Arkadij Naiditsch: “Why the German A-team will not participate in the Olympiad”
28 July 2010, 9.00 CET | Last modified: 9:41 | By Editors | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Open letter
Due to financial problems and organizational failure by the German Chess Federation, the four German top players won’t play at the upcoming Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. This is what Arkadij Naiditsch tries to make clear in an angry open letter which he sent to ChessVibes. The German top grandmaster doesn’t mince words.
Open letter by GM Arkadij Naiditsch
Why the German A-team will not participate in the 2010 Olympiad
Cc: Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker
This letter is not addressed to anybody directly. As a player of the German National team I would like to make some things clear about my hard working Federation and its President, Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker.
Let’s start with the fact that nobody from the German A-team is going to participate in the Chess Olympiad this year. These players are Georg Meier, Jan Gustafsson, Daniel Fridman and me, Arkadij Naiditsch. Why? The easy answer is that the biggest chess federation in Europe, about 100,000 active members, couldn’t manage to find money to pay the players.
So, the next question is “how could this happen”? This question is easy to answer as well: nobody in the federation has been doing anything for at least five years. The German Chess Federation has no sponsors at the moment, so the money is only coming from their members. Generally, even this should be enough to have a great and lazy life, but the main problem is the meetings attended by huge amounts of hungry officials that are being held almost monthly in expensive hotels.
Let me now become a bit more direct, because I would like to single out a few people with whom I have had to deal with personally.
1) Mr. U. Bönsch – National Coach
The first Olympiad that I played in was in Turin, 2006. I played on the first board for the German team and Mr. Bönsch was already an experienced and well-respected trainer. But the strange thing was, all he ever did was distribute the line-up for the next match and make a great black tea that we drank together every evening. Not once did he make the slightest effort to help anybody from the team chess wise.
So, year after year, the chess help from Mr. Bönsch remained the same: nothing but tea. In my opinion, our national trainer could be a hero in any teahouse!
2) Mr. Klaus Deventer – responsible for finding and distributing money for the national team. In German: Leistungssportreferent.
With regard to finding money there isn’t much to say. I think Mr. Deventer in his crushing career in the Chess Federation never even gave it a try.
In distributing money for the national team he has clear methods and opinions. That is, the national team should play for free!! By the way, to be clearer, Mr. Deventer is the individual who is responsible for fighting for us to get money. So, from a 110,000 Euro budget he manages for “top chess” in Germany, less than a quarter is left for the Olympiad for male and female teams combined.
Strangely, Mr. Deventer is a very important man in the federation. Personally, I could never understand what he is actually doing. And I think after many years of deep thinking, I finally got a little clue about his function; it is to try to stop anybody from being a professional chess player in Germany. Mr. Deventer really hates this. Rarely it is possible to meet somebody as unpleasant as Mr. Deventer.
3) Mr. Ralph Alt – Tournament Director
Mr. Alt is a famous public prosecutor in Germany. He is the organizer of many official tournaments in Germany, such as the National Individual Championship.
He only has one problem: he is always scheduling these championships to match his holidays. So, sometimes he gets lucky and there is nothing running at the same time. No such luck this year. He held the German National Championship at exactly the same dates as the European Individual Championships. A normal reaction would be, what the heck? Easy answer: Sorry, holidays are holidays. Can’t move them! So nobody participated in it from the A-team and the young German player Niclas Huschenbeth managed to win the title. Congrats to him as he showed great fighting spirit in the tournament.
My last German Championship was in 2007. In that year Mr. Alt showed absolute class. He found a city in Germany that has no train or bus (or anything else) connection. So taxi was the only way to reach it. Respect for Mr. Alt!! This is really not so easy to do. Give it a try. 
4) Mr. Jörg Schulz – fifteen different positions!!
Personally, I didn’t have much to do with Mr. Schulz as he has always been responsible for the German Youth Chess Federation. (Deutsche Schach Jugend). Slowly, over the years he took over about fifteen different positions within the federation and is almost completely in charge of the whole money flow now. Bravo to Mr. Schulz!
For example, he created a chess company that is paying the players for participating in the European Team Championships as well as Olympiads. The company is making no money but paying us. Wow, really great job by Mr. Schulz.
That’s all from the main German Federation Crushers! There might be few more that I don’t know, but they are probably in hiding.
About Mr. Prof. Dr. Robert von Weizsäcker I will write a bit down below. First you will have to read his great letter that he wrote to the four of us (German A-team). For other people in the Federation, there are so many that deserve a few choice words, but I think it wouldn’t be fair to the few people who are trying to do something for German chess. Anyway, my many thanks to these few.
Dear readers, I hope you now have a bit of an overview of what is going on in my Federation.
This year, the A-team has said that we will not play for the funny money they are offering and asked for conditions. It drove almost all the guys in the Federation completely crazy! How is it possible that we will not play?? Do we have to cancel now a few dinners? No way we gonna do that!!”
Mr. Deventer immediately wrote a very long and boring letter, where he is comparing us with soccer players and asking us to play almost for free because the German National Soccer team is also not getting their normal salary for going to Africa. Funny, no? I guess then we have to compare Mr. Deventer to a Russian oligarch and ask him to support us from his own budget?!
Afterwards, we half-heartedly attempted to find sponsors ourselves, which didn’t work out. So the result was, of course, that the German A-team is not going to play the 2010 Chess Olympiad.
This is when Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker is coming into the game (he has been the German Chess President for the last two years).
So far, according to the words of Jan Gustafsson (all the contact was going through him) our President supported us, the players.
But on June 29th we received a letter from Prof. Dr. Robert von Weizsäcker that completely shocked me. Up to that point my opinion of our President was quite positive; he seemed to be a man with an understanding of chess players.
Here is the letter [translated into English by CV - German version in PDF here]:
Concerning: Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk
Dear members of the men’s national team, dear chess friends,
In answer to my letter of May 19th, 2010 Mr Gustafsson answered by email on June 10th, 2010 that, on the given conditions you are not willing to play in Khanty-Mansiysk. Besides, he has started an initiative to find a sponsor as soon as possible, something that was clearly supported by me. To my knowledge this initiative hasn’t had the desired effect.
If no last-minute sponsor will contact Mr Gustafsson soon, this means the German Chess Federation won’t be able to send you to the Chess Olympiad. I wouldn’t only regret this terribly, but I’d be personally disappointed as well.
I can only partly understand that you keep on insisting on demands that, despite great efforts, couldn’t be fulfilled by either the German Chess Federation or the company.
Therefore I would personally like to ask you to reconsider your position and accept the same terms as two years ago. In case you’re still prepared to accept this, please declare this to the team captain not later than July 2nd 2010. After that he will be forced to nominate other players. I would have liked to push this deadline up front, if there wasn’t a deadline set by FIDE to enter the team.
At this weekend’s meeting of the Top Sport Commission it was decided that your status as selected players would become inactive for the time being, if you’re not prepared to play the upcoming Olympiad under the current conditions.
This would imply that any course of action to support you as top players would become impossible. Furthermore, for the year 2011 the team captain was requested to check whether the criteria for future support, i.e. the willingness of all players to cooperate with the federation, are still being met. I fully support this decision because in my opinion we cannot simply move on.
Support by the German Chess Federation, which partly involves a longer period of time, is naturally associated with the expectation to engage in an appropriate manner and in a responsible way for German chess.
On the other hand the German Chess Federation doesn’t want to close all doors. In any case it would be useful to have a meeting after the Olympiad, to which our Top Sport Coordinator will invite you, to discuss the situation. Still I hope that all these considerations won’t be necessary. The decision is yours.
Best regards,
Yours truly,Robert von Weizsäcker.
Cool, no? Let me clarify a few things:
Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker found 0 Euros in two years of being the President of the German Chess Federation. (Maybe he simply has no time, being a Professor at a few universities?) The huge support he is threatening to cancel is this: for myself as German number one (my current ELO rating is 2684), the German Federation covers about half of my expenses for playing in exactly one tournament, the European Championship. That amounts to about 800 Euros a year, nothing more.
Now, of course, their direct threat to cancel all that help is making me sleep badly and giving me nightmares. Next time, maybe if I cover the coffee bill I hope Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker and my hard working Chess Federation will not cancel the important support for me?! We will see in the future if they have any mercy.
