PRESS RELEASE - April 27, 2004
The 2004 World Chess Championship
to be held June 18 until July 13 in Tripoli, the capital of Libya,
under the patronage of the Libyan leader
H.E. Moammar Al Gathafi
The World Chess Federation (FIDE: http://www.fide.com)
is pleased to announce that the 2004 World Chess Championship will take place
June 18 - July 13 in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, under the patronage of the
Libyan leader H.E. Moammar Al Gathafi.
The Libyan Olympic Committee (LOC), the local organizing body of the event,
guarantees entry visas to all the 128 qualified participants of the Championship
and the invitation to the players is signed by the President of LOC, Eng.
Mohammad Moammar Al Gathafi. Consequently, all the games of the championship
will be played in Tripoli, Libya and no parallel event will be organized in
Malta.
The format of the tournament will be a 128-player knock-out system and the games
will be played from June 19 (1st round) until July 13 (tie-breaks and closing
ceremony). The total prize fund of this year's World Chess Championship will
reach the amount of 1.5 million USD and it will be sponsored in whole by the
Libyan government. In addition to the prize money, the new World Chess Champion
will also receive a copy of the newly created Gathafi Cup. The original Gathafi
Cup will remain in Libya and it will be awarded to the winner of three (3)
titles.
The President of FIDE, H.E. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, recently met with the Libyan
leader H.E. Moammar Al Gathafi to discuss the details of this upcoming
championship. FIDE is positive that the games will be held successfully in Libya
and this year's World Chess Championship will remain in history as an important
milestone in the development of chess in this geographical region.
The playing venue of the World Chess Championship in Libya will be the 5-star
Almahary Hotel in Tripoli. The final list of the 128 qualified players and
further details will be announced in the next few days and all information will
also be available from FIDE's website at
http://www.fide.com
About FIDE
The World Chess Federation (FIDE) is recognized by the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) as the supreme body responsible globally for the game of chess
and its championships. FIDE is organizing the World Chess Championship as well
as all world championships for women, junior and youth categories, the bi-annual
Chess Olympiad and it also publishes the official FIDE Rating List (currently
No.1 is Gary Kasparov of Russia). FIDE has a membership of 160 national chess
federations and it retains offices in Greece and Russia.
For more information contact:
Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) - Tel.: (+30) 2109212047, Fax: (+30)
2109212859, Email:
office@fide.com
Mr. Nizar Elhaj - Tel.: (+218) 91 2142562, Fax: (+218) 21 3340637, Email:
africanchess@lttnet.net
Announcement of the FIDE Secretariat
Dear chessfriends,
In accordance with our recent announcement of April 5, we would like to inform
you of the official hotel and playing venue for the upcoming World Chess
Championship 2004 in Tripoli, Libya. The hotel prices and local contact
information of the Organizing Committee are also published.
Playing Venue of WCC 2004:
The ALMAHARY Hotel ***** in Tripoli, which will also be the official hotel of
the event.
Hotel Prices:
45 USD in a double room, 65 USD in a single room. Prices are per person per day,
breakfast is included.
Contact info:
Mr. Nizar Elhaj for the Organizing Committee WCC 2004
Address: PO Box 3951 - Tripoli, Libya
Tel.: +218 91 2142562
Fax: +218 21 3340637
Email:
africanchess@lttnet.net
Athens - April 26, 2004
Released by the FIDE Secretariat
