September 22, 2018 in Loo, (Sochi, Krasnodar region) will host the extraordinary report-election General Assembly of Draughts Federation of Russia (FSHR), which will be elected the new composition of its leadership.
On behalf of the General Assembly of the International Draughts Federation (IDF) held on 30.08.2018 in Kranevo (Bulgaria), which was attended by delegates from 29 countries, IDF President Vladimir Langin appealed to the forthcoming in Loo FSHR Assembly, to players, coaches, functionaries, organizers and all fans of Russian draughts.
Letter in Russian HERE
In December 2017, 5 members of the FSHR Board (A.Nikitin, A.Shonin, O.Dashkov, Y.Korolev, A.Shkodin) under far-fetched pretexts, without any serious reasons, made a decision on the withdrawal of FSHR from IDF and work in the Section Russian draughts of FMJD. This led to a serious split in the Russian draughts.
Everyone knows the results of the work of IDF and the FMJD Section Russian draughts in 2018.
IDF, created specifically for the development of draughts-64 in the world, including Russian draughts, which are the main international discipline in IDF, successfully continues its work with the support of its members.
IDF – conducts official international competitions in Russian draughts on 4 continents with a large representation of countries (in 2017: World Championship among men and women – 44 countries, in 2018: World Youth Championship – 15 countries, World Team Championship of the world – 14 countries, the World Championship among veterans – 12 countries, European Youth Championship – 10 countries, European Championship among men and women – 15 countries, Championships of Africa and Pan America have been held, 6 World Cup stages, etc.). The prize pools of IDF tournaments in 2018: the 2018 European Championship among men and women – 20,000 euros; World Cup 2018, including the stages – a total of more than 16 000 euros).
FMJD Section Russian draughts, reanimated by this organization to split in draughts-64 and the destruction of Russian draughts as an international game, conducted several failed tournaments with a minimum representation of countries (1-3 countries) and virtually no prize funds, without doing anything for the full development of Russian draughts in the world, without a development plan, rules of the sport, regulations, etc.
All the promises to Russian players in letter No. 152/N dated December 19, 2017 and signed by the FSHR President Anatoly Nikitin, who headed FMJD Section Russian draughts, have not been fulfilled!
The split in the Russian draughts does great harm:
– the image of Russia as a great draughts country, and Russian players, who in 2018 were deprived of the opportunity to participate in full-fledged IDF tournaments with a large representation of countries, the strongest players of the world and worthy prizes.
– all draughts-64 at the international level, interest for which and support from international organizations, governments, sports communities, sponsors, etc. can decline, which will discard their development many years ago.
It is unclear why draughts Russia self-isolated from the draughts community and with its own hands is trying to destroy the achievements of the past years in promoting its national game on the world level.
The IDF General Assembly invites the Draughts Federation of Russia to stop the split in Russian draughts and return to IDF for the development and promotion of Russian draughts in the world. The split in draughts-64 is beneficial only to the competing organization of FMJD, but not to the family of draughts-64.
If the Draughts Federation of Russia accepts a positive decision and submits documents for the restoration of IDF membership by the end of 2018, Russian players will be able to compete in the IDF 2019 competitions, taking advantage of all the benefits for IDF’s full members. Players who competed in illegitimate competitions will be fully amnestied.
We call for common sense for the benefit of our sport! The choice is yours!
Vladimir Langin, President of IDF
