presents
the ChinaCom e-World Women's Chess Championship
to be held in New York City
Press release
New York, NY May 3, 2004 China Communications Corp., “ChinaCom,”
presents the e-World Women’s Chess Championship Series of 2004. The first
round, The
French-American Women’s Chess Championship, is to be held
September 16-17th 2004, at the Russian Samovar in New York City. A press conference
will be held May 14, 2004, 5:30 pm, at the same location. Attending the Press
Conference will be the City of New York Sports Commissioner Kenneth Podziba,
American Champion Irina Krush, and French Champion Almira Skripchenko.
This
world-class chess event, sanctioned by The New York City Sports Commission,
the US Chess Federation, and the Association of Chess Professionals , will
be the first to be broadcast in China via the Internet, with real-time move-by-move
commentary, in Chinese, French and English.
The finals in the e-World Women’s Chess Championship will feature the
winner of the French-American Event against Zhu Chen (picture
right) representing China and Women’s Chess World Champion. The
finals will be held December 7-8th 2004 in New York City.
“It is my pleasure to welcome the French-American Women’s Chess
Championship to New York City," said New York City Sports Commissioner
Kenneth Podziba. "People from around the world will be watching closely
as these Champions square off to defend their countries in a battle of great
minds.”
The French-American Championship will feature Almira Skripchenko, who was
crowned European Women’s Champion in 2001 and Top-Rated French Woman
in Chess for 2004, versus Irina Krush, who in 1998 was the youngest woman to
win the American Championship and is currently The Top-Rated Woman Player in
the USA.
|
New York City, NY
September 16-17th 2004
Sanctioned by:
The New York City
Sports Commission
The Association of
Chess Professionals (ACP)
The United States
Chess Federation (USCF) |
|
“This International event aims to enhance French-American cultural friendship,”
said ChinaCom CEO Robb Allen.
For contestants’ pictures, please visit www.ChinaCom.com
*The Russian Samovar is located at 256 52nd St. b/t 8th Ave. and Broadway
NYC.
About China Communications Corp. ChinaCom is building a Search-Engine Platform
to focus on the Chinese B2B Market, the fastest-growing market in the World.
Through its exclusive partnership with www.chinadaily.com.cn, ChinaCom has
positioned itself to become the leader in the Chinese B2B Market.
Press Contact: Belinda Banks, Belinda@sspr.com.
Tel: +1-718.320.4898
Interview with the ChinaCom team
After receiving the above press release we spoke to the ChinaCom team, headed
by CEO Robb Allen. We asked them first about the exact nature of the company
and the reason why they were suddenly staging women’s chess events.
Question: When was ChinaCom founded and what
exactly does the company do?
Answer: ChinaCom – China Communications Corp. –
is aiming to build the world’s largest B2B online platform for global
trade with China…
A: It stands for “Business-to-Business”. Our
online platform will introduce a directory service for international companies
who wish to do business with China. It also provides a platform for Chinese
businesses that wish to attract foreign companies which are interested in trading
with China. Naturally ChinaCom will also provide online and offline services
for companies who want to conduct business with China, which by the way is
the fastest-growing economy in the world.
Q: When was ChinaCom founded?
A: The company was founded in 2004 by the same team that
also founded X3D Technologies. You can read all about this on our web site
www.chinacom.com, which is still under construction.
Q: Why is ChinaCom getting involved in chess?
A: Well there are two reasons. On the one hand we have seen
how effective chess is as a communication and PR platform. The Kasparov matches
staged by X3D – Kasparov against Karpov, Deep Junior and X3D Fritz –
were incredible media successes. The computer matches were covered live on
a national cable sports channel. We have a good understanding of how chess
can be presented and how much interest the game can generate in countries all
over the world.
Q: Now you are doing two chess events involving
women. Why the switch?
A: Well, as it happens ChinaCom has offices in America, France
and, of course, China. The reigning women’s champion is Chinese, so we
had the idea to play the best two women players of France and America against
each other, with the winner taking on the Chinese world champion.
Chinese women's world champion Zhu Chen
Q: They are not just the best players of their
country, but also arguably the most beautiful…
A: That is very expedient, and one of the reasons we embarked
on the project. We were delighted to see that the strongest female players
in these countries are also very presentable, and understood immediately that
the media will be very receptive to seeing this combination of brains and beauty.
It is something newspapers and TV companies all over the world can pick up.
They are getting more interesting pictures than in regular chess events.
Q: Do you expect big media coverage of these
two matches?
A: Most certainly. We do not expect it to be substantially
smaller than the X3D events. This match has a perfect media “angle”,
and one, by the way, which is very good for chess.
A: Well, it encourages women to play chess, and not to leave
this wonderful game only to the men. Girls need to see that the best female
chess players are not necessarily elderly bespectacled women, but that they
can be very cool young ladies. They can look very much like movie or pop idols.
Chess becomes mainstream, with women participating in the game.
Q: How will the matches be staged? Kasparov
vs the Computer was in the NY Athletic Club and had live TV coverage…
A: The first match between Almira Skripchenko and Irina Krush
will be held from September 16-17th at the Russian Samovar in New York City.
It is sanctioned by The New York City Sports Commission, the USCF and the ACP,
and it will be the first to be broadcast in China via the Internet, with move-by-move
commentary in Chinese, English and French. Also we will have official representatives
from different countries to make the first move in each game. We have already
seen a lot of interest from the media, and hope to have live national TV coverage
again. Wouldn’t that be great, for a women’s chess event? The final
with Zhu Chen will also be in New York, on December 7th and 8th. We have not
fixed the venue yet, but it will be at least as elegant and high-class as in
the Samovar.
Q: And what comes after these matches? More
women’s chess?
A: Well, we are very keen to get men involved as well –
the best women and the best men together in one event. We are sill working
out the details, but this will be our goal for 2005.
Q: So there will be more chess in the future?
A: Definitely. China is becoming one of the chess superpowers,
chess is immensely popular in most of the countries that China does business
with, so it is only natural that we can use chess to communicate our message.
Especially since we have a lot of experience in this area.
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