The main governing body of the Association of Chess Professionals is the annual General Assembly, who elects the ACP Board. The ACP Board coordinates the ACP activities between the meetings of the General Assembly. All active members of the ACP have the right to be elected and to vote for the candidates to the ACP Board. Members of the Board are in constant contact with each other using all possible means of communications and discuss most matters in writing. However, a live Board Meeting is also convened whenever required (generally on a monthly basis).
The ACP Board:
PRESIDENT – Alex Colovic
BOARD DIRECTOR/DEPUTY PRESIDENT – Yuri Garrett
GENERAL SECRETARY – Bojana Bejatovic
TREASURER – Laurent Freyd
ACP TOUR DIRECTOR – Pavel Tregubov
Jesús García Valer
Gunnar Bjornsson
Aleksandra Dimitrijevic
Aleksandar Colovic
Federation: Macedonia
International Grandmaster, FIDE Trainer
Born in 1976 in Skopje. Alex has won many international tournaments, both individual and team ones. Among his best achievements are the 18 national team titles in Macedonia, winner of Malaga Open in 2005, best results (based on percentage) on Board 4 at the 2015 European Club Cup, participant in 3 Chess Olympiads and 2 European Team Championships.
As a coach he’s also had successes – his student WGM Marina Brunello won a gold medal at the Batumi Olympiad in 2018 and in that same year IM Francesco Sonis became a European Champion U16. As a coach of the Macedonian women national team he made history by sharing 20th place at the European Team Championship in Crete in 2017. He also won the Italian Women Team Championship with the Caissa Italia Pentole Agnelli in 2017.
Alex is the author and founder of Macedonia’s First Chess Blog alexcolovic.com (founded in 2014) that has been voted among the best chess blogs on the planet since 2016.
He also is a regular contributor to the British Chess Magazine since 2016 and also writes for several chess websites. Since 2016 Alex is a General Secretary of the ACP and since the beginning of the year he’s a Councillor at the FIDE Fair Play Commission. Alex is fluent in 7 languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Macedonian, Serbian and Bulgarian. He also holds a BA in English language and literature.
Yuri Garrett
Federation: Italy
International Organizer
Born in 1969 in Rome, based in Bologna. Award winning chess author, publisher and manager, Yuri Garrett holds a degree in Italian language and culture, speaks four languages and worked for many years as professional translator. He acted for almost a decade as Head of International Affairs of one of the two official Italian accountancy bodies, holding seats at both IFAC and FEE committees, and later cooperated with a firm specializing in international company law. As of 2002 he is CEO at Caissa Italia publishers and has organized or directed over 50 international chess tournaments among which the world renown Reggio Emilia round robin, the Rocca di Papa rapid, the Porto Mannu Open, the ACP Golden Classic and the Bergamo Open.
Yuri has mentored or managed many Italian top players, such as Fabiano Caruana, Daniele Vocaturo, Sabino Brunello, Axel Rombaldoni, Francesco Sonis, and Marina Brunello, and is a successful team captain having won the national title with both men (2011) and women (2017, 2018). Among his other interests are music, photography, sport psychology, golf, movies, reading and, as you would expect from an Italian, wine and food! As of 2013 he is deeply involved in fighting cheating in chess and in 2014 became the Secretary of the Fide Anti-Cheating Committee, a post he somehow still holds. And, well, yes, he definitely has a problem when it’s cold outside!
Bojana Bejatovic
Federation: Former YUG Rep of Macedonia
Born 1994 in Skopje. Holds LLB degree. Member of FIDE Fair Play Commission and National arbiter. Chess coach for beginners and intermediates, chess player, being a seven times national chess champion, Champion at the International Open 2007 in Mureck, Austria and playing for the national women’s chess team since 2008.
Federation: France
International Arbiter
ACP Member since early 2012, I wish to apply as a member of the ACP Board.
Arbiter and organiser of chess events for more than 20 years, I wish to share my experience for the best interest of chess professionals. Although players represent a large part of the field, I believe that it is key that arbiters are also represented in the ACP board, for a 360° coverage of the population. Involved in leadership roles at various levels in the chess world, my past experience of 17 years as an IT Manager and Project Leader in a multinational company provide complementary skills to help the chess environment progress.
