Press conference of the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropolous and the FIDE Vice President, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, the Chairman of the 40th World Chess Olympiad Organizing Committee Ali Nihat Yazici.
KARLOVICH: Let me welcome our guests at the first press conference of the 40th World Chess Olympiad: the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos and the FIDE Vice President, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, the Chairman of the 40th World Chess Olympiad Organizing Committee Ali Nihat Yazici. I would like to give the floor to the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to share his impression on the organization of the Olympiad.
ILYUMZHINOV: I would like to first of all greet all the journalists and guests here. On behalf of the World Chess Federation I would like to thank the Government of Turkey, the city municipality of Istanbul, the Turkish Chess Federation and its President, my brother Ali Nihat Yazici for the brilliant organization of the Olympiad in Istanbul. We came up to a record number of the countries – participants, now 158 national federations take part in the Istanbul Olympiad and this makes us happy.
Second not less important fact is that all participants are staying in the hotels which are in the close proximity to the playing venue. Also, the transportation is organized very well. All participants will have no problems to get to the playing hall in time.
Also, I would like to thank the FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos for his work in organization and his assistance to make this Olympiad a success. Now, let me ask him to say something as well.
MAKROPOULOS: Dear ladies and gentlemen. Let me welcome you at the 40th World Chess Olympiad as well. I would like to tell you that there were a lot of problems which the organizers with a cooperation of FIDE had to face. But we made it true. No Olympiad, not even Olympic Games went on purely smoothly. All of them have some problems to solve. But the Organizing Committee team that works under the leadership of the FIDE Vice President Ali Nihat Yazici did their best to organize the Olympiad on a very high level.
I would also like to thank the Turkish Government and the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Turkey and namely Mr. Suat Kilic who gave a huge support to the organization.
KARLOVICH: Let me give the floor to the FIDE Vice President, the Turkish Chess Federation President and the Chairman of the 40th Chess Olympiad Ali Nihat Yazici.
YAZICI: What I would like to say is that Turkey is becoming a chess country. More and more chess players come to the chess family and play chess. Some years ago we could not dream that children at school would have a chance to learn how to play chess. Now we have a lot of children who are fascinated by this game. And we are very proud of it. They will become professional lawers, teachers, journalists, politicians, and they will be very smart thanks to chess game. We dream to be a chess country like Russia. We still have a lot to work on, but we are much closer to this target.
JOURNALIST QUESTION: Mr. Ilyumzhinov, there will be the FIDE Congress concurrent to the Chess Olympiad. You will decide where the 2016 Olympiad will take place. Can you tell us which federations sent their bids.
ILYUMZHINOV: There are three federations that would like to have the 2016 Olympiad. It is Bulgarian federation in Albena city, Azerbaijan federation in Baku and Estonian federation with Tallin. We shall see who will win the bid. Five minutes ago I saw the presentation stand of Baku bidder, hope that other two federation will present their cities as well.
JOURNALIST QUESTION: The question to Ali Nihat Yazici. Are you going to continue your Presidency in the Turkish Chess Federation?
YAZICI: I have been elected as a President of the Turkish Chess Federation three times already. I think this is enough. I am sure that the next President will be more active, more productive and more successful. I am going to continue my work as a FIDE Vice President, and to develop chess in schools program if the President allows me to.
ILYUMZHINOV: We will not let Ali leave chess and FIDE at all. Eight years ago he started his work as a Chairman of Chess in Schools committee and there is a lot of progress since then. We are sure that chess will be more promoted in schools in many countries and our target is to reach the number of 1 billion chess players on this planet. With the help of my brother Ali, we will make it.
Official website: http://www.chessolympiadistanbul.com
Excellent interview.