World Chess Championship is approaching…

Former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia announced that he shall join the World Championship organized by FIDE which will start on November the 25th at the Kremlin in Moscow. “The time is right for me to make a comeback”, Karpov said. “I celebrated my 50th birthday this year with close to 2000 guests at the Bolshoi Theatre and many of my friends encouraged me to make this move. My recent victory at the Najdorf Memorial Cup in Buenos Aires has inspired me to seek the title again”, he said. Another reason was the change of the World Chess Championship cycle rhythm from 1 year to 2 years. Karpov also said that the World Championship being held in Moscow would enable him to give to his beloved Russia his best. “I brought the title back to Russia from the West in 1975. Now in 2001 I feel it is my duty to wrest the crown from the East and take it back to Mother Russia.” The defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India won the title last year when the World Championship was held in New Delhi and Teheran. “Anand had the home court advantage then. Now I shall have the edge since the World Championship is in Russia,” Karpov added. We will soon see who will become the next World Chess Champion and we want to remind that two Lithuanian chess players, namely, Sarunas Sulskis and Dagne Ciuksyte, will be participating in this championship too. We sincerely wish them good luck.