As we know, Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker is running his campaign for the ECU Presidency, and many European countries are giving their support to him. Now, the logical conclusion would be since he could do absolutely nothing for chess in his own country in two years, or again had no time for it, which, of course, led to the same result, can he do something for Europe? I would say probably not. So here comes the idea. Maybe we could open a charity foundation for the German Chess Federation and for Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker? Many people are sending small amounts for “saving the forest” so maybe it could work with my dear Federation and Prof. Dr. Von Weizsäcker, too? It is hard to find anybody coming across as more poor and helpless than the German Federation.
Hope you enjoyed reading my statement. And please don’t get the idea that I have exaggerated. I really did my best to stay as close to the facts as possible. 
Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch
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There is of course a translation error in Weizsäcker’s letter, one key phrase should read “your status as selected players would become inactive for the time being, if you’re NOT prepared to play the upcoming Olympiad under the current conditions.”
Thx, dear proof reader Thomas!
Corrected.
Can this really happen in Germany? What a shame!!!
If this is indeed not exaggerated then anyone voting for Von Weizsäcker in the ECU-elections would be even weaker and more incompetent as Von Weizsäcker himself.
I don’t like Danailov as a person but i hope he will be elected because at least he’s a pro in terms of finding money and sponsors, organizing events and coming up with new ideas.
Great letter by GM Arkadij Naiditsch with a lot of spirit and sense of humour.
It’s quite possible that Von Weizsäcker is a puppet on a string of people who dislike Danailov.
He can’t do a shit for his own country and now he has the ambition to become president of the ECU ?!?
I’d take an incompetent puppet any day over morally corrupted people such as Danailov.
@Peter: You’re welcome, no big deal … I was obviously puzzled by the “first version” of von Weizsäcker’s letter and could check the German original.
@steven: As ECU president, von Weizsäcker would be head of a team – and Naiditsch’s complaints are still primarily about other federation officials. And Danailov? Yes, he succeeded in finding money … for Topalov (hence himself) and a few others. Even if there weren’t any issues with his character, like openly hating another top player, his presidency would be problematic because he is very closely associated with one top player.
this is a disgrace, the people mentioned in this letter by a top GM should hang their heads in shame. what a pathetic bunch of incompetent jumped up idiots!
Too bad Naiditsch doesn’t mention the conditions offered by the federation. The main point of the article is that it wasn’t enough: so why doesn’t he want to tell how much it is?
As we say in Spanish, “no ha dejado títere con cabeza”! (He didn´t leave a single puppet with its head on). Thumbs up for demanding good working conditions.
He does kind of mention it, Poek:
“In distributing money for the national team he has clear methods and opinions. That is, the national team should play for free!! By the way, to be clearer, Mr. Deventer is the individual who is responsible for fighting for us to get money. So, from a 110,000 Euro budget he manages for “top chess” in Germany, less than a quarter is left for the Olympiad for male and female teams combined.”
It doesn’t sound like much, especially if all expenses have to be paid from this as well.
Ralph Alt is a judge, not a prosecutor. He is right right now busy with Ivan Demjanjuk.
Hilarious letter. I really hope it gets some things moving, our players deserve better than that.
I am one of the 100,000 active members of the German Chess Federation as Arkadij mentioned.
And I would like to thank our Number One for this Open Letter. I hope, this will turn out to be very positive for my country.
Thank you, Arkadij!
I could have never imagined that this situation could happen in Germany, one of the biggest chess federations in the world.
My sincere congratulations to Mr. Naiditsch’s for his brave letter, if only there were more professional players with the stones to condemn publicly the corruption and incompetence of politicians.
There is one notion inside the German Chess Federation that has been criticised for many years now (and I think rightly so), that the federation should promote chess as a game for all people, i.e. a great deal of support does not go to the professionals but a little bit to many amateurs. This is one of the reasons why the largest chess federation in Europe hasn’t produced a top ten chess players for roughly 25 years.
Most officials disapprove on a professional chess career but advice young players to rather pick up a ‘proper’ profession.
And there’s a rule that the money for national team players may not be taken from the members’ fees but has to come from an external sponsor.
Nothing will change, though.
“Therefore I would personally like to ask you to reconsider your position and accept the same terms as two years ago.”
It seems that they were offered with the same conditions as 2 years ago. Do I miss something in the story?
No worries Mr Naiditsch In Belgium it is even worse …. last year the Belgian chess federation’s treasurer was caught for stealing 100 000€ from the federation which left them bankrupt ! and so now they cannot even afford to send a team to the olympiad (which only gets its travel expenses paid anyway) so we probably won’t even have a team
What a horrible story about the German Chess Federation and their officials!
What a great and brave letter written by GM A. Naiditsch!
What a shame for Germany!
If there is a German principle that the national team, of any sport, should get external sponsors, you cannot realy blame Weiszäcker and the chess federation.
However, the letter of GM Naiditch illustrates a general problem: officials, administrators, politicians, etc, are using to much of the money that should be used on people who are directly involved with “doing the work”, including chess players.
It seems that there are two separate arguments in GM Naiditch’s letter. The first is a legitimate point, that he believes that the German Chess Federation has some management issues and is not going to put forward the strongest national team that it possibly can.
The second is just a moan, that the German Federation won’t pay him what he demands. Tough luck. Like professionals in other fields, if he feels that the offer (the same as two years ago) from the client is unsatisfactory then he should take his services elsewhere. Go play in a sponsored tournament or a match.
And people are always complaining about the Russian Chess Federation. As you can see there are problems of different kinds in Germany and Belgium and who knows whereelse too. Maybe Naiditsch will play for Latvia next year or maybe he will flee to the USA… haha… let´s wait for Weizsäckers reaction. The chess game gets more and more unpopular these days but it doesn´t surprise that our society produces such uglyness if you watch our values and what the media educating us.
In light of Naiditsch’s comments it’s interesting to see what the top Polish player, Wojtaszek, had to say about the Polish Chess Federation:
“Well, nothing’s changed in that regard for many years – the resources that we get for development are very small. At the European Team Championships and the Olympiad the players take part for nothing, which is inconceivable in other countries. So it’s hard to be surprised when some people withdraw from the team [...] No doubt it’s a bit strange that as the number one on the ranking list and a second for the World Champion I don’t get support from the federation, but as I said before – it’s nothing new to me and I’ve already got used to it.”
http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/07/wojtaszek-on-being-anands-second/
But I recommend reading the interview not for the politics but for a glimpse at the life of one of Anand’s seconds at a World Championship match!
To be fair to Naiditsch and his colleagues, the players made it clear after the last Olympiad that they would not play again for this money.
Plus, the fact that they need sponsors to pay the players is not really an excuse for the officials whose job it is to find them. But the players on the team generally don’t feel supported by the federation, it’s not solely about money.
In my opinion I don’t think von Weizsäcker is a good choice as ECU president, because he never ceases to highlight his lack of time and I don’t know if he’s the right person to get things done. Apart from that I think he is a respectable person and it might bring some credibility into chess management as far as federations are concerned.
That’s something I never understood entirely in sports in general: how does it work when your country asks for your services?
In chess, it’s like any other tournament or deal with a particular: the country has to pay (and generally speaking, it means pay very well). Is it the same in sports like tennis?
Dear friends,
I am very saddened after reading the article.
I am from India, still a developing country and relatively poor than Germany.
But still never heard of such a thing in my own country where we have lot of sponsors and govt help and support to chess players
It is a real shame for that a player like Arkadij and his team, hailing from one of the richest country in the world has to go through this.
Arkadij, we are with you.
My sincerest sypmathies to Mr. Naiditsch. Things are even worse here in the U.S.A. If it weren’t for the patronage of wealthy individuals like Mr. Rex Sinquefield, who foots the bill for the U.S. Championships, we’d have the same problems here.
It’s a pity that Chess isn’t more popular and that it doesn’t enjoy more support world-wide. And yet everyone is supporting Kirsan?! What has he done and how has chess improved under his leadership? Sadly, if Dr. Robert von Weizsäcker is representative of what we could expect from Karpov2010, it doesn’t sound like there is any hope for chess as a viable game/sport in the near future…
In a way I’m not sure the problem with team competitions is that exclusive to chess e.g. in football, players usually get relatively little, or sometimes nothing, for representing their country. There’s often a win bonus, which is incidentally something the Russian chess team are going to try out – they’ll only get paid if they win a medal at the Olympiad!
The huge difference, of course, is that the top players are earning a fortune all-year-round playing for their club sides in football, so that the money for internationals doesn’t really matter. For chess players, especially those a bit lower down the pecking order, it must be hard to accept taking a break from earning and possibly even having to meet some expenses.
I think many other players from different federations recognize this situation. (See examples above.) It is symptomatic of the chess world. No wonder chess has a hard time making it big.
