FIDE taking the piss?

[David Sedgwick]

I too would like to thank Kevin Thurlow for his exhaustive (and exhausting) contribution.

I think the ECF Board will need to consider the matter with some urgency and make a statement to the April Council Meeting. (Adam Raoof and Loz Cooper, are you reading this?)

[Paul McKeown]

I'm deeply saddened by the case of Monika Galambfalvy. I pushed her explanation through Google's translator ... Even accepting the doping tests being a part of German Chess....

Anthony,

Too busy at the moment, but I will try tomorrow to provide a translation of the more salient parts of the linked documentation.

Please note that although the link that Roger provided was on chessbase.de, the lady in question, Monkia Gambalfavy, was Austrian, not German, and affiliated to the Austrian Federation. She had signed consent two years before, when by some miracle she had come third in the ladies national championship and had been asked to represent Austria internationally at some minor events. She had not played since then at anything like the same level or intensity, and viewed herself as nothing more than a hobby player. Oh, and for anyone that thinks that it would only apply to the young and ambitious, her year of birth was 1959.

Regards,
Paul.

[Paul McKeown]

Kevin,

Your efforts are rewarded by our thanks!

Regards,
Paul.

[Kevin Thurlow]

And it has been pointed out to me that ICCF (International Correspondence Chess Federation) is affiliated to FIDE... It seems to be stretching it a bit to call chessplayers "athletes", but when the chessplayer only has to walk from the armchair to the computer... (A few might have to walk to the front door to pick up the post.) There is no such thing as "out of competition" for correspondence players either.