Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr Z. Safarov / Should chess be included into the Olympic program,
Azerbaijani grand masters will be able to participate in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.
According to sportcom.ru, the president of FIDE, Kirsan Ilumjinov, expressed his hope for this kind of sport to be included into the program of the games. "I believe chess is likely to be included into the Olympic program. FIDE and the administration the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have recommended including chess into the winter games," he said. The president also noted that the organizational party of the federation are working with the IOC. "Three months ago corresponding commissions began the operations and we are defining the format and whether it is a summer or winter sport," he said.
Ilumjinov said that the winter Olympic Games had recently included curling into the program of the games under the slogan of 'Curling is Chess on Ice'. "Chess is well-known to everybody, but curling is not. However, they dared enter the games with such a slogan. If the so-called chess on ice was included, so why not chess?" the President of FIDE said.