I had no idea it was this bad in the German federation considering it is one if not the strongest in Europe.
>> I am from India, … where we have lot of sponsors and govt help and support to chess players
But not everything is as rosy as it seems according to these accounts from GM Koneru Humpy:
World number two female player protests
Sundar: Imagination and half truths
Humpy replies to Sundar – issues open challenge
Chess Players Association urges compromise
To add on Colin’s post: Ironically, the Olympiad may be more attractive for some players who struggle even more. If they play well, they might “earn” a spot in team competitions that DO offer money – at club level in the German Bundesliga and some other leagues. This could be the case for the Belgian, maybe also the Polish team – while Naiditsch and colleagues no longer need such publicity … .
Wow! Just wow! Naiditsch ripped the Federation a new one.
Shocking state of affairs. The old Soviet system of government patronage is looking better and better every day. Can anybody clue us in on the number and salaries of these top officials? I bet the mofos would be pulling something like this–>http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/07/23/California_town_in_uproar_over_council_members_pay/
I agree, Colin, the money aspect is the least spectacular of the letter. But in exposing the Federation board members and their motives (if true), it is one of a kind! The only thing I’m wondering is what Naiditsch would do if the federation somehow came up with money after all. You’d think he would still refuse to play for these people.
@Naiditsch
The US Chess Federation is 100000 times worse. Though I understand your plight. I pity chess does not get the attention and money it deserves. Anyways it saddens me to hear German Chess is not the paradise described to us unfortunate USA players.
@NBC could not agree more!
>> “in football, players usually get relatively little, or sometimes nothing, for representing their country”
Some Google results for earnings in the recent soccer world cup.
How much do top England players earn?
“Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney can take some consolation in the fact they will each pick up £500,000 for just two days’ work at a gladiatoresque skills competition next month.” ( Which is about 600 thousand Euros each.)
Ghana’s World Cup Players To Earn 115,000 Dollars Each On Reaching 2nd Round
“The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as $420 million”
Brazil downplays prize money at World Cup
“The prize money is unlikely to make a lot of difference to most players in this year’s squad. Nearly all of them already have multimillion-dollar contracts with European clubs and are set financially.”
World Cup 2010: Top 10 highest-paid players now a little less rich
“Take Lionel Messi, dubbed the world’s best-paid footballer by France Football, which pegged his annual earnings at 33 million euros, including endorsements.”
Soundoff: Should Players Receive Big Bonus Payments for Winning the World Cup?
“Apparently Spain’s players will each receive €600,000 (about £495,206 or $716,825 US) if they win the World Cup in South Africa. And – predictably? – the peasants are revolting.”
Top 10 Highest Paid Footballers In South Africa
Bonuses at stake for World Cup players
All of the above is just prize money. I don’t think any professional soccer player has ever had to pay his own expenses.
In every sport players will complain about prize money, but in soccer they are bickering over millions, in chess over hundreds. Not an insignificant difference I would say. Maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but clearly the scales are hugely different. How often have you seen players or teams refusing to play over money in soccer? In chess it happens all the time.
In short: in soccer they do not have to pay their own expenses (and they stay in luxury resorts), get paid a hefty amount for participating in team competitions and on top of that they get huge bonuses for every win.
I’m certainly not arguing top football players have any financial problems! But relative to their normal wages any money they get for playing for the national team tends to be small. The World Cup is a bit of an exception, though even that Spanish bonus for winning it – not something to bank on – is still only a few weeks wages for their star players. What I was more thinking about was when the national teams play friendlies or qualifying competitions. In that case club sides often complain (bitterly) that they’re paying the wages and have to suffer the consequences if a player gets injured while playing for the national team.
Anyway, I guess that’s all a bit off topic
Arne, I agree Naiditsch’s comments are hard to match for the personal attacks on board members, but I’ve seen e.g. some interviews about the Polish Chess Federation where the criticism’s just as brutal (just not directed at named individuals). Wojtaszek is very mild-mannered in comparison.
Naiditsch’s comments seem to be aimed at taking advantage of the FIDE elections and the enormous embarrassment he can cause Weizsäcker – though going quite so far looks like burning bridges to me. Though as he pointed out, and this seems to be the same situation in lots of federations, you don’t need to fear losing next to nothing…
@patzer: That is not correct. It is not because 100.000€ is missing under the mandate of the former Belgian treasurer, that there were no funds to get a team to the olympiad. Also, the Belgian chess federation is not bankrupt. Please don’t put rumours on a public stage, if you have no idea what you are talking about.
“The old Soviet system of government patronage is looking better and better every day.”
true , also maybe it’s because in capitalist societies , any sport or activity that do not generate enough money and interest from the masses and medias will always be overlooked .
Some posts here compare with soccer , but soccer will never have any problem to find sponsors and get the money flowing . Chess was etremely popular in Soviet Union . Today in our globalized world , many other entertainments/sports/activities are way ahead of chess
I see only 3 solutions to this problem . One is to teach chess at school , the other is to bring chess to the mass medias (tv) at all costs , the third is if some very rich AND honest benefactors come to rescue it and inject more money in the game .
The problem is the bureaucrats. If they don’t do their job they should be fired.
Unfortunately this won’t happen because the bureaucrats cover eachothers’ backs.
Interesting letter and discussion in the comments.
I am not familiar with the reality of German chess
and now only ‘know’ what is written in the open letter.
Doe anybody know:
Where – besides non existent sponsoring – does the money of the federation come from? The 100.000 members? Do they pay an annual fee? How much?
Does the German government support the federation? How much overhead does the federation have? A bureau? Where? How big and how many people? What is the total budget of the German federation? Are the administrators being paid or do they work (or do nothing as the open letter suggests) as volunteers?
Playing for you country should be an honor, but it is also the government’s responsibility to ensure that the name of the country is upheld in the best possible way. Asking players to fend for themselves when they represent the nation is just stupid. Perhaps the German government should step in and fire every single person in management positions.
Kees, I think It’s not so much bureaucracy as simple incompetence that’s the issue here. These people obviously have no clue as to what they’re doing and why. They also clearly have no incentive to change things or find creative solutions. Bureaucracy has to do with an abundance of regulations and procedures – don’t think that’s the case here.
Every time I go to Germany, I can always get 3 (or more!) monthly chess mags at the train stations (Rochade, Schach Desutche Schachzeitung, Schach-magazin, Kaissiber, plus another kids-only mag, and English-language New In Chess). Opposed to this, finding Europe Echecs in France is 50/50 at best. So chess I surmise is decently popular at the grassroots level in Germany. As with other cases, the politicos have overtaken the system. Laughy that the suggestions are to increase the government influence, that would multiply the parasites!
Ohne jemanden in Schutz nehmen zu wollen:
Ich habe selbst schon Landessportverbände anderer Sportarten steuerlich betreut.
Der DSB ist genauso wie z.B. der DFB ein gemeinnütziger Verein.
Jeder Verein hat die 4 Bereiche “Ideeller Bereich” (hier spielen sich auch die Mitgliedsbeiträge oder Spenden ab), “Vermögensverwaltung”, “Zweckbetrieb” und “wirtschaftlicher Geschäftsbetrieb” (hier ist meist das Sponsoring anzusiedeln).
Alles was ein gemeinnütziger Verein im ideellen Bereich macht unterliegt einem strengen Blick des Finanzamts. Die hier erwirtschafteten Mittel dürfen nicht zur Finanzierung von Spielerhonoraren verwendet werden ohne die Gemeinnützigkeit des Vereins zu riskieren.
Solche Honorare müssen aus einem wirtschaftlichen Geschäftsbetrieb stammen.
Hier hat der DSB allerdings hauptsächlich nur seine Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH zu bieten, da es in Sachen Sponsoring mau aussieht. Nur die hier erwirtschafteten Gewinnen können eingesetzt werden – unabhängig davon wieviel Kohle der DSB an Mitgliedsbeiträgen oder Spenden einnimmt.
Da man einfach etwas die Zeichen der Zeit verschlafen hat fristet die Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH eher ein Schattendasein. Mögliche Märkte haben sich längst CB und divsere Schachversande aufgeteilt. Das Problem wird somit sicherlich in Zukunft kaum besser werden, wenn man nicht lernt, die Akquise von Sponsoren etwas professioneller anzugehen.
Playing for your country is an honour, its a disgrace that Naiditsch and others are always complaining about money.
@Ron:
I try to translate a german saying: You cannot eat honour! (Ehre kann man nicht essen!)
