BAKU DISPLEASED WITH HOLDING INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT IN KARABAKH

The Azeri Foreign Ministry intends to make a special statement over “the illegality of holding an international chess tournament in Nagorno Karabakh, which is a seized territory of Azerbaijan,” Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Vilayat Guliyev stated. In his words, they intend to present notes of protest to the embassies of Poland, Latvia, Sweden, Russia and Iran, whose representatives participate in the tournament. “We will demand investigation of the causes of participation of these chess players in the seized Azeri territories,” the Minister said. Meanwhile, in an interview with Mediamax news agency world chess ex-champion Boris Spassky, who participates in the tournament as an honorary guest, refrained from comments on the statement by Azerbaijan. “It would be wonderful, if sport were out of politics, but this does not happen in real life,” the grand master said.