Nigel Short asks for change in chess

CHESS grand master Nigel Short, has stressed the need for change if the game is to spread beyond Europe to other developing countries.

By Phillip Corry

CHESS grand master Nigel Short, has stressed the need for change if the game is to spread beyond Europe to other developing countries.

“There is need for change at the helm of chess globally if the game is to progress beyond the boarders of Europe and the Americas,” Short said in an interview last week.

Nigel, the first grand master to visit Uganda in 32 years, was in the country to seek Uganda’s vote for the aspiring candidate Russian grand master Karpov.

Karpov is contesting against compatriot and incumbent Kirsan IIyumzhinov ahead of the FIDE congress and World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from September 19 to October 4 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Nigel Short was however impressed with the ‘modesty’ and the close links that the Uganda Chess Federation has with its neighbouring federations like Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

He said the Karpov executive, if elected, has promised to seek to send chess trainers to federations in the developing countries like East Africa to develop the game.