Chess may be exhibition sport at Olympics — Fide

The En Passant (Canada) correspondent said they have just been informed that the knock-out championships for the Women’s World Championship scheduled for the 3rd week of September 1999 has been cancelled.

He complained that this constant re-scheduling of official events was a strain on the credibility of FIDE. Kirsan replied that there-scheduling should not be blamed on FIDE but rather on Zsuzsa Polgar, Xie Jun and Alisa Galliamova, whose constant protests have pushed back the scheduled 1998 world championships all the way to July 1999. This has scared the sponsors from Kishnev, he said. As of now the fate of the 1999 Championship has been thrown back to the general assembly in Qatar for their decision. Another interesting point brought up by President Kirsan was that chess competition might be held as a demonstration sport in the Sydney Olympics.

One final question: why is President Kirsan putting in so much money in chess. His answer: He has already spent around US $22 million of his personal money in chess. He is a wealthy person. Some people like investing in properties, some like investing in cars. He likes investing in chess.

Courtesy: The Week in Chess