Aleksandra Getmanska vēstule FMJD ētikas komisijai

21.augustā Aleksandrs Getmanskis nosūtīja FMJD ētikas komitejai protesta vēstuli.

Tajā īsumā rakstīts, ka Ģenerālā Asambleja atcēla Rula Bomstras maču pret Aleksandru Georgijevu. Vladislavs Vesperis un Turija Ļubļana esot piezīmējuši pirms balsošanas, ka tad par maču būs jāspēlē 2021. gada pirmajai un otrajai vietai, bet tas netika ņemts vērā un tika nobalsots. Ir saglabājušies audio ieraksti.  Tādejādi ir stājies spēkā FMJD kodekss, ka jāspēlē 1. un 2. vietai, t.i. Aleksandram Getmanskim pret Aleksandru Švarcmanu. FMJD padomes lēmumiem par FMJD kodeksa maiņu pēc Ģenerālās asamblejas nav likumiskais spēks. Par to, ka jāspēlē Aleksandram Getmanskim pret Aleksandru Švarcmanu ir lēmusi arī FMJD spēlētāju komiteja. Kā arī tas nav ētiski bijis šo sanāksmi  10/07/2021 veikt pasaules čempionāta laikā.

Vēstule angļu valodā: 

To the Ethical Committee of the FMJD:

Dear members of the Ethical Committee of the FMJD,

I am filing a protest in accordance with Chapter 4 of the FMJD Code of Ethics in regards to the decision of the FMJD Executive Committee (EB FMJD) of 10.07.2021 that violates at least the following paragraphs of the Charter 2 of this Code:

2.1. Fraud in the administration of any FMJD or national federation office that affects other federations. The same applies where incorrect information is given in order to obtain unwarranted advantages or gain.

2.2. Office bearers who through their behaviour no longer inspire the necessary confidence or have in other ways become unworthy of trust.

2.7. Gross or repeated violations of approved regulations.

As well as the FMJD Annexes, internal regulations of the FMJD and acceptable deadlines for making decisions and notifying participants of the 2021 World Championship.

Since I took the 2nd place in the 2021 World Championship, the EB FMJD decision of 10.07.2021 deprives me of the legal right to the match for the 2022 World Champion title.

The decision of the General Assembly on 03.07.2021 to call off the match for the title of World Champion 2020 between Alexander Georgiev and Roel Boomstra, without any stipulations, effectively cancelled any special rights from them to participate in the 2022 match, and consequentially, brought forward the existing, previously approved in the past by other General Assembly meetings Article 11 of the Annex 17 FMJD that clearly and unambiguously states:

“When a world title match cannot be played the World Champion keeps his title but does not have the right for a title match two years later. Then this right for a title match goes to the numbers 1 and 2 of the World Championship tournament”.

Please pay attention that this Article does not stipulate any special conditions that caused the previous title match not played.

The main reason for the General Assembly’s rejection of the 2020 match was that its dates were scheduled after the conclusion of the 2021 World Championship. (Minutes of the General Assembly of the FMJD 2021 July 03, 2021, Tallinn, Estonia, remark of Henri Macaux, France: “We have started the new competition to get a new world champion and it is clear that if the match was not played until now then it is too late”).

Since there were no special clauses in the decision, it was obvious to all that the match for the 2022 World Championship title should be played by the 1st and 2nd places of the 2021 World Championship according to Article 11 of Annex 17. Members of the General Assembly were informed about the article and its consequences by at least two people – Vladislavs Vesperis (Latvia) and Lublyana Turiy (USA) prior to the vote. The record of this can be found in the audio recording of the General Assembly meeting which unfortunately did not make into the minutes.

After the conclusion of the 2021 World Championship, the FMJD Technical Committee and the Players’ Committee also confirmed that the 2022 match should be played by the 1st and 2nd place of the 2021 World Championship according to Article 11 of Annex 17. The opinion of the Technical Committee chair enclosed with this protest is especially important here, as according to the FMJD Internal Regulations document:

“The technical committee … looks after the rules of the game and the regulations for tournaments and matches, rules for referees and calculation of rating and titles”.

However, according to the statements from both Technical and Player Committees’ Chairs, they were not consulted by FMJD EB when making their decision on the match.

The same conclusion was made in an interview on 27.07.2021 by a direct participant of the events, multiple world champion Alexander Georgiev http://64-100.com/match-match-match-shashki

In the decision of EB FMJD dated 10.07.2021 and in the explanatory letter to the national Federations of the FMJD President dated 27.07.2021, the main reason for including Roel Boomstra in the 2022 match is the refusal of Alexander Georgiev in a personal letter dated 28.12.2020 to play a match with Roel Boomstra. Both documents do not mention this directly, but it is obvious that they want to create illusion and convince the players that Roel Boomstra could not exercise his right to play a match for the title of world champion in 2020.

First of all, since General Assembly 2021 bears the highest authority in all FMJD matters, and as it was by its decision that the 2020 match (rescheduled for the fall 2021) has to be cancelled, the personal situation of Roel Boomstra becomes irrelevant. The Annexes are the law of the FMJD and need to be obeyed by everyone, including FMJD EB above any personal considerations.

But secondly, even this is not true. After the refusal of Alexander Georgiev (although he claims in an interview that there was no official refusal), FMJD, in agreement with KNDB, decided to return to the agreement on the Alexander Georgiev – Roel Boomstra match and determined the approximate timing of the match. This NEW match agreement with Alexander Georgiev effectively canceled the refusal of the match (if there was one).

These facts completely refute the arguments given by the new EB FMJD.

The next issue is the manner in which this decision was made and announced. The decision of the FMJD EB from 10.07.2021 was brought to the participants of the World Championship 2021 – July 13, 2 rounds before the end of the championship final at the most tense moment. The final whistle was less than a day away! This is a gross violation of the competition rules.

After the decision of the General Assembly of 2021, the participants of the World Championship understood that according to the rules of the FMJD, the 1st and 2nd places will play a match in 2022. The World Championship Final started according to these rules, and 2 rounds before the end of the tournament the main arbiter read out different rules. This is another reason why the FMJD EB solution should not be recognized.

The argument of the FMJD management that the decision came into force because there were no protests has no legal ground –nowhere in the statutes of the FMJD it is said that the participants of the World Championship have the rights to overrule the decisions of the General Assembly members, which, as has been mentioned before, is the most authoritative and powerful FMJD structure. Only General Assembly members, representatives of national federations in good standing, can overwrite and replace the statutes of Annexes – no one else, including EB FMJD and players have such power. The announcement made by the main arbiter of WC 2021, and the follow-up statement of EB FMJD is also no more than a weak political ploy bringing another ethical issue: in the two last most crucial rounds, in few minutes before the start of the games, all players were concentrating on the game instead of thoughts about the intrigues of the FMJD EB and protests. If anything, such inappropriate announcements could be considered as an attempt to break the players’ concentration and should perhaps in future be disallowed by amending FMJD Annexes with the special statement on this.

It should also be taken into account that the members of the FMJD EB were participants of the 2021 General Assembly, and as such had several months to make proposals. They could have made proposals during the discussion on the 2022 match, but did not do so.

The FMJD management has no rights to make amends to Roel Boomstra and KNDB by breaking the FMJD Annex regulations, stepping over my own rights as the 2nd place winner of the 2021 World Championship as well as the legitimate interests of my national federation.

Based on the above facts and the FMJD regulations, I ask the members of the Ethics Committee to restore the justice by enforcing my right to participate in the match for the title of world champion in 2022.

Respectfully yours,

Alexander Getmanski, GMI

Vice-World Champion 2021