BIH turns back on their man

Bosnia & Herzegovina's Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov is running for the ECU Vice President post on Robert von Weizsäcker's ticket. This ticket is campaigning together with Anatoly Karpov, who is running for the post of FIDE President.

But in the sudden turn of events, Bosnia & Herzegovina Chess Federation refused to support Ivan Sokolov decided to vote for Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to remain FIDE President and for Ali Nihat Yazici's ticket in the ECU elections.

Topalov refuses to play Candidate Matches in Russia

As Chessdom.com informed yesterday, Azerbaijan have secured the first half of the Candidate matches. They have already transferred the initial 150,000 EUR to FIDE account and have signed contract with the local player Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Among the locations discussed for the second part of the Candidate matches is Kazan (Russia). This caused a sharp reaction by Veselin Topalov, who sent an open letter to the Presidential Board in Tromso, stating, "I would like to declare that I would not participate in any stage of the cycle for the World Chess Title that takes place in Russia. The venue of Baku was rejected by Aronian and this looked natural for everyone. I believe it is logical to ask, if I play any matches in the future, (especially against Russian GMs) , that they should be outside of Russia."

Full text of the letter

Summer Cup 2010

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Summer Chess Cup 2010 is taking place in Porto Carras 5 star hotel resort (Greece) right after the World Football Cup in South Africa.