Nadezhda Kosintseva wins FIDE Caissa Award 2010

Dear all!

During the last FIDE Presidential Board, according to the voting that took place from January 1 to February 20, 2010, the FIDE Caissa Award 2010 was awarded to Nadezhda Kosintseva.

The prize of 1000 euro (from the budget of the FIDE Commission for women's chess) and the statuette shall be awarded to Nadezhda during the Chess Olympiad 2010 in Khanty-Mansiisk.

I congratulate Nadezhda on this wonderful award and wish her to continue to show great result in the future!

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Statuette for Caissa Award Contest

Art by Libfly

Hello everybody!

As you may know, starting from this year the FIDE commission for women's chess will award annually the best women's player of the preceding year with the Caissa Award. The Classical Jewelry House "Lobortas" gladly offered to be a sponsor of this event and create a very special and unique statuette. But after long discussion we decided to run a special statuette contest to give a chance to all the fans of women's chess to offer their ideas for creating the most beautiful statuette ever. That's why today the FIDE commission for women's chess and the Classical Jewelry House "Lobortas" is happy to announce the "Search for Perfection" contest:

FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess and the Classical Jewelry House “Lobortas” are glad to invite talented sculptors, artists and just every creative person who are not indifferent to chess in general and women’s chess in particular to take part in their search for the perfect award statuette for the best women’s chess player of the year. From now on, once a year, during a special award ceremony the best women’s chess player of the preceding year will be awarded with such a statuette and a prize. We invite you to send your projects of this statuette to the official jury (Igor Lobortas, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nona Gaprindashvili) to oscar@lobortas.com and cc to: alexandra@kosteniuk.com

Keep in mind that the height of the cup shall not be more than 60 cm (23 inches) and the radius of the bottom of the statuette shall be not more than 10 cm (3.9 inches).

The Jury gives themselves the right to change and correct all the proposals when preparing the statuette. The winner of this “Search for Perfection” competition will be awarded with a special jewelry adornment from the Classical Jewelry House “Lobortas” and will be invited to take part in the award ceremony which will take place during the Women’s World Blitz Chess Championship 2010 on September 18 in Moscow, Russia, as the winner of the design competition.

GENERAL RULES & LIMITATIONS: By entering, you represent that: (i) your entry is your own original work; and (ii) you own or have the rights to convey any and all right and title in any material submitted as part of your entry into the Contest. By entering, you grant to the Organizers a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to edit, publish, promote, republish at any time in the future and otherwise use your submission, along with your name and likeness, in any and all media for any purpose, without further permission, notice or compensation (except where prohibited by law). By participating in the Contest, you agree to release the Organizers and its parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, directors, officers, and agents from any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages or losses to persons and property which may be sustained in connection with the receipt, ownership, possession, use, or misuse of any prize. The organizers reserve the right to amend these official rules and to permanently disqualify from the Contest any person it believes has intentionally violated these official rules.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

FIDE CAISSA AWARD 2010 voting has started!

Hello everyone!

News from today's Day 1 of the PRESIDENTIAL BOARD OF FIDE in which I am participating (see members list):

I'm glad to announce that the project I proposed to determine the best female player of 2009 was fully accepted and starts today!

The FIDE CAISSA AWARD voting starts now!

The women players (rated > 2300) can nominate themselves by sending an application, or any women chess players rated above 2400 on January 1, 2010 can send their top 3 nominations for best women chess players of the year 2009. The complete regulations can be found below.

So I ask all the players who are eligible to send their votes to take active part in this voting, as well as the players who think they deserve this award for the 2009 year do not hesitate to send their applications.

I would like to have as many applications as possible, I am sure there is a very deserving lady out there deserving this nomination and prize!

FIDE CAISSA AWARD

The CAISSA AWARD will be awarded annually, every year in the Spring to the best female player of the preceding year.

The voting will consist of 2 stages.

The first phase:

Any women chess player, rated above 2300 ELO, who played more than 10 rated games in the previous year (for example 2009), can apply to get this award, by sending her application to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" before February 20, 2010.

She should indicate her best results of the previous year (for example 2009) and number of rated games and exact results of each tournament played.

Alternatively, any woman chess player rated above 2400 ELO on January 1, 2010, can nominate up to 3 candidates for this award, sending an application that will include the best results of the year for the nominated players to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" before February 20 of the voting year.

The second phase:

Out of the valid received applications, candidates shall be proposed by the members of the FIDE commission for women’s chess (WOM) and the Commission for World Championships and Olympiads (WCO) based on a voting system (each member of the WOM and WCO can suggest up to three candidates, with the 1st place getting 5 points, 2nd place getting 3 points and the third place getting 1 point, by email to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" ) .

