World Micronational Chess Federation

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World Micronational Chess Federation
The logo of the WMCF. It features a pawn with the head replaced with a globe representing all micronations.
PredecessorInter-Micronational Chess Federation (claimed)
Founded27 October 2023
FounderDamian Fortuna
TypeChess governing body
PurposeTo operate the Micronational World Chess Championship and to more generally govern the play of chess intermicronationally
Location
Area served
Worldwide
Members
22 [1]
Official languages
English
President
Damian Fortuna
Websitehttps://worldmicrochess.org/

The World Micronational Chess Federation (abbr. WMCF) is an intermicronational organisation and international chess federation[2]. It is the first organisation to attempt to serve as the governing body of international chess in micronationalism in general and the MicroWiki sector specifically since the Inter-Micronational Chess Federation (IMCF), which ceased operating at some point over the course of 2014 and 2015[3]. The WMCF was founded in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2023 by Damian Fortuna[4].

It frames itself in comparison to a "macronational counterpart[4]", likely the International Chess Federation (FIDE). It currently maintains both a Discord server and a website, the latter of which hosts the organisation's regulations, known as Ordnances[5], and the current roster of intermicronational chess players[4].

The WMCF claims to succeed the IMCF as the operator of the Micronational World Chess Championship[4]. As of 31 October 2023 it has requested observer membership of the Grand Unified Micronational[6]. It also observes both the League of Independent Nations[7] and the Intermicronational Court[8].

The WMCF's systems use Lichess.org[9] and the MicroWiki API[10] for their website's back-end.

History

Background

A screenshot of the results of the 2013 Micronational World Chess Championship, archived from the former website of the Inter-Micronational Chess Federation. Rigas Papadopoulos was the winner.

Between 2010 and the start of 2014, the Inter-Micronational Chess Federation (IMCF) conducted chess events under both the IMCF name and the name "Micronational Chess Federation"[11]. In December 2013, the Inter-Micronational Chess Federation conducted the 2013 Micronational World Chess Championship[12][13]. The Championship was the largest chess tournament in the history of the MicroWiki sector, featuring twenty-two participants[13]. Rigas Papadopoulos of St.Charlie was named the winner and micronational world chess champion for that year[13].

The IMCF intended to conduct an expanded version of the 2013 world championship in 2014[14]. At some point over the course of 2014 and 2015, however, the organisation became inactive[3], and there is little documentary evidence to suggest the championship took place outside of the start of one event[15]. Between the time of the IMCF collapsing and 2023, there was no single intermicronational body responsible for regulating chess play.

Foundation

Logo of the 2023 Austenasian Decennalia, the chess tournament which was cited in the establishment of the WMCF

On 27 October 2023, Damian Fortuna established the WMCF as an intermicronational body for governing chess, and named themselves interim President[4]. The constitutionality of this action, given the Charter requires an election[16], has not been tested.

In a statement issued by the organisation's news wire, Fortuna cited the success of the 2023 Austenasian Decennalia Chess Tournament and expressed hope that "by innovating technologically on previous attempts at standardising chess play in micronationalism, we can deliver a more compelling experience"[4]. The organisation confirmed they would attempt to put on a 2023 Micronational World Chess Championship[17], explicitly as a continuation of the championship cycle conducted by the Inter-Micronational Chess Federation, and would start rating players and issuing chess titles to high scorers[4]. This process also created the Presidium, the organisation's governing body, which began publishing regulations[18].

On 31 October, the organisation published its third regulation, or Ordnance, recognising various micronations and institutions for player registration purposes, including Austenasia, Adammia, the Cupertino Alliance, and the Grand Unified Micronational[19] (GUM). Later that day, it applied for observer membership as an organisation of the GUM[20].

A screenshot of a web archived version of the WMCF's website crash. The site's registration system was down for a few hours between 1 and 2 November 2023.

On 1 November, the organisation's registration system was shuttered. New registration attempts instead were sent to a page reading "The WMCF's registration flow is currently closed to new applications while we undergo maintenance. We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause." Service resumed at 1am the following day. The organisation made a statement claiming that the disruption was caused by an investigation into migrating the site away from its Lichess.org integration, but that that investigation had concluded that attempting to do so would take up more time than was available before the tournament[9].

On 3 November, following a request on President Fortuna's user talk page[21], the organisation issued an Ordnance additionally recognising the Lacuran Commonwealth[22]. Lacuran leader Johann Kümmel registered later that day[23]. It then recognised Cycoldia and Sancratosia for registration purposes on 8 November[24], Rovia, Satoshi and Norvendria on 11 November[25], Karnia-Ruthenia and Malus on 14 November[26], and Pabistan on 16 November[27].

The championship formally opened to registration on 7 November. The organisation announced that registration would remain open until 21 November[28].

Technological structure

The WMCF's website registers its users using the APIs, or "application programming interfaces', of MicroWiki and Lichess.org, which are public software implementations for requesting access to data from those services through computer code. Users must have a MicroWiki article about themselves, either in draft or not, as well as a functional Lichess account in order to access the organisation's registration and profile services[10][29].

