Good afternoon, Kirsan Nikolaevich. You are a frequent visitor to the Emirates. Please tell us about what is happening in FIDE today and what caused your next visit to the UAE?
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: FIDE (International Chess Federation) today unites 170 countries of the world, every year we hold more than 10 thousand competitions in which more than half a billion people participate. The next World Chess Olympiad will open on September 20 of this year in Russia, and the FIDE General Assembly will be held with it. I came to the Emirates to see how preparations are under way for the local teams Olympics, how the local chess federation works.
With whom did you manage to meet, where to visit during the visit?
K.I .: At the Dubai Chess Club, we met with members of the Arab Chess Federation, and, taking this opportunity, I would like to thank His Highness Sheikh Butti bin Sukhail Al Maktoum for the invitation to the country, as well as Mr. Ibrahim Al Banai, President of the Federation , for the work he is doing to popularize chess in the Arab world. Believe me, the Dubai Chess Club, which I visited, can be set as an example to other chess clubs in the world. There are many children's and youth competitions. Back in 2002, we spent in this club the Grand Prix with a prize fund of 500 thousand dollars. Today, it has become a center for the development of chess in the Arab world - in all 18 countries of the region. And the experience of this club, as well as the president of the Arab Chess Federation, Mr. Al Banai, is an example for everyone.
During my trips to the UAE, I visited the city of Al Ain several times and, taking this opportunity, I would like to thank Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, who was elected President of the Chess Federation of the Asian Continent in 2006, thanks to which, Al Ain was held several major Asian chess tournaments - the Asian Junior Championships in 2007 and the Asian Championship among club teams in January last year, where I attended the closing ceremony. The organization and holding of these championships was at a very high level.
What can you say about the development of such a sport as chess in the world? Are today's youth chess interesting?
KI: Over the past 10 years, the number of chess competitions in the world has increased tenfold, the number of professional players has increased hundreds of times, and the upcoming chess Olympiad, which will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, will show a record for the number of participants - 160 countries, including the national team from the UAE. One of the goals of my visit to the Emirates was to invite His Highness Sheikh Butti bin Sukhail Al Maktoum to our FIDE family so that we can use his experience and knowledge to develop, popularize and commercialize chess. For my part, as the president of FIDE, which I have headed for fifteen years, I am always ready to support the development of chess in the Arab world as a whole, and in the Emirates in particular.
How do you plan to do this? Are there any ready-made programs?
K.I .: For the next four years I have already prepared a program that includes three main areas: chess in schools - the introduction of chess lessons in schools in more than 70 countries of the world, in order to thus bring the number of people playing chess to one billion. The second main component of the program is the training of teacher-trainers by retraining professional chess players into teachers, then to send them to Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions of the world. And, the third part is assistance to developing countries. For all this, FIDE is going to increase its budget by 10 times compared with the previous period - from 300 thousand to 3 million dollars. I hope that His Highness Sheikh Butti bin Suhail Al Maktoum and Mr. Ibrahim Al Banai will contribute to these programs.
Thank you for the conversation, Kirsan Nikolaevich. We wish you continued success.
