OFFICIAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN CHESS UNION, SILVIO DANAILOV

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1 OFFICIAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN CHESS UNION, SILVIO DANAILOV Dear presidents, Dear delegates, Dear players and chess figures, Dear friends, Tomorrow Europe will have to make an important and wise decision about the fate the European Chess Union over the next four years. I feel it like my important responsibility to make an overview of the work done by me and my team and to share with you my vision for the future of the European chess if you decide to elect us for a second managerial mandate. WHAT WE HAVE DONE? WE INCREASED TREMENDOUSLY THE IMAGE OF THE ORGANIZATION AND THE EUROPEAN CHESS In the beginning of our mandate we believed that the first important thing we had to do is to increase the image of ECU and the European chess, because the basement of the successful marketing is the excellent reputation. If you have good image, people, institutions, organizations, media will trust in you. When you won the trust of others and when they understand your goals and position, it will be very easy to become their preferable partner and to work together for the prosperity of your own organization.

2 ECU BECAME A PARTNER OF TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WORLD BODIES Even our fierce opponents could not deny the historical successes, which we did for the European chess. The endorsement of the ECU program Chess in schools by the European Parliament and the official cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO proved the correctness of our thesis, that chess is unique mixture of sport, science, culture, education and art. With these two great projects we fulfilled our aim to elevate the perception of chess by the society on a new, higher level. WE IMPROVED THE INTERNAL PROCESSES WITHIN THE ECU Besides the improving the internal way of functioning of ECU, we achieved two very important results: - the bidding procedure has been made very transparent with all the received bids being published online; - the more effective communication with the federations have led to practically there being no federations debts towards the ECU I can resume that one of the important changes taking place over the last 4 years is the overall public image of the ECU as a professional, well-organized and wellmanaged institution with very clear and defined principles. WE IMPROVED THE PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES OF ECU We created and maintain a large flow of information regarding the activities of the European Chess Union and the national chess federations. Our newsletter promotes the European chess around the world it reaches more than 4000 end point recipients federations, journalists, chess figures, partners and potential sponsors from all over the world. We actively use the social networks.

3 New well-designed website which offers vast opportunities for further upgrading has been launched. We constantly organize PR events, with some of which we managed to attract the interest of some influential international media. WE IMPROVED THE MARKETING OF ECU AND SECURED EURO SPONSORSHIP FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS As you were already informed during the today s General Assembly of the European Chess Union we have secured guarantied euro from corporate sponsorship for the next 4 years. The newly opened by me chess sports facilities worth 3.64 million euro in the town of Slivnica, Bulgaria are clear example how the European Chess Union can help to the national federations and the municipalities to apply and win projects for European funding. Some people deliberately forget that the adoption of the program Chess in school means that in very near future the European Union will organize special financial funds for the implementation of the program among the European schools. Then all schools, local authorities, ministries and national federations will be able to apply for European funding. The cooperation of our organization with UNESCO is the first step for future opportunities for ECU to work with the UNESCO s sponsors, which are among the biggest international private corporations. All the marketing successes of our team came as a result of the increased image of the European Chess Union, because in the present world better image very often means bringing more money for the organization. WE MADE ECU AN INDEPENDENT AND DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION Probably one of the main reasons for the European chess delegates to vote for our team in 2010 was their faith that we will be independent. And now, like President, I am proud that we succeed in that me and my team, we are financially and politically independent the European Chess Union now has its own voice and everyone has a respect and knows ECU. This will be our path in the future as well.

4 THE LAST 4 YEARS WERE THE MOST ACTIVE TERM IN THE ECU HISTORY The figures speak for themselves the last 4 years were the most active term in the history of the ECU more tournaments than ever and more participants in most of them. WHAT S NEXT? We will continue to work for the development of our projects with UNESCO and the EU Parliament - Chess as a UNESCO intangible world heritage and Chess in school. We will continue the process for cooperation with NATO, which in our opinion will be very interesting and beneficial for the European chess. We will start to implement some interesting marketing concepts like for example the revolutionary marketing concept for content sharing, called Chess Cloud Media, which will transform the websites of the 54 national federations into one unified informational platform. We plan to start the online platform ECUKIDS. Our team will work very hard on popularization and promotion of chess in the media, based on the Norwegian model of extensive media coverage of Carlsen-Anand match. We will raise the image of the organization by certifying it according to the management system standards ISO 9001:2008. The certificate for ISO 9001:2008 is the most popular and most recognizable way to present an organization as a reliable partner that meets the requirements of the international standard system of quality management.

5 We will start to use the huge professional potential and expertise of the national federations in connection with defining of the future of the European chess, for solving of different practical and strategic problems and etc. To unite the federations know-how and expertise we will organize different working groups, commissions and etc., in which will participate representatives of the national federations. To meet the new challenges of the global world we plan to increase adequately the cross-border cooperation between ECU federations conducting of cross-border chess projects and applying for EU funding. We already have very good experience that chess can be very successful tool for regional development. We will help to the national federations to make a close partnership with regional authorities in their countries. Developing chess in the regions will increase the number of chess friends and popularity of the game. We will continue to be politically and financially independent! On 11 th of August you will decide about the fate of ECU and European chess. I fully trust in your knowledge, wisdom and great love to chess. You have shown many times your great care about chess, so let s together go to UP WHERE WE BELONG! Gens una sumus! Yours very truly, Silvio Danailov European Chess Union President