Women chess players from Georgia ask to move World Championship away from Kabardino-Balkaria

The women's national chess team of Georgia refuses to take part in the Chess World Championship to be held in Kabardino-Balkaria and asks to transfer the competition to "some safer place."

A number of chess players from the women's national team of Georgia have sent an open letter to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) with a demand to transfer the event to "some safer place" because of the territorial closeness of Kabardino-Balkaria to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, as reported by official sources in Kabardino-Balkaria.

President of the FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov have addressed his answer to the chess players. In particular, the letter runs: "In preparation of the tournament, great attention is given to ensuring safety of the participants and guests. I address all the participants of the championship with a request not to mix politics with sports, and not to involve the FIDE and the world chess community into political, territorial and other disputes. I am confident that in Nalchik we shall witness a very interesting tournament, which will be organized at the decent level."

President of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic Arsen Kanokov has expressed his bewilderment with this attempt to disrupt the chess championship in Nalchik and noted that he shared "entirely and completely" the FIDE's attitude to the open letter of the group Georgian chess players, having declared that representatives of the world-famous Georgian chess school "should not be pawns in one's shabby game."