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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.
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September 16-17th 2004
The New York City The Association of The United States |
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“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
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…
Q: What is “B2B”?
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.
Q: How is that?
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.
