09.09.2017

Ilyumzhinov speaks about chess in the Caucasus

The Azerbaijani authorities and business representatives provide very important support to world chess, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said.

"I would like to thank the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR for having sponsored many international chess events for a long time, including the 2013 President’s Championship in London," FIDE President said.

"The professional growth of Magnus Carlsen started when he won the London tournament. SOCAR not only invests substantial sum of money for professional chess but also supports the programme "Chess in schools" in different countries of the world. We are grateful to the management of SOCAR," he stressed.
Ilyumzhinov also expressed gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. "Aliyev put forward the programme of chess development for five years. That is, he became the first president in the world who introduced state support for chess. The programme includes the development of children's chess sport and creation of chess clubs and academies. In addition, considerable money is invested in the training of the national team," head of FIDE said.
Ilyumzhinov also told about the development of chess in the North Caucasus. "Once I presented about 100 thousand chess sets to rural schools of the North Caucasian republics. We held the World Women's Championship in Kabardino-Balkaria. I took part in the opening of the chess club next to Magas in Ingushetia. At that time, Boris Gelfand came to play with Ernesto Inarkiev. Ramzan Kadyrov pays a lot of attention to chess in the Chechen Republic. We laid the foundation stone of chess school together with him," FIDE chief concluded.