On July 24-25 the 3rd quarter FIDE Presidential Board meeting was held in Tromso, Norway.  At the meeting the candidacies for the Presidential tickets and Continental Presidents were tabled.  Since several members of the Presidential Board are personally involved in the election, the Presidential Board will list all candidacies in the General Assembly agenda and all issues concerning the nominations will be submitted to the General Assembly.

It heard a detailed report of the actions and preparations of the final phase for the Chess Olympiad to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk. The discussion touched upon the accommodation, the charter flights from the different cities, the visa requirements and the playing conditions for the event. The Board concluded that significant efforts have been made and should continue in order to organize a high-quality Olympiad in September-October.  There was a record participation of 160 teams in the Open and 120 teams in the Women’s event.

There was lengthy discussion on the very full calendar of events. The Russian Federation, with the agreement of Azerbaijan, proposed that the World Championship Candidate's matches be played in Kazan, Russia and this was accepted.  Four bids, from Turkey, Slovenia, Montenegro and Georgia have been submitted for the World Youth Championships in 2012 and the winning bid would be decided by the General Assembly.

The contract with Chess Network Company was discussed and Mr. George Taylor gave an outline of the work that CNC envisaged over the coming years.

The meeting was superbly organised by the Norwegian hosts for Board members who had the opportunity to look around Tromso, one of the bidders for the 2014 Olympiad.  This included a cable car excursion and a fishing trip.