Press conference of the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Monday,
15 December 2008
After making the first ceremonial move at the 1st board of the 3rd tournament
of the FIDE Grand Prix in Elista Radjabov-Cheparinov, the Head of the Republic
of Kalmykia, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov gave a press conference.
- I would like to first of all once again congratulate everyone with the start
of the 3rd tournament of the FIDE Grand Prix series 2008-2009 in Elista. Let
us hope that the participants will make us happy with their performance.
Dear Mr. President, could you please inform us on the future of the FIDE
Grand Prix series? As far as we know, despite the capital of Qatar, Doha,
where from the 3rd tournament was moved to Elista, it is known that Montreux
has also refused from organizing the 4th tournament. And it is likely that
Karlovy Vary will also withdraw?
Last year we have implemented the FIDE Grand Prix series in order to structure
the World Chess Championship cycle and to maximize the opportunity for attracting
as more as possible the top chess players to the top tournament. The Swiss city
Montreux could only guarantee 180 thousand euros instead of the necessary amount.
That is why we have excluded it from the list of cities-organizers of the Grand
Prix tournaments. The next tournament will most probably take place in Kiev.
Press conference in Elista with Valery Bovaev and FIDE President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov
The municipality of Kiev sent an official letter, where they expressed their
readiness and wish to organize this tournament. Soon, the inspection commission
of FIDE will go to Kiev to check the facilities and I am sure the decision to
hold the 4th FIDE Grand Prix tournament there will be made these days to come.
The next, 5th tournament will be held in August 2009 in the capital of Armenia,
Yerevan. At the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, I met the President of Armenia,
President of Armenian Chess Federation Mr. Serzh Sargssian and he expressed
his readiness to host this tournament. He confirmed this personally also in
writing.
As you know, it was planned that in August 2009, Elista was going to host this
stage of the Grand Prix. But since Doha has cancelled, we have the tournament
in Elista now. And one city cannot organize two tournaments of Grand Prix. The
6th final tournament of this series was planned to be held in Karlovy Vary.
So far, we have not received any official refusal from them. But even if we
do, it is no problem for us at all, for we have received already two more proposals
to host this stage. As for the capital of Qatar, it is most probably that Doha
will host one of the tournaments of the next Grand Prix series. These series
are already half the way towards completion: after Elista tournament, there
will be only three left. I am happy to say that the FIDE Grand Prix series is
going the right way. It was normally difficult to start the series, to open
the way, but I do hope, in the future, all will be much easier.
Which principle was used when the withdrawn players were replaced by
the new ones? Why was not the FIDE Ex World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov included
into the list?
Ponomariov was indeed the first in the list of the reserve players. We have
made an official proposal to him. The FIDE President assistant Berik Balgabaev
and the Director of Global Chess Geoffrey Borg made some phone calls and talked
to him several times. There were only two weeks left till the start of the tournament
and Ponomariov could not participate at the last moment.
The matter is that he will also not be able to participate in the 5th tournament
of the Grand Prix in August next year. He has some other obligations to participate
in August in Switzerland. Taking into account that in accordance with the Grand
Prix regulations, each participant should participate in 4 tournaments out of
6, Ruslan has no sense to play in Elista tournament, for he would not even have
played in 3 tournaments anyway. The next reserve player from the list was Vladimir
Akopian. But he was already included into the list of participants as a nominee
of one of the hosting cities of the Grand Prix 2008-2009. Therefore, the place
was given to the next players in the reserve list: GM Pavel Eljanov and FIDE
Ex World Champion Rustam Kasimzhanov.
As we also heard Michael Adams gave the following reason of his refusal
to participate in the tournament in Elista: he is not happy with the prize
fund. But he took part in one tournament in Baku. At that time, he liked the
amount of the prize fund. Does it mean that the prize fund was decreased?
No, it is absolutely not right. The prize fund remained the same. As for the
refused participants, in particular Adams and Carlsen, who withdrew their participation
at their own free will, it is their own business.
Which rights will the winner of the FIDE Grand prix series 2008-2009
have?
He will have a right to play an official match against the winner of the FIDE
World Cup 2009. And the winner of this match will meet the winner of the match
Viswanathan Anand-Topalov/Kamsky to further fight for the World Chess Champion
crown. Therefore, it is obvious that the Grand Prix participants have good motivation
to play. In this cycle of tournaments, more than 20 top-rated Grandmasters have
participated, and in the World Cup 128 chess players from many countries have
a chance to fight to the title.
According to your statement, Mr. President, the Grand Prix winner will
compete with the World Champion. It means that the previous conditions, declared
before these series, are still valid? What about the decision of the FIDE
General Assembly in Dresden, which states that instead of the match winner
of Grand Prix vs. winner of World Cup, a Candidates tournament with 8 players
will be held? Does it mean we misunderstood something?
The FIDE General Assembly in Dresden opened a bid to organize the Candidates
tournament started the discussions if this tournament should be organized or
not. But the final decision on this issue will be made at the FIDE Presidential
Board, which will take place in March next year. Now, we are collecting the
bids.
Just to add, the World Champion Vishy Anand, the leading Grandmasters Levon
Aronian and Magnus Carlsen are against the inclusion of the Candidates tournament
in the cycle. Proposing to organize this tournament, we proceed from the fact
that the losers of the World Chess Championship matches would still have an
opportunity to fight further for the World crown, and will not be out of the
boat at all. Besides, it is planned that the loser of the semifinal match Kamsky-Topalov,
two finalists of the World Cup and four Grandmasters with the highest rating
will be also included into the 8 players Candidates.
This tournament will gather the best chess players of the planet. This system
is good from many sites and pursues many good objects: first of all, the tournament
of the best chess players of the planet will attract the overall attention;
it will also work for the popularization of chess in the world. Secondly, it
will have a big sports meaning for the participants themselves and will be a
great financial help for them: the prize fund of the tournament will be not
less than one million US dollars. And third of all it is really profitable for
FIDE: 20% of the money will be transferred to the World Chess Federation. And
they will be used for development and popularization in the world.
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