Ilyumzhinov says he is ready for negotiations with U.S. authorities on issue of entry
MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) - World Chess Federation (FIDE) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who has been denied entry to the U.S., is open for negotiations on a solution to the situation.
"There has not been any response so far. Probably some officials are waiting to leave with suitcases in their hands and others have not arrived yet. Probably new people, the new administration of the Department of the Treasury, a new secretary will come. If they want to meet, I am open to any negotiations. I am currently walking in the legal field," Ilyumzhinov told reporters on Monday.
Ilyumzhinov was put on the sanctions list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and for that reason cannot enter the U.S. The FIDE president has tried to resolve this problem in the course of the year that has passed since his inclusion in the list, but the situation had not changed before the beginning of the match. For the first time in history, the FIDE president could not personally start the World Chess Match between Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and Russian Sergei Karyakin.
Ilyumzhinov said a World Chess Match can be conducted in the U.S. again if such a request is made.
"In two years, the World Chess Match will take place in Asia, and then we will see what requests will be made," he said.
Ilyumzhinov said FIDE has conducted all events scheduled for 2016 at a good level.
"The year was a success, we conducted the World Chess Olympiad in Baku, which was attended by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev; in April we conducted a World Chess Match for women in Ukraine, which was won by Hou Yifan from China, and a World Chess Match between Karyakin and Magnus was held in New York and we now have an 'old-new' champion. In closing, a blitz world championship will be held in Qatar. We have conducted competitions in all regions of the world and they were all with a 'plus' sign, everything was a success this year," Ilyumzhinov said.