What about: ‘honour doesn’t pay the bills’?
You can add England to the list of countries with incompetent and corrupt Federation officials.
The English Federation were unwilling to offer the number 1 player (Adams) any sensible conditions to play in the forthcoming Olympiad. His participation was only secured at the last moment when a private individual agreed to pay his fee.
This is despite the Federation recently receiving about 1 million Euros as a result of a wealthy individual dying and leaving some money in his will. Not a penny of this money has been spent on professional chess. Instead, officials enjoy frequent pointless meetings and travelling the world on expenses.
@ Ron:
I assume then, that whatever your work is you would be willing to do it for free for your country? That is, let us say that you are the best lawyer in your country, so the High Court calls you to work for them, what an honour, of course you will do it for free, you will go home and your family will be starving, but this will not matter because working for your country “is an honour”, right????
Get a grip.
@Chessgirl, its not about work, its about playing for your country. If you see that as work, don’t play (!).
I am a german amateur (ELO about 2200) and do not agree with the majority of comments. I do not like Naiditsch´s letter and the reactions praising him.
- To start with the critic on the national trainer Bönsch: Frankly speaken I do not have a clue what a player/trainer of 2500 like Bönsch could offer a rising world class or close to that player like Naiditsch. What did Naiditsch expect? Concrete analyses of games? Hints for his openings? When I read an article from Tukmakov, who lead the ukrainian team to their gold medal (i do not remember the year, maybe 2002/04), it was all about keeping Ivanchuks nerves strong and bringing up a team spirit. Was Bönsch unable to do something like this or were the players, especially Naiditsch not interested?
- The complaints about Deventer are very unclear.
- Ralph Alt as tournament director is an amateur. So one could turn Naiditsch´s complaints about the tournament dates matching holidays around: Alt sacrifices his holidays to help organising chess tournaments. If there weren´t amateurs like him, tournaments would not be held at all or be more expensive for the players – as the living of a professional manager/tournament director has to be paid to. The complaints about the tournament venue 2007 – Bad Königshofen, a very small town in Bavaria – are ridiculous: Of course even this small town can be reached by bus – maybe Naiditsch did not find the bus connection.
- Concerning von Weizsäcker Naiditsch only brings the letter, which in my opinion is a modest but nevertheless not unkind try to find a solution with the top grandmaster.
Still, why does Naiditsch not play for his country, honour and the same amount of money like two years ago?
As a whole Naditsch´s letter is very disrespectful and a kind of unfriendly behaviour. Even as a young person he could act more calmly and with other words.
@Ron: That´s exactly what they´re doing
I completely agree with HaroldChasen’s comment. I don’t see Naiditsch searching for a solution…
I always took it for granted that the job description “functionary in a chess federation” doesn’t attract the most dynamic personalities. Naiditsch uses strong language to express that he expects more from his functionaries than I do. With all sorts of personal attacks strewn in, the letter reminds me of Humpy’s attack against her federation. Unbalanced, but honest. Let’s hope the players and functionaries are pragmatic enough to try to build something, not just complain. Build trust. If I read it correctly, money is the reason they don’t play at the Olympiad, but the reason for Naiditsch’s anger goes deeper. He doesn’t feel respected, and doesn’t show respect himself.
This letter is a very funny and effective way by Mr Naiditsch to commit suicide with regard to his chances of ever again gaining the support of the German chess federation, however small it may be, but it might have become bigger in the future, although i understand mr Naidistch is kind of tired of waiting for this. It is also a very ineffective and somewhat childish letter as to its tone, but hell, as a reader I aplaud it! i sincerely hope we get some of the accused to answer and wish mr naiditsch all the best, although I would consider moving to another country in his case.
Its even doubtful, ethically speaking, if such letters should be published by this site.
@Ron – your attitude is very idealistic. These players are not in the same situation as say wealthy professional sports players. To compare it to say the Olympics in 88′ (i believe) when the USA was tired of being beaten in basketball and sent over a team of elite professionals, who played for free. This is chess and the reality is that the players just want to be compensated for their time AND the effort put in behind the scene to prepare for an event. Should they play a novelty that can earn them points in a big tournament that would result in a prize at an event that gets them nothing? I am not sure how you make your living but there is only so much pro bono you can do before you are forced to face reality.
It should be the national organizations job to find support for its professional players.
There is nothing unethical about publishing a letter from a professional player about a public organization. Its call public media!!
Upon reading the letter you can understand the frustrations of the player who is probably voicing the unhappiness of many players.
I do not agree with the comments attacking GM Naiditsch such as by Harold Chasen as that is missing the point, do not shoot the messenger who is delivering the message!!!
It requires members of the German Chess Federation to democratically question the contributions of the administrators to discover if there are problems and to have the members assist and guide the adminstrators.
The German Chess Federation deserves the support of its members but at the same time there must be transparency and accountability. These go hand in hand and it does not depend on whether administrators are volunteers or paid employees. Once you have assumed a position in a public organisation or an organisation that represents the interests of certain members of the public there is a moral duty to discharge your obligations to the best of your ability or else to either improve your contribution or step down.
The German Chess Federation should take this opportunity to respond to the comments of GM Naiditsch since it affects ALL members of the Federation and not just the A-team. Each and every member is entitled to have transparency and accountability in order to continue to support the Federation.
Best of luck to the A-team and to the Federation
I’ve had the misfortune of knowing Mr Naiditsch since shortly after his family moved to Germany. I’ve had the further misfortune of playing him a few times in tournaments (mostly rapid) in the times when he was just a talented youth and not yet a strong GM. The only thing he cares about is his personal gain or profit. You might argue that as a professional chess player this is how it should be, but then he should concentrate on his profit instead of disreputing officials.
He has proved in the past that he doesn’t give a damn about his country or its reputation so my opinion is that he should play where and what he wants, earn as much money as possible, but stop pretending that representing his country means anything at all to him.
BTW, anyone of the people celebrating him now remember that he was caught cheating in an internet tournament?
You know in Australia, not only do we get paid nothing and have no sponsors, but we also have to pay all our own travel expenses. And considering the Olympiad is almost always in Europe, the damage is usually significant. And yet, the top players invariably play. I guess it’s different when you’re a professional, but to be fair, we still sacrifice our holidays or university examinations for the honour and the glory (and, of course, the Bermuda party!).
I hope, this letter will start a serious discussion in Germany. This letter is maybe not fair in some parts, but, if some of the strongest players in our country (Khenkin, Naiditsch, Gusti) feel they have to go to public in that way: than there is a big probability, that someting goes wrong in our federation. So I am looking forward to the following discussion. As small patzer with 1800, I (luckly) do not have to try to get my monthly salary from chesstournaments. I could not understand, if some 2400/2500 would write something like that letter. But we are talking about almost 2700, so if it is not possible, to pay the top (professional) players of Germany with a reasonable amount (I am not talking about soccer payment, and btw, they are earning enough in their clubs), whicht they would loose, since they can not play other tournaments – than I can understand that they are not interested in playing. I for myself would not die for the honour of playing for Germany … The only remaing question for an open discussion: How much was the offer excactly? The mentioned 25% for the whole team incl. expenses?
@David. I sympathize with your points about the money (after all, nobody forces anyone to call himself ‘professional’, meaning a chess player who is a ‘pro’ doesn’t automatically have more rights than a chess player who isn’t) but what do you think of Naiditsch’s complaints about the incompetence and even laziness of his federation? It seems to me his main complaint is not the fact that there is no money, but that no effort is done to raise it, and even if it is there, it is not going to the ‘right’ places. Is this something you recognize in Australia?
For context, the initial letter of Jan Gustafsson looking or begging for sponsorship (”in the name of his colleagues and supported by German federation president Robert von Weizsäcker”) may be worthwhile pointing out:
http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10489 (11 June 2010)
It is obviously in German, only now Naiditsch chooses to bring things to an international level … . I will translate some parts:
“As individual players, we (Naiditsch, Fridman, Meier and Gustafsson) aren’t absolute world top. But as a team we are absolutely competitive, hence have things in common with the national football team.” [hmm, chess is stilll an individual sport, even as a team competition]
“So far we are supported by Chessbase and ‘Deutsche Schachbund Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH’ [at least, Naiditsch's early statement that "the federation ... couldn't find money" is wrong, the little word 'enough' is missing]. But there lack 20.000€ to ensure the participation of the best team at this year’s Olympiad. We would be extremely grateful to a savior who permits the German national team a proper preparation and the fight for the medals. [hmm, they played like a medal candidate throughout most of the Dresden Olympiad even if they sort of collapsed at the end - but this may have been an exception playing on home ground]”
My take on this: Obviously one has to “exaggerate” a bit in such a letter, but it seems that Naiditsch and colleagues overestimate their market value – case in point: no additional sponsors could be found. How does the proposed Olympiad appearance fee (once again, it wasn’t zero) compare to similar players in similar countries? How did Naiditsch’s appearance fee in Dortmund compare to what the higher-rated players got?
