Azerbaijan chess house

Azerbaijan to open Chess Club Championship and Chess House
Baku, Fineko/abc.az.

The State Chess Development Program 2009-2014 signed by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev 5 May was presented today in Baku.

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sport Azad Rahimov said the Chess Palace will be built in Azerbaijan in the near future.

“Construction of the Chess Palace is stipulated by the Program. This building is going to be the second home for Azerbaijani chess players,” Rahimov underlined.

Today five Azerbaijani chess players enter the TOP 100 Chess Players of the World. Azerbaijani chess players have won 75 medals, 25 of which are gold, at different competitions and tournaments.

“There are 22 international grand masters in Azerbaijan and, according to the World Chess Federation (FIDE), the country takes the fifth place among 150 countries of the world,” Rahimov said.

The Program is aimed at enhancing chess infrastructure in the country, training the specialists, and strengthening country’s role in the world of chess.

“We need to create grand master schools in the country as sometimes young chess players, who achieved successes at early stages, face different troubles while coming to the professional chess world. Our team successfully participates in different championships, but we are not involved into club tournaments. It would be useful, if the country had its own club championship and our chess players participated in local clubs.” Minister emphasized.

So far Azerbaijani grand masters participate in foreign clubs in Russia, Germany, Spain. Recently it was spent AZN 500,000 on chess development in the country.

The Head of Azerbaijan Chess Federation Elman Rustamov noted that talented youth should be looked for not only in central cities, but also regions.

“We need to create a group consisting of trainers, teachers as well as computer programs, psychologists to teach chess in the country and train new, well-educated chess players.” Rustamov said.

Currently Azerbaijan numbers 70 chess schools, 66 of which are the part of the Ministry of Education. These schools educate 35,000 children with help of 1,802 teachers.

Source: http://abc.az