In mid-July the President of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that chess as an exhibition sport may feature at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.
The Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin commented on this upcoming event.
«Of course, it is hard for chess to compete as an entertainment with hockey or with any other sport,” Karjakin said. “However, in rapid and blitz chess there is an entertainment value.” (Note: Ilyumzhinov in negotiation offered these options to the representatives of the International Olympic Committee- Ed.).
«It's funny that curling was included, in the Olympic programme, with the motto ‘Chess on Ice!’ But real chess is still excluded. Having won the Chess Olympic Games, I do not know what is harder - to win in classic games or in the Chess Olympic Games. However, the title of Olympic Champion is very prestigious. Chess will progress if it really does appear in the Winter Olympics as an exhibition sport,” said the famous chess player.
