In November 2020 ACP published a proposal about possible changes to the World Championship cycle. It proposed a democratic and all-inclusive system that would involve all players in the world in the true meaning of the gens una sumus motto.
The essence of ACP’s proposal was to include almost all open tournaments in the world in a World Open Circuit that would provide qualification spots for the Grand Swiss.
Ever since then ACP has been working on improving the proposal, with the last version from November 2022 having a detailed system for the women as well.
In these two years ACP constantly promoted the proposal and obtained positive feedback and support from a big number of players, organisers, national federations and sponsors. ACP also obtained a definite “yes” by the FIDE President during the presidential debate which ACP organised on the eve of the presidential elections in July 2022. High-ranking FIDE officials have also supported the proposal.
On 15 December 2022 FIDE announced reforms of the World Championship cycle. One of the reforms was a “FIDE Circuit” which includes “FIDE-rated tournaments […] that meet certain criteria.” In its essence FIDE’s Circuit is a modified version of ACP’s World Open Circuit.
In spite of not being mentioned in any way or receiving credit as originators, promoters and main proponents of the idea, ACP applauds FIDE’s decision to include a more democratic path to the Candidates Tournament. While definitely a positive move forward, the FIDE Circuit is still far from being an all-encompassing cycle where every participant would feel that gens una sumus also applies to him/her, given that the FIDE cycle will focus only on high-end events and therefore won’t include a lot of open tournaments around the world.
Nevertheless, ACP considers this shift in the World Championship culture as its own victory and a triumph of its efforts in the last two years. ACP would like to wish FIDE all the best in their endeavours concerning the Circuit and would like to hope that FIDE will continue on the path of democratization and transparency, with the final goal to have every single player part of the coveted cycle.
The ACP Board