Women Championships since then. The MCA had unfortunately become rather inactive with the last championships being held in 2015 in Lebanon.
  3. The Association was grateful to Mr. Nabil Badr, the outgoing president and Mr. Borg proposed that Mr. Nabil Badr was being nominated to the position of Honorary President in gratitude for his contribution to the MCA. The meeting unanimously agreed to the proposal.
  4. The meeting then elected the following Board of officials to represent the MCA :
    • President – Mr. Georgios Makropoulos (Greece)
    • Deputy President – Mr. Azzedine Brahim Djelloul (Algeria)
    • Vice President Africa – Dr. Hesham El Gendy (Egypt)
    • Vice President Asia – Mr. Ali Abbas (Syria)
    • Vice President Europe – Ms. Gulkis Tulay (Turkey)
    • Treasurer – M.r Patrick Van Hoolandt (Monaco)
    • General Secretary – Mr. Geoffrey Borg (Malta)
    • Member – Mr. Erald Dervishi (Albania)
    • Member – Mr. Alojzije Jankovic (Croatia)
    • Member – Mr. Paris Clerides (Cyprus)
  5. The General Secretary reminded the meeting that the Statutes allowed for members to be co-opted as may be required and any person wishing to contribute to the development and activity of the MCA was welcome.
  6. The General Secretary said that the number of member countries in the MCA was now at 26. The statutes of the MCA would be updated to reflect the members of the Mediterranean Games which had recently included Kosovo and North Macedonia.
  7. Additionally, the statutes would be updated as some articles were outdated and also the position of Honorary President would need to be reflected accordingly. This exercise would be completed in the next few days as a bank account would also need to be opened and the right documents would need to be in place.
  8. The MCA President, Mr. Georgios Makropoulos thanked the participants for their support and advised the meeting about his discussions with FIDE President and that an agreement had been reached for FIDE to support the MCA with a very important sum of 75,000 euros per annum. All MCA members are further encouraged to submit proposals for projects which would ensure development and legacy in the Mediterranean basin. A formal budget would be submitted to FIDE and an agreement would be signed accordingly.
  9. Mr. Borg said that discussions were underway for the 11th Mediterranean Championships and the first country to express its interest was Croatia. A review of FIDE and Continental calendar would be undertaken to establish reasonable dates for the Championship this year. An allocation of 15,000 euros was being made from the above budget towards this event and 10,000 euros towards the Junior championships.
  10. There being no other matters, the meeting was adjourned till Khanty Mansiysk, FIDE General Assembly , July 2020.

Geoffrey Borg

MCA General Secretary