I appreciate the position of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on the issue of banning national teams from taking part in the Olympiad in Norway. I consider it to be a fair, honest and sportsmanlike decision.

Nevertheless, the Russian Chess Federation intends to pursue a legal investigation into the illegitimate actions of the Organising Committee of the World Chess Olympiad. All the materials relevant to this case were handed over to a legal company yesterday. Our interests in the litigation are represented by the American Quinn Emanuel, a leading international company specialising in court and arbitration procedures.

I am confident of the unequivocal outcome of the legal proceedings and deem it necessary to set up a precedent to prevent such situations from arising in the future. Chess players of any national team must feel secure, and chess officials must act in strict accordance with the law and refrain from arbitrary actions.

Andrey Filatov
President
Russian Chess Federation

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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