Association of Chess Professionals Newsletter for First Quarter 2012
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,


As you know, the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) has charted a new and fresh course with great chess events this year with their new president, Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky.


We just found the ACP newsletter with a summary of their chess activities in the first four months of the 2012. Their membership count is now 873 with representatives from 80 national federations.

Here is the summary of chess activities:

1) Dzagnidze wins play-offs against Cramling to take the 2012 ACP Women’s Cup
2) Announcing the Women’s Rapid and Blitz World Chess Championships 2012 – Batumi will be the venue for this important event from 30 May to 6 June 2012. The total prize fund is of 100.000 USD, by far the highest prize fund ever for a women rapid chess event (notably the former record was held by another ACP event: the ACP Women Cup 2012).
3) Cooperation with FIDE
4) Cooperation with continental federations
5) The new ACP Book of the Year contest
6) The new ACP Tournament of the Year contest
They have also asked members to vote for the best tournament of the year 2011. This is yet another new initiative from the ACP to promote professional chess at all levels!
7) The Elite GM Survey
The ACP is working with FIDE commissions to prepare a comprehensive survey on the possible introduction of a new GM title. 
8) Jeroen van den Berg and Giovanni Vescovi join the ACP Board
9) The new ACP logo
You can read the full newsletter at the Association of Chess Professionals’ website.

Here are some Chess Blog headlines we’ve posted on the ACP:

From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com