Press Release Provided by FIDE World Chess Championship

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July 29, 1999
Press Release #1

WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP SET TO START IN LAS VEGAS

The 1999 World Chess Championship begins at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 30, at 6:30 p.m. Starting Saturday, July 31, 100 of the world's top chessplayers will fight in knockout matches to become the 14th World Chess Champion. The total prize fund is $3,000,000, with the victor receiving $660,000. The new World Champion will be crowned in closing ceremonies on Sunday, August 29.

The World Chess Championship is sponsored by the World Chess Federation, also known as FIDE ("Fee-day"), short for Federation Internationale des Echecs. FIDE, founded in Paris in 1924, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. In June 1999, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized FIDE as an International Sports Federation.

Present at the Opening Ceremony, to be held in the Circus Maximus Showroom of Caesars Palace, will be dignitaries and officials from around the world, including Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of FIDE, and Dr. Anita DeFrantz, Vice President of the IOC.

FIDE Commerce, the marketing arm of FIDE, is sponsoring the Opening Ceremony as well as the live online presentation of the chess games as they are played. Chess fans around the world can follow the play at www.uschess.org.

This is the first time the World Chess Championship has been held in the U.S. since 1990. Among the 100 participants will be nine Americans: Joel Benjamin, Nick deFirmian, Boris Gulko, Dimitry Gurevich, Alexander Ivanov, Gata Kamsky, Sergey Kudrin, Tal Shaked, and Alex Yermolinsky.

Contacts at Caesars Palace: Barbara DeMaro, U.S. Chess Federation, or Timothy Hanke, Press Officer for the World Chess Championship, 702-731-7110 (Ask hotel operator for extension #5913).