Naiditsch may still have valid points, but so does HaroldChasen – maybe both went a bit over the top, this happens in such discussions.
As a late response to Daniel: It depends on how you define “paradise”. Germany still has many tournament opportunities (and titled players seem to get conditions at Swiss opens) and a strong and financially attractive team competition, the Bundesliga (there is even some money in lower leagues). True, one could argue that the Bundesliga also caters to foreign mercenaries, but this also leads to
- international media attention for the competition
- German players getting the chance to play strong foreign opponents, and indeed to score title norms
Hence, even if some things go wrong in the federation, paradise doesn’t suddenly turn into hell … .
What would paradise be? Maybe Armenia where at least some GMs get state scholarships as a stable source of income. But
1) They earn such privileges and/or return the favor with consistently good results in team events
2) Chess is very popular in Armenia, much more than in either Germany or the USA. You and others may regret this, dream about how this needs to change, or accept it as a given.
@ Peggy Sue
Let’s begin with your unwillingness to use your real name. Arkadij wrote this letter without pulling any punches and signed his name to it for all the world to see. So, on this first point, the outcome is the same as many of your chess encounters with him, I suspect. You lost and lost badly. Are you still harboring feelings of animosity? Please demonstrate the same courage that he has and tell us who you really are.
Next, I’ve known Arkadij for nearly 5 years. He has visited my home, played chess with my children, helped my family (alot), and in every single respect proved himself to be both a caring and honorable friend. Most importantly here, he has nothing to gain from me at all. He is a friend, plain and simple. So your (completely false) accusation that he cares only about himself is laid bare for the nonsense it is. He has every right to pursue happiness (profit or other) and every right to expose those who aren’t living up to their responsibilities, especially since those failures have a deragatory effect on both his career and those of his colleagues.
Now, this statement from you:
“BTW, anyone of the people celebrating him now remember that he was caught cheating in an internet tournament?”
This statement exposes your real intentions, doesn’t it? You are interested only in trying to hurt the man. You are not interested in any kind of justice; not for the players, not for the federation, and most certainly not for the game. But you fail again and here’s why.
Every single person reading this has a ghost of some kind in their closet. This includes you…the person hiding behind Internet anonimity. And it includes me. Arkadij was a very young player that had the feeling he was being cheated in the same fashion and he responded with a knee-jerk reaction, which young men frequently do. He has expressed his regret for the incident and those who really know him also know it won’t happen again. He has proven his capabilities many times by defeating many top players. His competence as a strong GM is not now and has never been in question by any serious source. Nor are his present-day scruples. So what exactly is the point in bringing this up? Is it really the best you can do?
You must be the offspring of one of the German Federation’s officials.
It is easy to blame the German federation for not finding a sponsor, but I don’t see an economic reason why a company should sponsor a national team competition. It receives little if any public interest and the players are normally only nown to a smaller circle of more ambitious players. The German chess federation may have 100000 active members but I’am quite sure not more than some 1-2 percents nows the members of the current A-team and follow the competition. And Mr Naiditisch in particular has not a very wide-spread fan-base. Mr Naiditisch might consider, that there is merely not enough public support for a national team competition on a professional base.
I am simply an amateur player, but i enjoy watching high class chess tournaments. So for me, and probably a big amount of other German chess fans, it is a real pity, that the German A-Team won’t be going to participate in this year’s chess olympics.
I’d also like to express my best wishes to Mr. Naiditsch and the A-Team. I appreciate the efforts, how small they might be, to find sponsors. I imagine it to be a tough task. But it is also an attempt to relax the situation, by raising alternative fundings.
The situation as a whole is really bad and i hope in future times it is going to relax and that the persons addressed in Mr. Naiditsch’s open letter will be able to deal with the criticism expressed in a way that improvement can happen. They really should take this issue seriously, for the well being of German chess in future.
the A-Team never was on good terms with the authorities. they broke free and served as a paralegal/military group, that could be hired.
I guess these 4 watched a little too much TV and now are striving to emulate their idols.
so who’s najditsch?
I vote for B.A. Baracus.
@PJCostello
“You lost and lost badly. Are you still harboring feelings of animosity?”
My score against him is quite OK; 1-1 in normal games, maybe slightly in his favor in rapid, but that’s not the point. The point is that I’ve known him even back then to go to any length to win within and outside the rules.
“His competence as a strong GM is not now and has never been in question by any serious source.”
I don’t deny that he is a very strong player, but that doesn’t give him the right to disgrace anyone publicly.
I won’t comment anything else you wrote, you can call me a coward, which is probably right
And of course you can idolize Mr Naiditsch as much as you want.
Politicians are liers! All! In my country, Romania, for a turism logo they had payed 800 millions euro and same log on profesional sites costs only 100 euro. Chess federation exist in my country only with name and for collecting taxes, nothing more! Shame on all “leaders”!
@ Peggy Sue
“My score against him is quite OK; 1-1 in normal games, maybe slightly in his favor in rapid, but that’s not the point.”
If that’s not the point or doesn’t have any particular relevance, then why did you bring it up?
“The point is that I’ve known him even back then to go to any length to win within and outside the rules.”
And yet you can only site one example, and even that is ancient history, widely known and for which he has apologized. The fact remains; you trumpet this incident for one reason and one reason only; to try and cause him harm. That doesn’t speak well of you at all.
“I don’t deny that he is a very strong player, but that doesn’t give him the right to disgrace anyone publicly.”
As long as he tells the truth he does indeed have the right. Some may argue he may even have a responsibility to expose that truth. How would you feel if you discovered you would be paid less in your profession while the decision makers were enjoying lavish meals and/or lifestyles, all the while making little or no effort to improve the conditions they were charged with protecting? That is precisely what is happening here and Arkadij et al have every good reason to go public with it. Keeping it private means maintaining the unproductive status quo. Now, for better or for worse, the pressure is on.
“I won’t comment anything else you wrote, you can call me a coward, which is probably right ”
More importantly, the issue of your credibility is at stake. If you truly believe what you say and feel, then why hide? What are you afraid of? And why should anyone believe you?
“And of course you can idolize Mr Naiditsch as much as you want.”
I’m sure those who know me would laugh at the idea of me idolizing anyone…or anything. As I said, he is a friend and has proven his dedication without expectation of anything in return, which is contrary to the image of him you are attempting to portray on this forum.
I think his comments are pretty harsh, and quite unreasonably.
Maybe he is right in general about the situation in Germany with regard to money for chess players; but that is a fact with which players have to deal generally and come at a conclusion for themselves.
@Ron,
“Playing for your country is an honour, its a disgrace that Naiditsch and others are always complaining about money.”
I have to disagree here. Chess is so competitive these days that unless you are a super-talent, you won’t get anywhere playing part-time. Chess is a profession for many of the top GMs and the government should support them by at least covering their tournament fees etc. Expecting a salary may be unrealistic, but basic costs should be covered.
The bigger question is, where is all the money generated through membership fees/subscriptions going? According to the article, the office-bearers are frittering it away on personal expenses. That right there demands a lead-pipe to the knee-cap. Somebody make me the President of something and I’ll show you how to kick some serious ass…:)
I believe our main problem in Germany is that we have people in important functions (not only in chess, but also in “real” politics!) who are not at all qualified for their job. Take Mr. von Weizsäcker for instance. He said from the very beginning that he would have very little time for the job as president of the federation. Then why was he elected at all? Well, he’s the son of a former German President – but what does this have to with chess? Curiously enough, he does seem to have loads of time to play plenty of correspondence chess on the highest level…
The qualifications of Mr. Deventer are equally unclear. As was also pointed out by Georg Meier, he doesn’t have any connections to professional chess. He can’t understand their interests and desires because he lacks any experience in this area. Again, why was he elected? Don’t we have any more competent candidates in the whole wide country? It’s a mistery…
domino writes above:
“You can add England to the list of countries with incompetent and corrupt Federation officials.”
Who, please, are the “corrupt” Federation officials in England?
In what way is it acceptable to call people “corrupt” without either saying who you are or who they are?
