29 July 2015

Mariya Muzychuk and Hou Yifan Will Play in Lviv

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov informs.

This information was revealed in Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's column on his website.  

“Finally, a decision has been made: a rematch between the current World Chess Champion, Ukrainian, Maria Muzychuk and her contender, Hou Yifan from China, to be held at Maria's hometown of Lviv.

Frankly, this is some kind of a political decision. Lviv was opposed by Beijing, whose representatives not only filed the properly executed application in a timely manner, but also reinforced it with a bank guarantee for part of the prize fund.

The Ukrainians did not comply with all the formalities. And yet, I insisted on making a decision in favour of Lviv. Why is that? In short, my visit to Lviv let me see for myself that it is a great city, quiet and friendly. Their chess traditions and chess school are very strong.

Today the Lviv Chess Federation has 20 grandmasters such as Adrian Mikhalchishin, Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Belyavsky, who coached Mary Muzichuk. However, the last major competition held in Lviv was in 1984 during the USSR Chess Championship.

Since then 31 (!) years have passed. In my opinion, this is too unfair for a city whose residents so appreciate and love chess. 

In addition, I would like to open Lviv to the whole world and not only to the world of chess. I would like to dispel the myths around it, as the bastion of 'Western influence', 'Bandera supporters' and other abominations. 

I sincerely hope that soon we will be able to restore the building of the Lviv Chess Club (we agreed at a meeting with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko that it would be a joint project between Ukraine and FIDE). And in 2016, we will hold a rematch between Maria Muzychuk and Hou Yifan, most likely in the Lviv Opera House.”