Late nights and whiskey

 Except there was no whiskey.

For the last week and half, I've been attending various sessions of the 2023 FIDE Congress. This of course is from the comfort of my own home, as the whole congress was being held online. This started as a result of covid, but has continued for the non Olympiad years.

All very good in that counties that normally don't send a delegate in the off years were well represented, but not so good for delegates representing Oceania federations. Most meetings started at midnight Canberra time, and usually ran until 4 or 5 am in the morning. This meant that Oceania was probably less represented than other regions, although that made a difference overall is not clear.

Anyway, the major outcomes from the meetings that I attended were

• Three new federations from Zone 3.6 (Oceania). Tonga and Vanuatu are now full member Federations, while New Caledonia is an Affiliated Member (can participate in FIDE events, but not vote at General Assembly's)
• Term limits for the FIDE President are abolished (only a few years after being implemented) 
• The 2028 Olympiad is to be held in Abu Dhabi. Genoa, Italy was the other bidder, and the deal breaker for them seemed to be getting visas for players from non-European countries. 
• The proposed changes to the FIDE Rating System were approved (including the compression of ratings below 2000). These changes will take effect on 1st March 2024.

There were probably more important decisions, but for now, this is all my sleep deprived brain can remember,