Does anybody know the situation in other ( mainly european) countries?
What about financial support of chess players in Russia, Ukraine, France etc…??
When WORLD top grandmasters like Karjakin have to change their nationality to
get more support, it says a lot.
This means even countries with elite grandmasters of the world dont have enough
money for supporting their chess stars; no reason for players from “smaller” nations suddenly to start crying.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/sergei-karjakin-i-need-to-train-with-good-coaches/
Chess is an activity which teaches people to think independently, to question the ways by which the things happen. The problem is that the general business and media controllers want to promote just activities which deal with our primitive sexual and violence instincts, an irrational way to pass subliminal consumption and mind manipulation messages. For these purposes, FIFA and Hollywood do their best…It’s all about “Panes and Circus”….
In other words, chess is no good for political and commercial mind control. That’s why chess federations tend to be like fake horror circus…
@Michael: Maybe you are a bit unfair towards Weizsäcker. It is not the first time that his name and family is rather held against him. It should be a “plus” that he is a correspondence chess player himself. And it’s arguably also a plus that he still has a professional life outside of chess, be it only because he doesn’t require a salary from the federation.
It is also interesting to “revisit” an interview with Naiditsch in “Schach” 12-2008/1-2009 right after the Dresden Olympiad. First, he is very critical of Deventer, eventually saying “Many players keep their mouth shut about all this, but I do not depend on the German chess federation in any way”. Then, eventually about Weizsäcker:
“I would have liked to have a second opening coach besides Christopher Lutz from the very beginning. He worked really well but it was simply too much for him (”er war einfach überfordert”). Then Landa should come but wasn’t available. Then came Döttling. A big praise for Mr. Weizsäcker who made this possible. We are really very lucky with our president. He likes chess! … Mr. Weizsäcker is a big luck for German chess. He tries to represent chess well to the outside world. (”Er fiebert mit, er ist wirklich dabei.” – can’t translate this properly)”
Indeed, in his open letter Naiditsch writes “Up to that point my opinion of our President was quite positive” – and this suddenly changed with the letter dated 29th June.
From Weizsäcker’s point of view:
- He had to communicate the official point of view of the federation, and at least tried to be polite and “not to close all doors”.
- He also has to think about the entire federation, including thousands of amateurs paying membership dues. At least some of them may not understand if players who refuse to play at the Olympiad continue to receive – albeit limited – support from the federation?
If Naiditsch really wants to hurt Weizsäcker’s campaign for ECU president, will Danailov reward him with a MTel invitation?? This would be a big surprise, to say the least … .
The tone of Weizsäcker’s letter is in another way as inappropriate as Naiditsch’s personal attacks. The businesslike threats complete with deadline sound like an attorney. He is the president communicating with his best players. Shouldn’t there be a personal level to talk with each other, despite differences about money?
@Curious
From what I´ve heard, Russia tends to support chess players quite a lot. Some players get free rented flats, there are also the coaches, like Karjakin now training with Dokhoyan. OK, the money this year doesn´t look that promising, but that I know of they are frequently offered paid team training sessions with coaches, for both the male and female team, before the Olympics.
Nothing of the sort is offered in Ukraine, at least not up to now. The best Ukrainian chess players receive some ridiculous salary from the Federation (say 200 USD a month), no coaches, sometimes they had to travel at 4am to cut off flight expenses, and, contrary to what they expected, conditions were not improved at all after winning the olympic gold in 2004. Hopefully things will improve now with new President Kapustin, he´s certainly showing good intentions, which is a first step.
@PJCostello
Why do you complain that I don’t tell my surname here? The site’s admins don’t ask for it and scrolling through the posts almost nobody tells his/her full name (you included by the way, but don’t bother, I don’t really want to know). My reason not to tell it anywhere on the Internet is that I want to go to tournaments to just enjoy playing chess without being bugged about anything I post here or on other forums.
About Mr Naiditsch everything has been said, I respect your point of view, despite heartily disagreeing with it.
@ Peggy Sue
“Why do you complain that I don’t tell my surname here?”
Because you launched a mean-spirited attack against a public figure that did not attempt to hide his identity when pointing out the flaws (if not corruption) of the German Chess Federation. You attacked his character and motivation, claiming that you know him to support that position, when chances are you really don’t know him at all. If you are telling the truth then you shouldn’t be afraid to face the music…or other players at tournaments.
“About Mr Naiditsch everything has been said, I respect your point of view, despite heartily disagreeing with it.”
This is fine. I respect your right to be wrong.
“The site’s admins don’t ask for it and scrolling through the posts almost nobody tells his/her full name.”
They don’t level the charges you did either…and if they did I would say the same thing to them.
This has exposed the hypocrisy of European or Western chess. We have always been complaining about African and other third world federations sucking up to FIDE, msmanagement in third world chess and so on. But now it appears things are no different in First World Chess administrations. Germany, Belgium, Poland…the discussions here are opening up a whole can of worms.
@Bartleby: You have a point, but there are still differences between the two letters: To me it seems that Weizsäcker
- was struggling to find the right words, even if he didn’t succeed. The deadline was necessary unless he was prepared to decide “no A-team = no team at all”. The federation couldn’t approach substitutes just a day or so before the FIDE deadline, nor could it offer them “conditional spots” which become void if there is still a solution or compromise with the A-team?
- didn’t enjoy writing that letter
In this context, Naiditsch’s enthousiastic words about Weizsäcker from not too long ago seem worthwhile mentioning?
By comparison, even if Naiditsch doesn’t enjoy the situation, it seems that he (sort of) enjoyed writing his open letter.
All I want to say is that the whole story isn’t a matter of black (federation) and white (Naiditsch and colleagues, though it’s unclear whether they were aware of, and support his drastic letter). There are shades of grey on both sides – indeed that’s how your post can also be interpreted!?
@ Thomas: Why am I “a bit unfair towards Weizsäcker”? He might be an enthusiastic chess fan, but this is not enough. He simply doesn’t have the time to deal with important things properly. Some weeks ago Jan Gustafsson suggested a meeting to sort out the mess. Nice idea, he was told, but the president is busy until autumn and isn’t available neither by phone nor e-mail. This is ridiculous.
I think its a silly letter. The German fed should just give the spots to other more willing players that see the olympics as an excellent opportunity to promote themselves as great chess players.
The tone of the letter is in itself an outrage.
On the situation in Poland: I’m currently translating an interview with Tomasz Sielicki, the President of the Polish Chess Federation, which is going to be published in the next issue of the magazine where Wojtaszek’s interview appeared (it’s partly a response). Although almost everyone seems to agree that things were very bad until a year ago, it does genuinely look as though the new men in charge of the PCF are making improvements. Wojtaszek’s been a little “out of the loop” while working with Anand.
Arkadij’s letter has catapulted me through a time tunnel into my own, active days. Basically nothing seems to have changed, when it comes to the incompetence of the federation to raise decent appearance fees for their top players. In ‘my days’, I could only look at other western countriens full of envy, compared to us most other teams had conditions we could only dream about.
One differnce between the times does exist, though. In contrast to the ‘new’ generation we did not have to deal with a coach who’s apprenticeship after the downfall of the wall was accomplished under the guiding of the biggest fraudsters in german chess history, Dr. Jellissen, who cheated most of the german grandmasters out of considerable amounts of their personal wealth (not me, always mistrusted that guy thanks to great instincts of my ex-wife). Some other german ‘big wigs’ went to the same school, and court cases have afterwards become part of their daily routine.
Mr. Boensch didn’t even have the class to contact me after his decision to kick me out of the team, when rating wise I should have been selected – eighteen years for germany and not even a phone call from the coach. At least his foster- father, Dr. Jellissen, tried to have class….
Nevertheless I had a great time whenever I represented germany, but I had to find it myself. A more professional environement before, during and after the events might have lead to better results, but looking back, wouldn’t i have missed out on other important things….it’s only money, and it’s only chess!
Arkadij’s letter has catapulted me through a time tunnel into my own, active days. Basically nothing seems to have changed, when it comes to the incompetence of the federation to raise decent appearance fees for their top players. In ‘my days’, I could only look at other western countriens full of envy, compared to us most other teams had conditions we could only dream about.
One differnce between the times does exist, though. In contrast to the ‘new’ generation we did not have to deal with a coach who’s apprenticeship after the downfall of the wall was accomplished under the guiding of the biggest fraudsters in german chess history, Dr. Jellissen, who cheated most of the german grandmasters out of considerable amounts of their personal wealth (not me, always mistrusted that guy thanks to great instincts of my ex-wife). Some other german ‘big wigs’ went to the same school, and court cases have afterwards become part of their daily routine.
