site.btaLegal Stalemate Leaves Bulgarian Chess Players without State Financial Support

At the Women's World Chess Cup final in Baku, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria's Nurgyul Salimova had to rely largely on self-financing and sponsor money for her travel and per diem expenses, it transpired from interviews with her coach. The reason was the lack of a budget allocation for this purpose and the lack of a legitimate and recognized chess federation to channel such funding.

Salimova is just the latest - and most high-profile - victim of a legal stalemate that leaves Bulgarian chess players without state financial support.

In 2019, sports minister Krasen Kralev sued the Bulgarian Chess Federation (BCF), presided over by Silvio Danailov, for misspending BGN 2 million in public funding between 2011 and 2014. The court ordered the Federation to refund BGN 684,540. During Danailov's presidency (2011-2017), the International Chess Federation (FIDE) banned the BCF and Bulgarian players to enter tournaments and championships under its auspices.

The Bulgarian Chess Federation 1928 was delicensed by sports minister Radostin Vassilev.

In late November 2022, a new organization established under the name of Bulgarian Chess Federation 2022 (BCF 2022), headed by former Socialist MP Vasil Antonov, applied to join FIDE after the Ministry of Youth and Sports under Vessela Letcheva issued it a licence on November 3.

The legitimacy of BCF 2022 as a controlling body of the game in Bulgaria, however, is challenged by four other organizations: the Bulgarian Chess Federation 1928, the Bulgarian Chess Federation 64, the Chess Federation of Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian Chess Federation.

Because of this infighting, FIDE refused to recognize the BFC 2022. On April 4, the International Federation ordered the setting up of a special Provisional Committee authorized to govern chess in Bulgaria until the election of a single federation and a new president. A unifying meeting that was supposed to take place in early July had to be cancelled after BFC 2022 appealed the action before FIDE and the Ministry.

Due to all this, the Ministry cannot subsidize organized chess in Bulgaria under the law. 

On August 21, the Ministry of Youth and Sports published an open letter to the media, saying that it has no right will not intervene in the dispute between chess federations in Bulgaria but believes that the current state of affairs is not conducive to the advancement of Bulgarian chess. "The Ministry is ready to facilitate a restart of dialogue among the federations and will find a possibility to incentivize Nurgyul Salimova for her success record," the letter reads.

BFC 2022 President Zhivko Zhekov said on Tuesday that when Salimova returns home from Azerbaijan, expected on Wednesday night or Thursday morning, she will receive a BNG 10,000 individual bonus from his Federation.