Georgian women pull out of WWC

Open letter by the Georgian Chess Federation

Dear President,

The Chess Federation of Georgia and the Georgian chess players always shared and acted according to one of the main principles of FIDE – that the chessboard is not the place for political games and that we are one family.

It’s a pity that the politics brusquely intruded into the present-day reality.

The parliament of Georgia announced the State of War due to the dismal situation in the country. The airport is not functioning, the main road of the country is blocked, the state institutions and banks work in emergency regime.

Since, a big part of the territory of Georgia is destroyed, the peaceful towns are devastated by Russian soldiers, the number of refugees exceeded 40,000 people, the hospitals are full of injured peaceful civilians, strategically important infrastructure was bombed, huge material and moral damage was incurred upon our small country. Substantial part of the country is occupied; Mourning is announced in Georgia…

Pursuant to the abovementioned, if the world championship is not shifted to another country, it will be impossible for the Georgian chess players Maia Chiburdanidze, Nino Khurtsidze, Maia Lomineishvili, Sophiko Gvetadze, Lela Javakhishvili and Sophiko Khikhashvili to participate in the World Championship.

Georgian chess federation
15.08.2008

Source: ChessBase.com