site.btaSports Minister Calls for Cooperation between Bulgarian Chess Federations on Eve of 2024 Chess Olympiad

The Minister of Youth and Sports Georgi Glushkov commented Friday on the situation with Bulgarian chess, which is facing the threat of not being represented at the upcoming 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest on September 10-23.

The domestic competitions are currently administered by the Bulgarian Chess Federation 2022 (BCF 2022), which is licensed by the Sports Ministry. However, the Bulgarian teams in international competitions are selected by the Bulgarian Sports Chess Federation (BSCF) , as it is Bulgaria’s representative in the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

There are lawsuits between the two Bulgarian federations, and the dialogue that was initiated by the previous sports minister Dimitar Iliev seems to be completely forgotten. On June 25, BCF 2022 issued a statement that it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne against the decision of FIDE’s General Assembly to accept BSCF as its member last December.

"There are a lot of things that hinder the development of chess in Bulgaria and the realization of the full potential of Bulgarian athletes. The inspection of the Inspectorate of the Council of Ministers of the license of BCF 2022 issued by the Sports Ministry has been completed. It found that the administrative procedure for issuing an indefinite licence to BCF 2022 for the sport of chess was carried out in compliance with the requirements of the Physical Education and Sport Act and its implementing regulations. The report of the inspection was approved by Nikolay Denkov – prime minister at the time," Glouchkov said.

"The two federations - BCF 2022 and BSCF should shake hands. I cannot decide for them. Moreover, we have no right to interfere in the activities of the federations," Glouchkov said.

He was asked whether it is possible that the Bulgarian national team will remain without funding for the 2024 Chess Olympiad, to which he replied that such a scenario is possible, but a formula could be found through external funding, similar to the one that secured the participation of Bulgarian weightlifters at the Olympic Games in Paris.

In November 2023, a Bulgarian national team took part in a tournament under the auspices of the European Chess Union (ECU) for the first time in 10 years. After a long period of power struggle in Bulgarian chess during which five organizations were claiming the position of controlling body of the game in the country, BSCF was recognized by ECU and FIDE as the legitimate representative of Bulgarian chess with the right to nominate Bulgarian national teams to participate in the world, European and Olympic championships under their auspices.