The scandal in Bulgarian chess deepens

The scandals rocking the Bulgarian Chess Federation since the first revelations of Gospodari na Efira on Monday continues. This time practically all national media are following the case and are searching for Danailov and Velchev, who seem to have disappeared.

The Masters reveal election lists manipulations

Episode 2 (see the full video here) revealed illegal delegates registration and more manipulations of team Danailov.

At the beginning of the episode the fishy situation in the Bulgarian chess federation was comically upgraded to “smelling as sauerkraut”. The hosts noted with indignation the troubling practices used, as more election manipulations were revealed regarding another member of Danailov’s team – Mr. Vasil Tonchev.

Orlin Nikolov, president of the Botvinnik Chess Club, explained, “Mr. Vasil Tonchev is part of the federation as a member of the Botvinnik Club. As such, he is going to be elected to be part of the Board of Directors of the federation. However, we have never agreed Mr. Tonchev to be part of the club, nor we have given him membership or registration.” Nikolov continued, “To be eligible for the elections a person has to be member of a club for at least six months, in this case there is a breach of the regulations.”

“The Masters” dialed Tonchev and record the conversation. Even though it was made clear to Tonchev that he is in breach of the regulations, he still insisted a way had to be found for him to be part the governing body by signing a club membership retrospectively (with a date 6 months before the actual signing).

“The Masters” will observe carefully the elections on December 13th. At least two more episodes of manipulations will be aired. As they promised, “we will check-mate the Chess Federation”.

The Masters promising to follow closely the elections on 13th of December

Bulgarian Chess Federation to sue Orlin Nikolov

The newspaper “Sega” informs that the Bulgarian Chess Federation is planning to sue Nikolov for his use of hidden camera. BCF qualifies the reports as “insinuation”. According to Maya Velcheva, a member of the BCF administration, “Every club has the right to be supported. That is why we will turn to the court regarding this case.”

The author of the article in Sega, Yavor Evtimov, complains that nor Danailov nor Velchev could be found in BCF. They did not pick up their phones either, a fact confirmed by multiple other national mainstream media investigating the scandal. This is not the first time Danailov avoids answering his phone, so was the case when he censured the broadcast of EICC and sent threatening letters to multiple websites, requesting unregulated payment.

Read the “Sega” article here and here

Danailov and his administration with abuse of 500 000 eur state money

The national newspaper Dnevnik – the biggest printed media partner of the match Anand – Topalov – had as central news in the sports section on Tuesday the alleged financial abuse of 500 000 eur state money by Silvio Danailov.

The Ministry of Sports has received a signal regarding the financial irregularities in the organization of the European Individual Chess Championship and the European Individual Women Chess Championship. According to the article, in both championships the players cover their expenses alone and there is no explanation what has happened to the state money.

According to Sergiev, “this is a major crime in Bulgarian sports, which has to reach the court”. Sergiev wanted to be a candidate for President of the BCF, but he was afraid about the financial state of the federation. Sergiev explained, “They threw out Danailov from the European Chess Union. Wherever he passes, everything is in ruins”.

The article goes on with the key moments from “The Masters”. You can read the full article with google translate here as well as the version in the largest Bulgarian sports newspaper Topsport here.