ESTONIAN DRAUGHTS ASSOCIATION NOMINATES JANEK MÄGGI AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF WORLD DRAUGHTS FEDERATION

During the World Championship of international draughts from October 1-17 in Tallinn, the General Assembly of World Draughts Federation (FMJD) will take place on October 7, where representatives from 65 member countries will elect the new president for the federation. Estonian Draughts Association nominated Janek Mäggi as presidential candidate and Aare Harak as treasurer. 

“We have been working together with Janek for ten years, since 2007, when he was elected President of European Draughts Confederation (EDC),” says Harry Otten, current President of the World Draughts Federation. “EDC is definitely the leading continental confederation and Janek has been re-elected as its president twice. As leader of European draughts, he has participated in the management of FMJD for a decade and he is ready to pick up the baton. I support Janek’s candidacy and wish to continue co-operation with him in the new Council of FMJD. My aim is to start working in the newly established position as manager of international relations, for whom one of the tasks will be to receive the official recognition from the International Olympic Committee.”
 

The second Estonian person, running for the position of Treasurer of FMJD, is Aare Harak, who has been Head of Financial Committee of FMJD until now. “Aare Harak has been professional and punctual as Head of the Financial Committee – the way it should be in the field of finance,” says Frank Teer, Secretary General of FMJD. “I believe the new council will work as an effective team, valuing previous experience and increasing the role of draughts in the world during the upcoming years.”

“Janek has been boosting Estonian, European and world draughts since 1999,” says Tarmo Tulva, President of Estonian Draughts Association. “Until now, for a total of 18 years, he is member of the board of Estonian Draughts Association, having been president until 2015. Since 2007, when Janek was elected President of EDC, the headquarters of the confederation has been in Tallinn. Thanks to this, at least one title competition has taken place in Tallinn each year. European Championships in 2008 and 2014 were most important, also the world title match in 2013. In case Janek is elected President of FMJD in autumn, Estonian capital city Tallinn, being currently European capital of draughts, will become world capital of draughts. We are confident that Tallinn has proved to the World Draughts Federation – we are worthy of this opportunity.”

Harry Otten has been President of FMJD since 2009, he has announced not to run for president after end of this term. In case Janek Mäggi will be elected president, he will resign from the position of EDC President and the headquarters of EDC will move away from Tallinn. FMJD headquarters will be allocated both in Tallinn and Amsterdam.

“On October 8, the next day after the general assembly of FMJD, the annual general meeting of EDC will also take place,” says Tarmo Tulva. “Janek has two years left as President of EDC, but in case he gets elected, he will resign from that position and a new president for EDC will be elected. We are working to find a dignified new president for EDC, in case this change will become necessary, so that the headquarters can move to a country which has good organizing capacity in draughts.”

World Draughts Federation (FMJD, www.fmjd.org) was founded in 1947 by four federations, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Its main purpose was to regulate the competition on the world championship. From 1897 onwards, world champions had been proclaimed by France and the Netherlands, which gave rise to the desire by a number of countries to have more accurate competition and tournaments, which led to the establishment of an international organization. By today, the FMJD has grown to an organization with 70 participating national federations.

The FMJD has become a member of SportAccord, which unites all internationally renown sports federations and IMSA, the International Mind Sports Association where FMJD, FIDE (chess), WBF (bridge), Go and Xiangqi (Chinese chess) work together towards the integrations of mind sports.

European Draughts Confederation (www.europedraughts.org) was founded in 1998 in Tallinn by the federations of 12 countries. Today, the confederation has 26 member countries. The first president of EDC was Jacek Pawlicki from Poland and until the end of 2007 the head office of EDC was located in Poland. The current president of EDC is Janek Mäggi and the head office of EDC is the Chess House in Tallinn. EDC oganises European championships in draughts and its task is to promote draughts as sports in Europe as well as attract new member countries.

Estonian Draughts Association (www.kabeliit.ee) is an umbrella organization of Estonian draughts clubs and is also member of the Estonian Olympic Committee. The association is also member of The World Draughts Federation and the founding member of the European Draughts Confederation (EDC, www.europedraughts.org).