24 March 2013

To: Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov – FIDE President
Subject: FIDE-ACP Anti-Cheating Commission

Dear Mr. Ilyumzhinov,

On behalf of the Association of Chess Professionals let me draw your attention to the open letter that was recently circulated by the ACP Board to the chess community and signed by more than 700 active players from all over the world.

Top chess professionals and regular competitors in FIDE rated events share the view that computer-assisted cheating is a major problem in chess. The number of recent scandals involving possible cheating situation has become critical and chess players believe that this damages the image of the game of chess and threatens its future.

Chess players are asking the ACP to address FIDE in order to take all necessary steps for fighting this plague. Actually, it is the very first time in the history of chess that any petition gathered such a massive support from the players.

The ACP has already developed many ideas on how to confront computer-assisted cheating and is ready to work with FIDE to improve our common world. I strongly believe that our proposals will assist the FIDE President and the FIDE Presidential Board in taking the proper action. However, the issue must be carefully examined in order to avoid any hasty decisions that may ruin the whole idea.

The ACP therefore suggests to establish a joint ACP-FIDE Commission under the aegis of FIDE in order to tackle the computer-assisted cheating problem. The commission should include not only FIDE and ACP officials, but also chess players and other chess professionals. The ACP suggests that the Commission be set up in the following weeks, and consist of 6 members, with nominations to be equally divided between FIDE and ACP (3 members from each side). The Commission shall work in the close cooperation with other FIDE Commissions – that will enable the most efficient working procedure.

We expect the fruitful cooperation, resulting in a concrete proposals to be submitted for approval of the FIDE General Assembly in September 2013.

Let me conclude by expressing the hope that the joint FIDE-ACP Anti-Cheating Commission will serve as the ground for an effective action in the interest of chess.

Sincerely Yours,

Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky
ACP President

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