On the 27th March the FIDE President visited Chinese Taipei. He held meetings with the Chairman of the Chinese Taipei Chess Association Mr. Tsai Szu-Chuen and its General Secretary, Mr. Liu Ko-Fei. Chairman Szu-Chuen informed that they are doing their best for their chess players to participate in all important FIDE official events. Right now they are preparing for a trip to the Tromso Chess Olympiad. Despite the fact that chess is not so popular as in Russia and Europe, they are consciously and dynamically developing it. A big step was made by establishing a chess department in a respective Ministry. Great attention is given to the Chess in Schools programme which might become an alternative to the children’s excessive obsession by computer games. Chairman and General Secretary with great interest listened about possibilities of special chess education in the Russian universities. Mr. Szu-Chuen commented that sooner or later the level of chess in Chinese Taipei will be close to the level reached by the People’s Republic of China.

At the meeting with the NOC President Mr. Lin Hong-Dow, the discussion touched upon the possible benefits for the Chinese Taipei Olympic movement following the inclusion of chess into Olympic Programme. Mr. Hong-Dow supported the idea of chess as a possible candidate for the Winter Olympic programme and expressed his readiness to send a respective letter to the leadership of the IOC. He would be able to discuss the issue on the 16th of May during his forthcoming audience with the IOC President Dr. Thomas Bach. At the National Olympic Committee of Chinese Taipei, the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has thanked the NOC Vice President Tsai Szu-Chuen for his activities as Chairman of the Chess Association of Chinese Taipei.

Another important and interesting dialogue took place at the meeting of the FIDE President with the General Director of the Sports Management of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Ho Jow-Fei, attended by the Head of the School Physical Education Department Mr. Wu Yeong-Luh. Mr. Ilyumzhinov shared world experience of introducing chess lessons in various countries and expressed his readiness to sign a trilateral document between FIDE, Chinese Taipei Chess Association and the Ministry of Education on this issue. The parties reached an agreement that they would continue working in this direction, and in the nearest future, FIDE will provide a draft agreement towards this end. Mrs. Tsai Jaclyn, Minister without portfolio, Head of the Mongolia and Tibet Commission, gave a reception to welcome the honourable guest, where a detailed and engaged discussion on the issues of cooperation between Chinese Taipei and FIDE took place. The reception was attended by NOC President Mr. Lin Hong-Dow, representatives of the Foreign Ministry and Chinese Taipei Chess Association as well as the Head of the Representative Office of the Moscow-Taipei Commission Mr. Vassily Dobrovolsky.

The same day FIDE President gave an interview to the Russian-language station of the Chinese Taipei Radio Station – Radio Taiwan International.

More here: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/7853-working-visit-to-chinese-taipei.html

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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