There is currently no publicly accessible system for playing chess games through the WMCF's services. The organisation has expressed interest in migrating the chess play system to its website directly, but following a brief period of service disruption on 1-2 November 2023[9] announced it will continue to use Lichess to process its games for the 2023/24 cycle with a view to deprecating reliance on the service wholesale afteward[9].

The WMCF also has a Discord server containing a bot - a Discord user-like service that can be programmed to do things automatically via computer code[30] - called "WMCF Services"[29]. According to the server, the bot is responsible for displaying profile data, but in futrue it is intended to enable users to view ongoing WMCF games, tournament standings, and other information[31].

Role

MicroCommons has media related to: World Micronational Chess Federation press releases

Micronational world chess championship

The WMCF proposes to operate the World Micronational Chess Championship, a tournament to determine the micronational chess champion and a continuation of the tournament of the same name hosted by the Inter-Micronational Chess Federation. The organisation has not set a date, but intends to host such a championship before the end of 2023[17].

World chess champion dispute

MicroCommons has media related to: World Micronational Chess Federation Ordnance 001

The WMCF disputes the identity of the world chess champion from 2014-2023; the last tournament that was identifiably a world chess championship in the MicroWiki sector took place in 2013 and crowned Rigas Papadopoulos as champion[13]. (Micronational olympic chess has continued to be played[32][33].) A competition was intended to take place in 2014 but no records of such a competition being completed exist, outside of a single Facebook post about the first stage[15].

In an ordnance issued on 27 October 2023, the WMCF acknowledged Papadopoulos as world champion for the period running from 2013 through 2014[17], but that because no championship took place to re-crown him or otherwise to permit him to defend his title, the position of world chess champion had been vacated, and that an emergency championship should be conducted to resolve the vacancy.

The WMCF approached the Supreme Court of the Grand Unified Micronational for a ruling on this dispute. However, on 11 December 2023, Supreme Judge Jonathan I ruled that Papadopoulos remained world champion based on a strict reading of the terms put forward at the beginning of the ICMF 2013 World Championship. According to these terms, the winner would hold the title of champion simply until the next competition was held, and although the intention that said competition should be annual was implied, nowhere was it stated that a champion was crowned for one year only per se.

Rating players

The WMCF, intending to perform a similar role to the International Chess Federation[4], proposes to rate players based on skill level, as well as apportion chess titles to certain players based on performance.

Chess titles

The WMCF currently issues two chess titles, and has announced its intent to issue more. The two existing titles are MWC, for Micronational World Champion, and FMWC, for Former Micronational World Champion[34]. No one currently holds the MWC title, though the WMCF grants the FMWC title to both Rigas Papadopoulos of St.Charlie and Sovetus of Renasia as part of the organisation's recognition of the previous world championship cycles[34].

Recognised states

The logo of the Grand Unified Micronational, or GUM. The World Micronational Chess Federation recognises the GUM and has applied for observer membership.

In addition to allowing players to register under their macronation of origin, the WMCF also allows players to register under a micronational banner or under a micronational organisation if that micronation or organisation is one the WMCF recognises. Austenasia, Cycoldia and Sancratosia have the most citizen members of the organisation. Currently, the WMCF has registrants in the following states[19]:

Nation/organisation Date Relevant Ordnance Individuals registered with the WMCF
 Empire of Austenasia 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003[19] 2
 Empire of Adammia 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 1
 Uber-Essian Union 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 0
 Kingdom of West Sayville 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 0
 Imperial Federation of Zenrax 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 0
 Desert District 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 1
Empire of Levinia 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 0
Regne de Sant Andreu 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 1
Grand Unified Micronational 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 0
 Cupertino Alliance 31 October 2023 Ordnance 003 0
 Lacura 3 November 2023 Ordnance 004[22] 1
 Principality of Sancratosia 8 November 2023 Ordnance 005[24] 2
 Grand Republic of Cycoldia 8 November 2023 Ordnance 005 2
Second Rovian Empire 11 November 2023 Ordnance 006[25] 1
Norvendria 11 November 2023 Ordnance 006 1
 Democratic Republic of Satoshi 11 November 2023 Ordnance 006 1
 Karno-Ruthenian Empire 14 November 2023 Ordnance 007[26] 0
Socialist Commonwealth of Malus 14 November 2023 Ordnance 007 1
Empire of Pabistan 16 November 2023 Ordnance 008[27] 1
Italy N/A N/A 1

Governance

The WMCF is governed by the Presidium, a committee composed of up to three presidium officers. Under the organization's charter, the Presidium is responsible for:

  • Deciding which micronational chess federations and chess regulatory bodies to recognise for its purposes;
  • Selecting which micronationalists to append to its internal register of micronational chess players to rate and regulate;
  • Setting chess titles and the requirements for obtaining them;
  • Setting rules for WMCF-operated chess matches;
  • Organising the WMCF's internal and external events, contests and other gatherings[16].

