Tournaments

• Smooth organization of major FIDE events, including both World Classical Championships (London and Khanty-Mansiysk)
• Successful relocation and organization of King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2018 in a close partnership with the Saudi Chess Federation and the Russian Chess Federation. New standard of organization and specially devised programs attracted thousands of live spectators to the venue.
• Restructuring and massive increase in the prize fund of the Women's World Chess Championship Cycle. Introduction of Women Candidates Tournament and relaunch of Women Grand Prix series.
• Introduction of FIDE GrandSwiss as a new qualification path for the Candidates Tournament in 2020.

Support of continental and national federations

• Allocation of a record 3 million Euro to the development fund.
• Development of a clear KPIs system to evaluate the efficiency of use of allocated funds.
• Agreements signed between FIDE and a number of national federations to provide assistance from the development fund aimed at achieving relevant KPIs.
• Agreements between FIDE and continental federations to be signed during the Q1 2019.

Budget 2019

• The Budget was significantly increased and restructured. The budgeted income of about EUR 6.5 million in 2019 will be the highest ever in FIDE history. Expenses are planned at EUR 5.5 million, which is almost three times higher than in the preceding years – with the Development fund getting the sharpest increase. EUR 925,000 will be set aside as a reserve fund, which will make FIDE financial situation significantly more sustainable.
• Previously, FIDE spent about 85% of its income on its own office. In the current budget, this number is reduced to 35% and will be kept around that level in the future. At the same time, fees charged by FIDE will be cut up to 40% in average – thus reducing the burden on the players and national federations. FIDE is going to support the federations, and not the other way around as it used to be.

Immediate transition matters

• Successful management transition with no interruption in activities.
• Upgrading internal compliance and AML processes allowed FIDE to re-establish its credibility and to open accounts in major European banks.
• Finalizing preparations to relocate the main FIDE office from Athens to Lausanne to be completed in Q1 2019.

Improvement of FIDE governance

• Management Board created with the regular weekly meetings
• Institutional procedures are implemented, with an aim to ensure FIDE governance according to the best organizational standards.
• A team of professionals has been set up to conduct a fundamental revision of the FIDE Handbook in 2019 in order to prepare the amendments towards the 2019 FIDE General Assembly.
• FIDE non-elected commissions were restructured in order to attract the best experts and to make the commissions more efficient; Chairs and members of the commissions have been appointed. Presidential Board members are appointed to overview the work of respective commissions.
• More transparency in the nominations for the official tournaments will be delivered under the guidance of the relevant commissions.
• Taskforce for review of all FIDE regulations has been established.


Promotion of chess in media and interacting with the chess community

• Considerable increase of FIDE activity in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• A taskforce has been created to drastically improve the FIDE website. FIDE strengthens and expands its public relations department – appointments are to be finalized in Q1.
• Talks about the global cooperation between FIDE and major existing chess platforms have started.
• Proper cooperation with mainstream media – East and West to be established soon – in this regards FIDE already held discussion with several global media houses.
• Polls about World Cup and World Championship Match format have been conducted – with about 200 players expressing their opinion.
• Thousands of inquiries sent to the FIDE office and management were answered timely and candidly – ensuring proper transparent communication between FIDE and chess people around the globe.

100 days is obviously a rather short period of time. But we are committed to our promise to bring the change and make the chess world a better place – and we will keep working hard to serve the global chess community.

FIDE Team