GUM Supreme Court case 2023-8

In re Papadopoulos

11 December 2023

Petitioner: World Micronational Chess Federation

Reference - opinion

Case reference: 2023-8
Assigned to Jonathan I (SJ)

SUPREME JUSTICE AUGUSTUS: I hereby issue my opinion on the reference submitted by the World Micronational Chess Federation on 12 November 2023.

The question was:

• Is Rigas Papadopoulos still micronational world chess champion?

According to the referrer, the relevant points are that:

1. In December 2013, the now defunct Inter-Micronational Chess Federation (hereafter IMCF) held the 2013 Micronational World Chess Championship, at which Rigas Papadopoulos of St.Charlie was crowned world champion
2. The IMCF announced that the champion would defend his title in a 2014 world championship.
3. The latest available archive of the ICMF's website indicates that no such championship cycle took place.
4. Referrer World Micronational Chess Federation (hereafter WMCF) has claimed continuation from the IMCF and is holding a 2023 instalment of the Micronational World Chess Championship.
5. The WMCF does not acknowledge Rigas Papadopoulos as world champion, arguing that because Papadopoulos did not defend his title in 2014, the position of world champion was vacated.

My opinion is as follows:

The Referrer's assertion that Mr Papadopoulos is no longer micronational world chess champion seems based on the assumption that the 2013 champion would only hold that status for one year. However, this does not seem to be the case. When the 2013 championship was announced, the statement was made that the champion would "defend their title in a complex world championship circle [which] will be revealed some time after the [2013] World Championship" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140801040011/http://microchess.org/?q=node/11). In contradiction to the referrer's second point, nowhere was it stated that the next championship would necessarily take place in 2014, or that the position was to be held for one year only. According to the plain reading of the information accessible on the archived website of the IMCF, the world champion crowned in 2013 would be such until made to "defend their title in [the next] world championship". Nowhere was it stated that future world championships would necessarily have to be annual.

Although the IMCF began to organise a 2014 World Championship, this never went ahead. However, looking to other sports for precedent and comparison, championships have been held by individuals for several days or several years; simply until the reigning champion is defeated or until a new one is crowned. The failure of the 2014 World Championship to go ahead does not therefore mean that Mr Papadopoulos lost his title, but rather that he kept it, precisely due to the fact that he had no opportunity to defend it.

In summary, I have concluded that:

• According to the terms put forward at the beginning of the ICMF 2013 World Championship, the winner would hold the title of champion until the next competition.
• Should the WCMF claim continuity with the ICMF, it should therefore recognise Rigas Papadopoulos as the reigning world champion until a new champion is crowned at the conclusion of the WCMF 2023 World Championship.