The Presidium is chaired by a President, who is nominated from amongst the Presidium's membership[16]. The President represents the WMCF externally, but is otherwise an ordinary member of the committee. The incumbent president since 27 October 2023 is Damian Fortuna[4][17][19], who serves in an interim capacity. The constitutionality of Fortuna serving as President without first undergoing an election is not clear.

Election of officers

Elections to the Presidium must take place at least once every two years, but may be announced by the existing Presidium at any time before that[16]. There are few restrictions on declaring candidacy; candidates are not required to serve as members of a federation affiliated with the WMCF, nor are they required to be affiliated with or citizens of a micronation in general[16].

The WMCF has not set a method of electing officers, nor set a date for the first election to the Presidium.

Diplomatic engagement

The WMCF is currently observing both the League of Independent Nations[7] and the Intermicronational Court[8], and is an applicant for observership to the Grand Unified Micronational[6].

Timeline of world champions accredited by the WMCF

References

  1. ↑ "Players", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to the World Micronational Chess Federation", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Microchess.org, 15 November 2015. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 "Damien Fortuna announces foundation of World Micronational Chess Federation", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 27 October 2023. Accessed 31 October 2023.
  5. ↑ Governance of the World Micronational Chess Federation", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "World Micronational Chess Federation applies for GUM observer membership", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 31 October 2023. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "#verification", League of Independent Nations Discord server. Published 7 November 2023. Accessed 8 November 2023.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "observing for the world micronational chess federation", #verify, Intermicronational Court. Published 30 October 2023. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "World Micronational Chess Federation addresses temporary disruption to registration services", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 2 November 2023. Accessed 2 November 2023.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Register", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 2 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "How do ratings work?" Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 31 October 2023.
  12. ↑ "Micronational World Chess Championship 2013 - The tournament has started!", Microchess.org. Published 20 August 2013. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 "Results of the 2013 Micronational World Chess Championship", microchess.org. 15 December 2013. Accessed 27 October 2023.
  14. ↑ "Proclamation of the 2014 Micronational World Chess Championship Cycle - Sign-ups are open", Microchess.org. Published 15 December 2013. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Inter-Micronational Chess Federation post on 18 January, 2014 r.e. the first IMCF Grand Prix. Accessed 27 October 2023.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 "World Micronational Chess Federation Charter of Operations", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 27 October 2023. Accessed 27 October 2023.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 "World Micronational Chess Federation Ordnance 001: Regarding the current world champion", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 27 October 2023. Accessed 27 October 2023.
  18. ↑ "Governance", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 8 November 2023.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 "World Micronational Chess Federation Ordnance 003: Recognising various micronations for registration purposes", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 31 October 2023. Accessed 31 October 2023.
  20. ↑ "World Micronational Chess Federation applies for GUM Observer Membership", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 31 October 2023. Accessed 31 October 2023.
  21. ↑ "User:ChessRankings: Joining the WMCF", Johann Kummel, MicroWiki. Published 3 November 2023. Accessed 3 November 2023.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "World Micronational Chess Federation Ordnance 004: Recognising Lacura", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 3 November 2023. Accessed 3 November 2023.
  23. ↑ "Players", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 3 November 2023.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "WORLD MICRONATIONAL CHESS FEDERATION ORDNANCE 005: RECOGNISING SANCRATOSIA AND CYCOLDIA", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 8 November 2023. Accessed 8 November 2023.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Ordnance 006: Recognising Norvendria, Satoshi and Rovia", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 11 November 2023. Accessed 11 November 2023.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "ORDNANCE 007: Recognising Malus and Karnia-Ruthenia for registration purposes", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 14 November 2023. Accessed 15 November 2023.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "ORDNANCE 008: Recognising Pabistan for registration purposes", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 16 November 2023. Accessed 17 November 2023.
  28. ↑ "#self-promotion", Damian Fortuna, MicroWiki Community. Published 7 October 2023. Accessed 7 October 2023.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "#register", World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 31 October 2023. Accessed 2 November 2023.
  30. ↑ "What is a Discord bot?", Statbot. Accessed 2 November 2023.
  31. ↑ "Announcements", Damian Fortuna, World Micronational Chess Federation. Published 4 November 2023. Accessed 4 November 2023.
  32. ↑ "MOF Micronational Olympic Games", Micronational Olympic Federation. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  33. ↑ "2020 MOF Games#Chess", MicroWiki. Accessed 1 November 2023.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 "World Micronational Chess Championship", World Micronational Chess Federation. Accessed 1 November 2023.


Chess

Governing bodies
Inter-Micronational Chess Federation (Micronational Chess Federation) • World Micronational Chess Federation

World Championships
2010 InterMicronational Chess Championship • 2012 Micronational Chess Championship • 2013 Micronational World Chess Championship • 2014 Micronational World Chess Championship (proposed) • 2023 Micronational World Chess Championship (proposed)

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