Mr. Boensch didn’t even have the class to contact me after his decision to kick me out of the team, when rating wise I should have been selected – eighteen years for germany and not even a phone call from the coach. At least his foster- father, Dr. Jellissen, tried to have class….
Nevertheless I had a great time whenever I represented germany, but I had to find it myself. A more professional environement before, during and after the events might have lead to better results, but looking back, wouldn’t I have missed out on other desirable moments? After all, it’s only money, and it’s only chess…
@Thomas
> There are shades of grey on both sides
Yes. I think the German Chess Federation is an organization mainly of amateur players, lead by amateur functionaries. They do a great job at the level they care about, with a deep and broad league system, and all sorts of local,regional and national competitions. The top level is not a high priority, that’s not new.
On the other side, I can understand that free-lance professionals want to get paid for playing.
The two sides have to sit down, talk with each other, and see if the federation’s interest to show up with a strong team, and the players’ interest to earn their normal rates can be brought together. If not, a pity, but that’s how it is with our federation and our professionals.
The unusual thing here is that the whole A team took the initiative, and talked to the federation. That they don’t get the money they asked for is one thing. But that the president is giving them a deadline and hints at the consequences of losing future support is, hm, ridiculous, to be polite. That’s where I understand Naiditsch’s frustration.
@ejh
You simply don’t get it do you? Whoever you are Mr or Mrs Anony Mouse. Mr or Mrs Double Standards. Who are you anyway “ejh”?
People in the west are fed up of federations crying that they have no money to support their players. While at the same time, somehow, miraculously, money is found for the officials so that they are able to attend FIDE meetings and so forth and claim expenses to do their job.
Is it not a clear case of cart before the horse?
What about the chess players Mr/Mrs Anony Mouse!
Are you saying the the English Chess Federation has made funds available for all of it’s top players? Are you saying that no external money was needed to pay the fees for grandmasters like Michael Adams to play in the British Championships 2010? Speak now Anony Mouse! Was it the English Chess Federation who found this money for their most important event of the year?
Thankfully this website guarantees freedom of speech.
Other websites and forums do not.
They insist on making sure that the ‘pecking order’ is maintained. They do this by of course insisting on using ‘real names’. Disgusting abuse of power. At such places nobody unless they have a card of influence, is allowed to speak or comment above their station withour fear of reprisal.
Since when at ‘Speakers Corner’ was it obligatory to declare your name before climbing on a soap box and freely addressing the public.
Never!!!
That is the very point of democracy and freedom!!
Down with you oppressionists!
On those other websites and forums, the pack wolves, the cream and the elite, would turn savagely on anyone who would dare suggest that things are not right.
I raise a battle cry for those who want the best for chess players!
Thor
Arne
It’s very disappointing that you have chosen to censor a post supporting the cause of chess players in the west. Why?
Thor
@Bartleby: Well said, I agree with everything but part of your last paragraph – while I also understand Naiditsch’s frustration. The general issue may be:
1) Should amateurs (with their membership fees), let alone “the tax payer” support – let’s face it – world subtop players because they otherwise struggle to make a living from chess? I wrote before that Weizsäcker’s threat to cancel future support has to be seen in that context. And would it have been preferable not to mention such consequences but impose them anyway? BTW, that decision apparently wasn’t Weizsäcker’s, he merely supports the Top Sport Commission (could he overrule them?).
Regarding the deadline, I repeat that Weizsäcker had to impose a deadline because FIDE imposed a deadline.
2) Can private or corporate sponsors fill the gap? There are some rich ones around, the issue is _how_ they spend their money. For example, Wolfgang Grenke rather generously supports his Baden-Baden Bundesliga team – which includes world top players Anand, Carlsen, Shirov and Svidler but also most of the German A-team (Naiditsch, Gustafsson, next season also Meier). He also does, or did contribute a lot to the Mainz rapid event. 10 or 20,000 Euros – reportedly the missing amount to secure participation of a German A-team at the Olympiad – might be “peanuts” for him … .
As I mentioned the Bundesliga, next season it will have a couple more rising stars:
http://www.schachbundesliga.de/magazin/artikel.php?artikel=4087&type=2&menuid=82&topmenu=13
Le Quang Liem and Richard Rapport for Bremen, Nils Grandelius for Emsdetten, David Howell for Trier (he will probably play board 1). On the other hand, Baden-Baden drops Caruana (who hardly played last season) for Georg Meier. Other losses (who may have become too expensive?) are Mamedyarov and Kasimdzhanov.
Re ThunderGod’s comments.
Typical. Anonymous claptrap bemoaning all sorts of things, not to mention criticising others for being anonymous, then continuing to attack federation officials for getting expenses to attend FIDE Congresses.
ThunderGod conveniently overlooks all those officials (like so many players, from so many countries) who pay all or most of their own expenses for the “pleasure” of trying to develop chess. Is it any wonder that many small federations are finding it harder and harder to find the volunteers who will put in their own time and money for such a thankless task?
Generally speaking, of course, you get what you pay for, so I hope the days of volunteer officials are over. Federations need to become professional and that means paid staff.
Kevin O’Connell
Irish FIDE Delegate 1977/8-2010
(About 20 FIDE Congresses attended – travel grant one year and free accomodation at Turin 2006 and Yerevan 1996 – see below, otherwise expenses received =0 – at least players and team captains have not had to pay for their food and accommodation during Olympiads – I was both in the 1998 Olympiad, when I also got a grant “towards” travel costs – about half if I remember well)
President FIDE Zone 1 (W. Europe) 1978-2004
(expenses received = 0)
Chairman FIDE Qualification 1990-1994
(expenses received = 0)
Chairman FIDE Titles & Ratings Commission 1994-2002/3
(expenses received = 0*)
(* unless you count travel, free accommodation and a small fee for acting as Chairman of Appeals Committee at the 1996 Olympiad).
etc., etc.
PS. I’m not complaining about the support I have received from my federation – if there are no funds in the piggy bank, there’s no point smashing it open.
Here’s the interview with the President of the Polish Chess Federation where, among other things, he responds to Wojtaszek’s criticism: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/07/the-polish-chess-federation-responds/
Why is this letter not published in Chessbase website? Was it not sent there or they refused to publish it?
Can we swap presidents? That’s the kind of talk I would have liked to hear from Weizsäcker.
>> Why is this letter not published in Chessbase website?
Interesting question. (It’s not even on the German page.)
They have published numerous (scandalous) open letters before.
>> Why is this letter not published in Chessbase website?
Maybe it was written by a ghost writer in the name of Naiditsch who provided the main ideas…..
As far as I understand, Chessbase was willing to sponsor the German A-team – even if they were unwilling or unable to provide _enough_ money. In that case, the webpage of a (potential) sponsor may not be the right place for submitting an open letter complaining about insufficient sponsorship.
Before its (further) controversial content, Naiditsch’s open letter seems to start with a lie or, at least, an inaccuracy or misleading statement: “the biggest chess federation in Europe … couldn’t manage to find money to pay the players” – at face value this may be wrong as (repeating myself) the little word ‘enough’ is missing.
many chess players would like to play there without any payed money.
Dear Mr. Naiditsch,
Unfortunately, you have chosen to make a “career” out of a boardgame that has relatively little popular interest. If your interest were financial well-being, this was an extremely poor decision and your finances will be impacted accordingly.
Though you are persuasive that many German chess bureaucrats have enriched themselves a bit at the expense of the German Chess Federation treasury, your apparent impression that this money is due to ‘professional’ German chessplayers is misguided.
Choose whether or not to play for the conditions offered and then get on with your life. Your ad hominem attacks and ugly comments are unbecoming and are very shortsighted. In the long run such a low level of discourse can only hurt your prospects for sponsorship in the future. They appear childish and presumptuous.
Once again, if financial reward is your goal, it might be worthwhile to consider a career other then playing a boardgame.
I can understand him comletely! I am a untalented average chess player in a small chess club in Germany and we have to pay much money year by year to the official german chess organisations. But who gets the money and – probably the main question – for what? If you want s.th. , nobody can be contacted, if you will manage a championship, nobody helps you. But the fees, to be a member are – in my opinion of course – extraordinary. And then it is a shame, that the best german chess players can not be assisted by the german chess associaton.
If you understand German, you can get an accurate comment by GM Jörg Hickl:
http://www.schach-welt.de/blog/viewpost/245.html
@Elvis. your patronizing post makes me sick.
