In response to a question of www.aravot.am whether the offer to make him and Garry Kasparov, the 13th world champion, members of the commission established at the FIDE congress in Istanbul to deal with issues regarding the participation of Armenia and Armenian chess players in the 2016 World Chess Olympiad in Baku had been accepted, Vanik Zakaryan, the honorary president of the Armenian Chess Federation, said, “They offered me the office of the deputy chairman of the commission, which I couldn’t accept without checking with our country leadership. When I came to Yerevan, I talked about it with Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia and the president of the Armenian Chess Federation. He was not against it and the very next day the FIDE officials called me for an answer and I agreed. As for Kasparov who was in Istanbul for a short while, but wasn’t present at the congress, as far as I know, the 13th world champion has rejected the offer stating that he will not set foot in Baku at least in the next few years.”
Ashot HAKOBYAN
