CHESS COMPETITION MOVES INAUGURATION VENUE AFTER MEXICO CITY

People’s Daily Online, China
September 13, 2007

The World Chess Championship has moved the venue for its opening
ceremony after unrelated protests in front of Mexico City’s Legislative
Assembly, organizers told Xinhua on Wednesday.

"They suddenly told me about these changes on Wednesday morning,"
Paola Becerra, organizer at the host hotel told Xinhua.

The Mexico City championship has attracted the world’s eight best chess
players including Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik and India’s Viswanathan
Anand, the world’s top two players. Other contestants are Hungary’s
Peter Leko, Armenia’s Levon Aronian, Israel’s Boris Gelfandare and
Russians Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler.

The average rating of the eight players is 2,752 points, making
this one of the strongest chess events of all time. There is no real
favorite, which guarantees exciting games.

The Championship will be played in a round-robin double-round, meaning
each player will play twice against all his seven opponents. The
games will be transmitted live through internet and will be analyzed
by grand masters.