The German A Team deserves moral and financial support from their national chess federation which exists to support an A Team. The German chess federation should honor their country enough to make sure their country is represented by their top players at the Olympiad and other top tournaments around the world. If Germany cannot send it’s top players to the Olympiad, then there is no need for a national chess federation at all.
Bravo to Mr. Arkadij Naiditsch for his courage to expose his national federation, to name names and to open this dialogue.
As chess players what can we do to solve this for all top players everywhere?
@Suzette Myers
“… national chess federation which exists to support an A Team.”
According to the German rating database the federation has about 236000 members, but the only point is to support the top 4 (or10, 20, 100) players??? Let’s be generous and say the Top 1000 players. That means 235000 players don’t matter?
The longer I think about it, the national team shouldn’t get any money apart from travel-expenses and maybe a little pocket-money. Just suppose the “A-team” played in the Olympics and achieved a 3rd place (a bit optimistic but for the sake of argument), would it really benefit anyone … any operative of the federation, any German (non A-team) chess-player? I don’t think so, the participating players would maybe profit, because a successful participation might increase their market value.
The federation exists to ensure the possibility of competitive chess for everyone, not to encourage a minority’s greed.
@Peggy
Greed? They are trying to make a living.
If they perform well there will be media attention for chess so that the German federation could use the opportunity to pupularise chess.
Your club game doesn’t attract media attention.
Corrupt? What? Definition??
[14th century. Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere 'break completely'. rumpere 'to break']
It is simply as defined. Nothing more. The whole system of governing or organising bodies seems to be broken.
Why? Wait a moment… Does Kevin O’ Connell also not get the point?
He appears to exemplify himself as a model of virtue, although why I have no idea? Nobody appears to have called into question his or anyone else’s (for that matter) personal status?! Hope his conscience is not twitching. Bizarre response if you ask me.
And more to the pojnt, and like a typical politician, he conveniently sidesteps the actual question raised by Domino…
So what is the purpose of organising bodies, committees, federations, or whatever else you want to call them? Surely the whole point of these is to facilitate better chess?
And yet we see that this is not the case. We see the FACTS that teams, championships and player support is in a mess, they are unsupported or not fully so.
And yet still we see people being busy, going to places, holding meetings, discussing things, passing motions, and then what exactly?
Whether all of this is paid for by individuals like Kevin O’ Connell or not. For what purpose is it all exactly?
Surely it serves no purpose. And therefore all cents incurred in doing so must instead be fed back to learning and playing the game of chess itself!
Kevin O’ Connell may have paid a lot of money himself – who has disputed that? Or indeed many others like him! In fact surely WE ALL put in time and effort for chess for free (or very little reward)! That is not the issue!!
What is the issue is that chess itself does not benefit. Events and players are not (or very little) contributed to or paid for.
While on the other hand nobody can surely say that these organisational meetings in x or y hotel is completely free? No way! No hotel gives away these things for free. Someone or some body is paying!
And yet even though these trips and/or meetings are paid (or in part) by individuals like Kevin O’ Connell, players are still no better supported. Then what is the point?
What is the point at all of having people who ‘organise’ or ‘promote’ the game of chess. Since evidently they do not if players cannot play in important events??!!
Surely it would be much better for people like Kevin O’Connell to instead just donate their money to players and not bother to attend any meetings.
Now back to whether or not organisations are totally without blemish or criticism…
This was posted publicly less than a year ago on Chess NE1 “Gerry losing this position as FIDE rep (he stood down as President) will be a big blow to him but the plain thruth is that he has presided over a worsing position for some time and has failed to provide the leadership reguired. In many ways he demonstrated a big gulf between those who can run/organise a chess event very well and those with the business nounce required to succeed in these difficult times.”
This “plain truth” is clearly very harsh words about a national president.
And this about 18 months ago:
“To describe this serial junket-junkie as a useless tub of lard, would be to flatter him immensely. England does not need an official whose sole raison d’etre is to be “nice” to everyone, however dishonest and shady they are, so that he may earn invitations to appear at various events in the company of his mother and feel important.”
“When I said that he had never made a pronouncement on any issue of substance, I meant it. Does he stand for anything apart from himself? Where was he when that lying, head-butting, move-retracting, Georgian ******* dragged me before the FIDE Ethics Commission? Nowhere to be seen. He might have forfeited a junket or two had he taken a stance. He is an utter disgrace to British chess who has more than overstayed his welcome as President. If he had any decency, he would stand down forthwith.” and “The ECF’s interests are not served by a representative whose guiding principle is never do anything that may jeopardise his junketing.” published on Atticus Chess Forum
Evidently very harsh accusations. So has anyone challenged these words? Has anyone tried to say that they do not imply that anything is “corrupt”. Clearly not ejh or Kevin O’Connell. Where were you then to defend against them?
In fact have these public statements ever been challenged by anyone?
If not then are people saying that all national organisations are squeeky clean? Are people saying that every single cent of an organisation is never spent on room hire for meetings, travel expenses, salaries, etc? That every cent of all the money is solely spent on the game of chess, learning or playing? If yes then simple – provide proof!
Otherwise the current facts that people will notice is that the German team has lost out to play at the Olympiad and that fewer GMs have received fees to play at the British.
And yet we see that people want to squash opinion here. Where otherwise they have no voice on any other platform due to the inhibition policies elsewhere to quell public debate!
And on that point, whereas 100 years ago the written word was rare. Most debate was vocal. These days it is the reverse. Most debate and talk is written, online, on the internet or by test or email. Move on with the times! Therefore opinion must be allowed in public debate in all it’s forms to be in writing without calling in heavy handed tactics like ‘influential moderating’ and ‘law suits’. Written discourse must reflect modern reality!
And have there been any other comments made on other forums that appear to have been overlooked (are the above examples of this?) which should also be moderated – that is if all things are to be equal.
Even if you are a Professor and you make a very valid point for example about putting some money into internet and IT for a ‘modern’ British Champioships, the professort gets ruthlessly and inexcusably shot down in flames, and yet just a few days later a few other people make EXACTLY the same point but nobody criticises!? Wow! How very odd people are!?
This was all a test. QED.
Thor
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/c5538V/3494863/Wegen-10000-Euro.html
the german sueddeutsche liked the story.
German Chessbase has an interview with Daniel Fridman, another player from the A-team:
http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=10703
So they are willing to discuss the topic (they also link to the newspaper article steinitz mentioned), but either they were considered the tone of Naiditsch’s open letter or Naiditsch himself chose a non-German outlet (the letter now also appeared at Chessdom).
The Fridman interview is in German and too long to translate, just a few points:
- One issue was that the A players collectively asked for a meeting with the federation and never got one (”only emails and phone calls”).
- “If I were an engineer or programmer and still had the chance to travel to the Olympiad, I would also pay myself [referring to other teams, the Australian one would be an example] to play without any competitive pressure. But I am a (chess) professional and things are different in Germany. … There are expectations for the German team, maybe not top 3 but maybe top 10 final ranking. … At a team competition such as the Olympiad one always has to give 120 percent.”
- Quite a lot about what a trainer should do and how this is handled by other federations. Funny “detail”: Jan Gustafsson will actually travel to the Olympiad, now as second and coach of the Danish team.
This is a very sad moment for Chess in Germany.
We all can see, that the Top-Players in Germany are not happy with their Chess Federation and as it seems, this situation lasts now for about 20 years already (acc. To Mr. Lobron). The letter from Jan Gustaffson cant have been more than a reasonable try to humiliate the DSB (German Chess Fed.) This was the chance for the DSB to immediate call in the players for a talk eye to eye. But what happened was nothing. It seems to me that the DSB was just waiting to see, if their problems can be solved on a most cheapest way. It can’t have been really a serious try to raise money on this way. A sad moment indeed because, only now when a brave Grandmaster like GM Arkadij Naiditsch sacrifices himself by pointing out facts to the public, things might change.
I’m a chess amateur and chess lover. I pay member fee’s to 4 clubs in Germany, also to support this clubs and our sport in general including our national team. I think its just fair to proclaim that of course I want to see the best German players play on a Olympiad! The DSB carries or even own a Chess Marketing Agency but for what reason? Everybody can read the DSB business reports to see himself, that this Chess Marketing Company has no other reasons to exist rather than to be able to use incoming donations for paying salaries – a taxation matter! Instead, “chess marketing” to me must mean to raise money from sponsors as well. But who takes care for this on DSB-side? It’s a shame for Chess in Germany.