Press release by ECU (updated)
Georgia will host the European Individual Women Chess Championship 2011. The information has been confirmed officially by Chessdom.com sources. Update: scroll down for official ECU statement.
The expected dates of the event are 6th to 18th of May. The prize fund will be 110 000 eur.
The Turkish Chess Federation, originally licensed to host the 2011 European Individual Women Chess Championship in Gaziantep, withdrew from the organization of the tournament on late December. Those events were described in an earlier article.
The European Chess Union followed up on the then issued press release and discussed the situation at the ECU Board meeting in Belgrade on 12-13th January. The decision was to begin with a new bidding procedure, and the official invitation for new bids was published on the ECU website.
Silvio Danailov with the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs of Georgia
However, immediately on the following day, the Turkish Chess Federation renewed the offer to organize the Championship on the same dates and venue and with the same prize fund as originally planned.
Later Turkey even increased the prize fund offer. However, the final decision was that Tbilisi will host the 2011 European Individual Women Chess Championship.
Official statement of ECU
The ECU Office received three offers for the organization of the European Individual Women’s Championship 2011 by the application deadline. The offer from Italy was not approved by the Italian Chess federation, so it was not taken into account.
The remaining two offers were from the Georgian Chess Federation (Tbilisi) and the Turkish Chess Federation (Gaziantep).
The President of the European Chess Union, Mr Silvio Danailov, decided that the Championship would be held in Tbilisi. The competition will take place in “Sheraton Metechi Palace 5*” Hotel, May 6-19. The prize money will be in the amount of 110,000 EUR (88,000 EUR for the players and 22,000 EUR for the ECU).
The competition Regulations will be published in the Circular letter 2/2011.
