- Why Belarus is completely excluded from both tables?
- There are clear mistakes in EL2023 Div.4, not only switching the top two teams to not match left-hand side table, but also putting incorrect promotions (repeating the same clubs that are already placed higher in the same table, instead of top 2 promotions from EL2022 Div.5)
- Thanks a lot, I have now fixed the typos in the team list of Division 4 of 2023.
- The status of Team Russia and of Belarus has been unchanged since March 2022, so they are not included.
I understand the strange situation with Team Russia (country that is currently in war), with team that is not clearly distancing from the actions of their country leaders (and btw, also not actively playing on this platform as a team for a while).
But Belarus club is clearly not supporting their country leaders and Russian war actions (not that it matters much after the first point, but country of Belarus itself is also not actively involved in a war so that their team needs to face the same sanctions), they actively play on chess.com and big majority of their opponents participate in matches without any issues (some regardless of political stuff, some only because of the clear club stance on the war).
What discussion was made on Belarus club status on March 2022? It makes no sense to have only 1 person making such decisions as not including teams in a league due to purely outside factors (not directly related with chess).
Such league loses its status as serious competition if decisions are made like that.
We kept the decision consistent with both WL and Chess960 and EL, and there was not only one single person involved. Many people, both directors and admins of teams, were involved.
It has been applied like this ever since March 2022, and there has been no change in the situation that would trigger a change in the handling now.
It is very unfair decision to leave out team like that
From the territory of Belarus, the Russian invaders attack innocent civilians. That is why I agree with the decision to exclude the two teams from international competitions.
From the territory of Belarus, the Russian invaders attack innocent civilians. That is why I agree with the decision to exclude the two teams from international competitions.
- Firstly, you are entering unncessary political discussions this way, speaking about countries and their leaders, and not chess clubs and chess players. Don't do that.
- Secondly, in many occasions during the previous year, leaders of club "Belarus" expressed publicly on chess.com their position on the ongoing war and their lack of support (and even more, open protest) to their country official government and president (who are the only ones to be blamed for any actions).
It is very disciminatory to leave out club based on their nationality despite they are openly against any actions of country leaders - they are supporting the victims of the war, calling for war to stop and also fighting on their own against their country leaders (deserving the support from the rest of chess community, not punishments for something that they are not to blamed at all)
You are also right...
How about new teams, starting in Division 5, called "Team Belarus against war" and "Team Russia against war"?
The final results for EL2022 are available.
You can view them here below, or in more detail on
https://chessteams.info/
Congratulations to the winners of the divisions!
Div 1 : Team England
Div 2 : Team Romania
Div 3 : Team Belgium
Div 4 : Team Finland
Div 5 : Team Latvia
In Division 1, Team Ukraine played three matches, winning one of them. For ordering the other teams and determining relegations, I used a table created without their matches.
In lower divisions, some matches remained unplayed, they did not affect promotions and relegations.
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In the table on the right hand side, I have shown the divisions for next season according to the best information I currently have about the teams, and from the teams, about who will be able to and wishing to play up in the higher division.
With two teams dropping out of the top divisions, there are much less relegations in the EL this year. Team Ukraine will stay in their division, and will keep being free to play their matches later or to not play their matches.
We still have some days of time before needing to finalize the divisions, so If you think you have information about your team that might not yet have been included here, please be quick to tell me.
For preparing a smooth start into the new season, please update your entry in the European League Teams and Active Admins forum to reflect the currently active admins in charge of your team in the EL.
I am optimistic that we can have finalized new divisions, schedules, and forums for the new year ready quite soon, within not so many days from now.