News

First FIDE Fair Play Seminar

The FIDE Fair Play Commission, hosted by the Stockholm Chess Federation, held a Fair Play Seminar on 6th of January 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden.

At the Seminar, 20 participants from different countries took part – Sweden, Germany, Argentina, Israel, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Italy, Iceland, Zambia, USA, …

The Participants got familiar with the work of the Commission, being presented with the Fair Play Legal Framework and the Fair Play Regulations, Regan’s Statistical Analysis, the Fair Play Theory and Practice at OTB Events.

The FPL Chair created a case study for Salongerna (Stockholms Schacksalonger), where the Seminar participants were asked to organize the venue according to the Fair Play Protection Measures.

Lecturers from the FIDE Fair Play Commission:

  • Yuri Garrett (ITA)
  • Bojana Bejatovic (MKD)
  • Klaus Deventer (GER)
  • Vincent Geeraets (NED)
  • Jurgen Klurens (GER)
  • Alex Colovic (MKD)

”The Stockholm Chess Federation is very happy about the cooperation with FIDE and especially its Fair Play Commission and hopes to develop this cooperation further in the future.”

Jonas Sandbom, General Secretary of the Stockholm Chess Federation and Office Manager

“Before engaging with the FPL Commission, I always – naively – thought that the arbiters would take care of implementing Fair Play measures during tournaments. I must admit that I was at the level of unconscious incompetence. When we started learning from Yuri Garrett, we reached the level of conscious incompetence in regard to Fair Play. 
Having observed Bojana Bejatovic and later the whole commission not only in action at the Rilton Cup but also during the first ever Fair Play Seminar in Stockholm, I can say that we are on a good way of getting consciously competent.
The seminar was eye-opening and enlightening on a variety of topics from legal aspects to statistics to real-world case studies. Fair Play at chess tournaments is a balancing act between implementing all measures possible and making it as much of a pleasant experience as possible for all players – especially when amateur players are involved who pay entrance fees to play. 
We will continue learning from the FPL and also from our real-life experiences so that in due course we will be at a level of unconscious competence in Stockholm.”

Birger Wenzel, Chairman of the Rilton Committee