Brief CV:
Born in 1977
Studies : Master in management and IT
Started to play chess in 1986, current rating 2024
Involved in the organisation of chess tournaments since the mid 1990’s
National Arbiter in 1998 - Lecturer for NA in 2005
FIDE arbiter in 2006
International arbiter in 2009 - Category A - FIDE Lecturer
Member of the French Chess Federation Board, Directeur National de l’Arbitrage, since 2016
Former member of FIDE SPP (2010-2013) and Anti-Cheating Commission (2013-2018), currently Chairman of FIDE Arbiters commission.
Significant assignments:
Tournament Director since 2017 - French Youth Championship (1600+ players)
Chief Arbiter GibChess since 2010 - several times ACP tournament of the year
Experience in top level tournaments as Chief or Deputy : FIDE World Rapid & Blitz (2013/2018), FIDE Grand Prix (2013), Grand Chess Tour Final (2018), Biel Chess Festival GMT (2018), European Individual (2011), European Rapid & Blitz (2017)
Pavel Tregubov
Federation: Russia
International Grandmaster, FIDE Senior Trainer
Born 1971, based in Paris. Grandmaster since 1994. European Champion 2000, Russian Team Championship Winner 1999, three times French Team Championship winner, winner of the “Pivdenny Cup 2008”. One of the original founders of the ACP in 2003 and creator of the ACP Tour, Pavel has been in the ACP Board ever since. He was also ACP President and Board Director at different times. Currently he is the ACP Tour Director. His activities also included the organization of the four ACP World Rapid Cups in Odessa (Ukraine) and the ACP World Women Rapid Cup in Konya (Turkey) in 2008. Pavel speaks three languages and plays actively tennis and football. His main hobbies are literature and movies.
Federation: Spain
International Arbiter
International arbiter and current member of the ACP, he has been an arbiter in the Olympics of Baku and Batumi, European championship in Crete, European club championship in Bilbao, also for 7 years until now to arbitrate in the very strong tournament of Gibraltar. He has also written articles on web pages
Aleksandra Dimitrijević
Federation: Serbia
Woman Grandmaster, International Arbiter, FIDE Trainer
Secretary of FIDE Online Commission
Women Grandmaster with a peak rating of 2383.
Head coach of the Federation of Herzeg-Bosnia and coach at Chess Camps for Yes2Chess. Commission for Youth and Junior Chess of Chess Union of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Chess Arbiter in more than 100 local tournaments including Gibraltar (deputy), London Chess Classic and European and World Rapid/Blitz Championships.
Associate/General Secretary of Serbian Chess Federation in 2017-2018.
Gunnar Björnsson
Federation: Iceland
International Arbiter, International Organizer
Chess:
President of the Icelandic Chess Federation since 2009 – full time employee of the federation since 2013
Deputy President of ECU since 2018
President of the Nordic Chess Federation since 2017
Board member of Icelandic Chess Federation 1992-99, 2004-06 and since 2009
Chairman of Hellir Chess Club: 1991-95 and 2005-2009. Board member until 2009
Tournament Director and Chairman of Organising Committee of European Team Championship in Reykjavik 2015
Tournament Director and Chairman of Organising Committee of Reykjavik Open since 2010. At the time the tournament has been growing from 100 people to 250-300 people. Before being tournament director – I was chief arbiter for several years.
Organised and being arbiter in several other international events.
Chairman of ECU Events commission-2014-2018
Editor of www.skak.is since 2001
Internation
al organiser since 2011 – have been teaching IO-lectures
International arbiter since 1996
Descent chess player with ELO 2131!
Career:
2015: Sparisjóður Norðurlands: Board member of a saving bank in Iceland
2007-2013: Landsbankinn: Specialist in Credit Risk
2001-2007: Kaupthing Bank: Specialist in Internal auditing, business manager for branches, project manager in IT department.
1990-2001: Islandsbanki: Specialist in foreign currency-market and assistant branch manager.
Education:
Certified book accounter from Reykjavik University 2019
Business Administration (BS) from Reykjavik University 2009
Certified broker from Reykjavik University since 2004