WORLD CHESS FEDERATION’S PRESIDENT VISITS HUNGARY
2015-01-29 | chess
FIDE
Hungary is a suitable country for hosting a chess world cup or even the Chess Olympiad, President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said in Budapest. During his visit, he pointed out that Hungary is a country of great traditions in chess where the game is popular and the nation has given legendary players to the world such as the Polgár sisters.
Mr. Ilyumzhinov, the former President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation who arrived in Budapest late on Wednesday, visited the Hungarian federation to meet international grandmaster Judit Polgár, Hungary’s FIDE delegate Gusztáv Font and general-secretary Attila Mészáros.
Mr. Ilyumzhinov praised Hungary for hosting the U16 chess Olympiad in Győr in north-western Hungary last December and encouraged Hungarians to organise more tournaments. He also highlighted Ms. Polgár’s efforts to promote chess in schools and called her unique training programme very valuable and important, attracting the interest of several countries in the world.
As a former politician, Mr. Ilyumzhinov knows how important decision a leader has to make. “Chess helps teach us to think before we act. This would be very important in political life too”, he said adding “When I took over as the leader of FIDE, I had three official FIDE events on my agenda. Now, their number of them is countless. At that time, 600 million could play chess. I say, let one billion people be able to play. This is also my mott: one billion chess players – one billion smart people”.
Source: http://hungarytoday.hu
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