Bernard Malfliet 09.02.2026
As I look ahead to my role within the board — Secretary-General — I want to share my concrete action plan with the chess community. My goal is to use my years of experience and knowledge of the field to create a more professional and transparent federation.
Below are the five key themes I will be tackling:
Goal: To refine the GA playbook and agenda.
Why: To ensure smooth meetings where all essential points are treated in the correct order, leaving sufficient time for discussion and ensuring participant satisfaction.
How: By comparing previous meetings and consolidating the full agenda.
Timeline: A few months before the next GA (August).
Goal: To align the Statutes, Internal Rules (IR), and Tournament Rules (TR).
Why: Too many ambiguities remain that were either unresolved or overlooked during the previous update.
How: Bringing together the Statutes Commission, recovering past work, and drafting a proposal for changes to be discussed by the board and the GA.
Timeline: 6 months.
Goal: To ensure all commissions are fully staffed and their roles are clear.
Why: Composition is currently incomplete or unknown, and reserve members are lacking. Furthermore, the specific tasks of the three “complaint” commissions (Dispute, Ethics, and the GA) are currently subject to interpretation.
How: Completing and verifying the composition of all commissions and clarifying “where to go for what.”
Timeline: 3 months.
Goal: To centralize and align all regulations and general information.
Why: Members currently have to search in too many places. Some information is only available through the regional federations or FIDE.
How: Updating the Vademecum in both languages (Dutch and French).
Timeline: As soon as possible (by the next GA at the latest).
Goal: To meet all legal requirements regarding data protection.
Why: The RBCF must comply with the law regarding the management of member databases for use by the federation, leagues, and clubs.
How: Collecting previous analyses, determining necessary adjustments to tools and statutes, and creating an execution plan.
Timeline: 2 months.
I believe that by focusing on these administrative foundations, we can provide a much better service to every club and player in the country.