DISCIPLINARY ACTION ON TONY TAN & SINGAPORE CHESS FEDERATION
For Singaporean chess official Tony Tan’s disrespectful behaviour in an incident in a regional tournament held in Singapore in 2015, he was sanctioned by the ASEAN Chess Confederation after he and the Executive Council of the Singapore Chess Federation “refused” to apologise and the latter did not take appropriate action within the given time frame.
FIDE “retaliated” with a suspension on the ACC for not lifting the sanction on Tony Tan and the SCF Executive Council. This resulted in FIDE not awarding titles, norms and ratings for ACC events!!!
The 2015 event was ACC-sanctioned – running for 16 consecutive years since 2000; the ACC is registered in Singapore and the incident took place on Singapore soil.
ACC: ASEAN Chess Confederation
EXCO: Executive Council (of SCF)
FIDE: World Chess Federation
NCFP: National Chess Federation of the Philippines
SCF: Singapore Chess Federation
Chronology of events
17_Sep_2015 |
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18 Sep 2015 |
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25 Sep 2015 |
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27 Sep 2015 | SCF President wrote to ACC Secretary-General Panupand Vijjurabha questioning the validity of the position of the ACC President since the latter was no longer a delegate of the SCF. |
7 Oct 2015 | ACC Secretary-General responded to the SCF President that an official once elected into an international organisation shall remain in office unless he resigns. |
10 Oct 2015 |
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11 Oct 2015 | ACC Secretary-General replied to the SCF President that the ACC President is an elected official of the ACC. |
11 Oct 2015 |
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16 Oct 2015 |
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23 Oct 2015 | 4 EXCO members (Adelin Tan, Gan Yeow Beng, Chan Weng Kee, Philip Chan) resigned, in view of a decision made in the EXCO meeting on 22 Oct 2015 and the 2-week’s deadline from ACC. Ignatius Leong also resigned on the SCF EXCO. This meant that 5 of 11 elected EXCO members resigned after less than 3 months in office. |
24 Oct 2015 | The ACC issued a Statement concerning the FIDE Ethics Commission decision banning Ignatius Leong for 2 years from holding offices in FIDE, the national federation and any affiliated international organisation. |
24 Oct 2015 | SCF Vice-President John Wong wrote to ACC Secretary-General questioning the ACC sanctions. |
25 Oct 2015 | SCF Vice-President John Wong wrote again to the ACC Secretary-General challenging the ACC sanctions. |
30 Oct 2015 |
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6 Nov 2015 |
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12 Nov 2015 | SCF President wrote to NCFP that the SCF Ethics Committee “has found that Mr Tony Tan was disrespectful towards the children and Mr Jayson Gonzales during the ASEAN Age Group Championship held in June 2015, and has suspended Mr Tony Tan from the SCF EXCO for the period 5 to 18 Nov 2015”. |
19 Nov 2015 | SCF President wrote to ACC Secretary-General challenging the ACC decisions and that SCF had sought intervention from FIDE. He also said “we will be writing to the NCFP to inform them about the outcome of our investigation”. (Note the dates of the 2 letters!) |
23 Nov 2015 | FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman wrote to ACC Acting President Utut Adianto “that all titles and norms from ACC are suspended”. |
17 Dec 2015 | The FIDE Executive Director wrote again to ACC Acting President Utut Adianto that all titles and norms from the ACC are suspended until the action requested by FIDE has been taken. |
31 Dec 2015 | The FIDE Executive Director wrote to ACC Acting President Utut Adianto: “…I see that despite my advising you on 17th December that no titles or norms would be granted in the ASEAN Championships due to ASEAN Chess Confederation’s failure to take the actions requested, you apparently failed to advise the organisers or the participants. …” |
8 Jan 2016 | The FIDE Executive Director wrote to the SCF that it has declared the ACC sanctions are illegal… |
19 Jan 2016 | The FIDE Executive Director wrote again to ACC Acting President Utut Adianto that “As the ASEAN Chess Confederation has failed to take the action requested by FIDE, the FIDE Presidential Board is being asked to temporarily suspend the ASEAN Chess Confederation as an Affiliated Member of FIDE”. |
29 Jan 2016 | ACC wrote an Open Letter in response to SCF President’s Letter “FIDE Conclusive Response to the ACC Sanctions” posted on SCF Website. (FIDE never asked for details of the incident and explanations from the NCFP and ACC). |
13 Feb 2016 |
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19 Feb 2016 | ACC announced that the 2016 ASEAN+ Age Group Open Championships will go ahead in Pattaya regardless of whether there would be FIDE titles and ratings. |
19 Apr 2016 | ACC Secretary General wrote to the FIDE Executive Director to clarify on the suspension of the ACC. |
27 Apr 2016 | The FIDE Executive Director responded: “The temporary suspension of the ASEAN Chess Confederation as an affiliated member of FIDE is justified by your refusal to lift the unlawful sanctions pronounced against Mr Tony Tan and by your refusal to comply with the decision of the FIDE Ethics Commission by failing to remove Mr Leong from office.” |
Downloads
- 1_2015.09.17-Complaint-of-NCFP-to-SCF
- 2_2015.09.17-Report-on-SG-Incident-by-Filipino-Reporter
- 3_2015.09.17-Emails-NCFP-SCF-ACC
- 4_2015.10.10-Resolution-of-Manila-Board-Meeting
- 5_2015.10.11-ACC-panupand-to-SCF-on-Manila-Resolution
- 6_2015.10.24-Email-Philip-Chan-to-ACC-Panupand
- 7_2015.10.24-Philip-Chan-Appeal-to-ACC-Panuapand
- 8_2015.10.25-Email-SCF-to-ACC-Panupand-1
- 9_2015.10.24-SCF-John-Wong-to-ACC-Panupand-1
- 10_2015.10.27-Email-SCF-to-ACC-Panupand-2
- 11_2015.10.25-SCF-John-Wong-to-ACC-Panupand-2
- 12_2015.10.29-ACC-Panupand-Waiver-to-Philip-Chan
- 13_2015.10.30-Email-Philip-Chan-Thanking-ACC
- 14_2015.10.30-Resolution-on-Tony-Tan-&-SCF
- 15_2015.11.06-SCF-Announces-Suspension-of-Tony-Tan
- 16_2015.11.12-SCF-Leonard-Lau-to-NCFP
- 17_2015.11.19-SCF-Leonard-Lau-to-ACC-Panupand-1
- 18_2015.11.23-FIDE-Nigel-Freeman-to-ACC-Adianto-1
- 19_2015.12.17-Email-FIDE-Nigel-Freeman-to-ACC-Adianto-2
- 20_2015.12.23-SCF-Leonard-Lau-to-ACC-Panupand-2
- 21_2015.12.31-FIDE-Nigel-Freeman-to-ACC-Adianto-3
- 22_2016.01.08-FIDE-Nigel-Freeman-to-SCF
- 23_2016.01.19-FIDE-Nigel-Freemand-to-ACC-Adianto-4
- 24_2016.01.29-ACC-Open-Letter-to-FIDE
- 25_2016.02.19-ACC-Press-release
- 26_2016.04.19-ACC-Panupand-to-FIDE-on-Suspension-of-ACC
- 27_2016.04.27-FIDE-Nigel-Freeman-replies-to-ACC-Panupand