July 29, 1999
Press Release #1
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).