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April 23, 2008, Novotel Plovdiv hosted a meeting of the Balkan Chess Federation (BALC). BALC was established on August 20, 2006 in Athens, by the chess federations of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Turkey as founding members.
The attendees in the Plovdiv meeting were: from Romania – Ion Dobronauteanu, President of BALC and President of the Romanian Chess Federetion, and Mircha Pavlov; from Bulgaria – Stefan Sergiev, Vice-President of BALC and President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, and Nikolay Velchev, Executive Director of BCF; from Greece – Nikolaidis Vitalis, and from Montenegro – Srchan Dragasevic, President of the Chess Union of Montenegro, and Grandmaster Ivanovic. Attended also Boris Kutin, President of the European Chess Union (ECU), and Vladimir Shakotic, ECU Board member. A number of issues were discussed on extending of the Balkan chess co-operation and the bilateral relations among the Balkan chess federations. A decision was taken to establish a Balkan Grand Prix tournament chain starting 2009. It would comprise 4 open tournaments, one each in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro, with a prize fund of at least 6 000 EUR.
Each of the organisers will pay the accomodation expenses (hotel and meals) of 3 representatives each of the other three countries. The eligible representatives must be ranked not lower than 2450 eko-points. In parallel to the usual final ranking, these tournaments will rank separately the Balkan chess players. The overall Balkan Grand Prix leaders will take part in a Masters tournament of 10 players with a prize fund of
10 000 EUR. This prize fund will be contributed to by the four Grand Prix tournament organisers and the host federation. To avoid participant domination of any country, each federation will be entitled to at least one representative in the Masters tournament, one place being reserved also for the host. The final regulations of the
Balkan Grand Prix will be drafted by the Romanian Chess Federation, and will be endorsed by the next BALC meeting in Herzeg Novi (Montenegro) in September,
2008. The four tournaments will also be fixed at that meeting. The chess federations of Serbia and Turkey will be invited to take part in the Grand Prix chain. Decisions were passed also on the second important issue related with the renewal of the Junior
Balkan Chess Games. It was decided to conduct annual team Balkaniads starting 2009. The team line-up shall include 4 boys and 4 girls, under 10, 12, 14, and 16, respectively. The regulations for these Balkaniads will be drafted by the Greek Chess Federation. Simultaneously with the Balkaniads there will be joint training camps. Each participationg Balkan country will cover all expenses of its own players. The host country shall provide fair conditions for the events, corresponding to a minimum of a 3-star hotel, and the cost per bed shall not be in excess of 20 EUR. Acting as President of BALC for the next four years will be the President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Dr. Stefan Sergiev.
The next meeting of BALC will take place in Herzeg Novi, Montenegro,in September, 2008.