Top Chess Players Boycott National Tournament
Published: 22.07.2011 17:57
This year's national chess championship will go down in history as insignificant: all of the good players are boycotting the event.
That includes all of the international masters, not to mention grandmasters Kaido Külaots, Meelis Kanepi and Aleksandr Volodin.
Only eight chess players are competing, the strongest of them only holding the nation's 18th highest FIDE rating, reported Õhtuleht. The new national champion, as determined by the tournament, will be announced July 25.
The protest has been spurred by clashing relations with the chess association's president Hendrik Olde. A number of top chess players have been thrown out of the association and at least one grandmaster, Külaots, has complained about the lack of cash prizes in Estonian tournaments.
Ott Tammik
http://news.err.ee