The winner will be the player who gets the greatest number of points. The co-chairmen will count the number of points for each candidate and will propose the winner to the PB before the 2nd quarter Presidential Board of each year. The PB shall review the results, decide in case of a tie, and after the result is known, the winner of the Caissa award is to be notified and announced officially by FIDE. The decision of the PB will be final.

The winner will be awarded with the FIDE CAISSA AWARD (2010) and thus named the best female player of the year (2009).

Prizes: Grand Prize: 1,000 euros and a statuette. (The prize comes out of the FIDE Commission on Women's Chess)

Winners may receive additional prizes if sponsors come forward.

Winners must sign an affidavit and license and will be responsible for paying any taxes they may owe on the prize.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

Caissa and Golden Organizer Award

Hello everybody!

During the second part of todays' executive board meeting I reported on the Commission on Women's Chess. I'm very happy to announce that the FIDE Presidential Board approved today both my proposals for the Caissa Award and the Golden Women's Tournament Organizer Award, so already in 2010 we will give these awards to the best women player of 2009 and the best organized women chess tournament of 2009. Below you will find the full information about these awards.

KOSTENIUK CAISSA AWARD PROPOSAL: APPROVED!

From the Co-Chair of the Fide Commission For Women's Chess Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk:

FIDE CAISSA AWARD

The CAISSA AWARD will be awarded annually, every year in the Spring to the best female player of the preceding year.

The voting will consist of 2 stages.

The first phase:

Any women chess player, rated above 2300 ELO, who played more than 10 rated games in the previous year (for example 2009), can apply to get this award, by sending her application to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" before February 10 of the voting year (for example 2010).

She should indicate her best results of the previous year (for example 2009) and number of rated games and exact results of each tournament played.

The second phase:

Out of the valid received applications, candidates shall be proposed by the members of the FIDE women’s commission based on a voting system (each member of the women's commission can suggest up to three candidates, with the 1st place getting 5 points, 2nd place getting 3 points and the third place getting 1 point, by email to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to: "WOM Fierro Martha" ) .

The winner will be the player who gets the greatest number of points. The co-chairmen will count the number of points for each candidate and will propose the winner to the PB before the 1st quarter Presidential Board of each year. The PB shall review the results, decide in case of a tie, and after the result is known, the winner of the Caissa award is to be notified and announced officially by FIDE. The decision of the PB will be final.

The winner is awarded with the FIDE CAISSA AWARD (for example 2010) and thus named the best female player of the year (for example 2009).

Prizes: Grand Prize: 1,000 euros and a statuette. (The prize comes out of the FIDE Commission on Women's Chess)

Winners may receive additional prizes if sponsors come forward.

Winners must sign an affidavit and license and will be responsible for paying any taxes they may owe on the prize.

KOSTENIUK GOLDEN ORGANIZER PROPOSAL: APPROVED!

From the Co-Chair of the Fide Commission For Women's Chess Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk:

PROPOSAL FOR NEW YEARLY FIDE GOLDEN WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER AWARD.

The organizers of tournaments with any time control and any system (except the official FIDE tournaments such as the World Championships, Chess Olympiads and so on) that have been held at least 3 times before the voting year with 10 or more female chess players took part in the tournament of the voting year can apply to get this award.

In order to receive this award the organizers should send an application with the following information:

1. Name, place, dates and rules of the tournament.

2. Number of female participants that took part in the event.

3. Number and quantity of prizes for the female participants and other financial conditions.

RULES FOR FIDE GOLDEN WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER AWARD 2010. Submission should be sent to alexandra@kosteniuk.com with cc to:"WOM Fierro Martha" starting from January 1, 2010 until February 20, 2010, about qualifying tournaments that took place in 2009.

By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees to the rules of the contest.

Who may enter:

The organizers of the tournaments with any time control and system (except the official FIDE tournaments such as the World Championships, Chess Olympiads, etc.) that have been held at least 3 times before and including 2009 with 10 or more female chess players took part in the tournament can apply to get this award.

Entry deadline:

All entries must be received by February 20, 2010.

Judging:

The winner shall be proposed by the members of the FIDE women’s commission to the FIDE Presidential Board based on a voting majority system. The name of the winner shall be announced by PB of FIDE on the 1st quarter Presidential Board of each year. The decision of the PB will be final.

The winner will be notified and awarded with the FIDE GOLDEN WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT ORGANIZER AWARD 2010.

The organizer of this event will receive a prize of 1,000 euros (from the budget of the FIDE comission on women's chess) which he/she should use for increasing the prize fund for women chess players in his/her next tournaments.

After the approval of the awards I was approached by the representatives of the "Lobortas & Karpova" Classic Jewelry House who expressed their readiness in developing a statuette for the Caissa Award. As soon as I will know the details I will let you know about it.

Today will be the second day of the Executive Board meeting and many more important matters and issues will be discussed I will let you all know how it will go.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com