Thursday 14 May 2015

Movement in the transfer market

News that Fabiano Caruana is transferring to the USA (from Italy) has once again shone the spotlight on the FIDE transfer rules. Caruan, who holds both US and Italian citizenship, has represented Italy for the last decade, but has decided to return to the land of his birth (in a chess sense). Coming soon after Wesley So transferred from The Philippines, the USA is going to be fielding a pretty strong team at the next Olympiad.
Oddly enough, this transfer seems like it is going to sail straight through. Under FIDE regulations, Caraua can represent the USA,  after either sitting out a waiting period (2 years) or by paying a fee to FIDE. Also, the Italian Chess Federation can receive a fee (50,000 euros) if they wish, to shorten the residency period required.
It was these fees that were the point of contention when So transferred to the USA, as it seemed no one (So or the USCF) was willing to pay them. As a result he missed out on playing the 2014 Olympiad, although he will be eligible for 2016. The talk this time is that Caruana is going to play for the US in 2016 so clearly someone is stumping up the cash.

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