TEHRAN (Tasnim) � FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov says that the international federation will support Iran as host of the women's World Championship.





In the FIDE�s General Assembly at a meeting held in Baku, Iran was chosen as host of world championship but some well known players namely Nazi Paikidze said that they will not participate in the competition in protest of wearing Hijab.

Fide's Commission for Women's Chess, meanwhile, called on participants to respect �cultural differences� and accept the regulations.

�In Fide�s General Assembly in Baku, Tehran was only candidate to host and I am here to support Iran," Ilyumzhinov told Tasnim news agency.

�In my opinion, sport has nothing to do with politics. Also, FIDE must respect the �cultural differences� of the other countries.�

�FIDE is a great federation wich has been founded in 1924 and has 187 members. We managed to host more than 100,000 tournaments in year. At the moment, about 600 millions people play chess around the world,� FIDE president said.

�Our main slogan is we must reach the level of one billion chess players in the world which it means we have one billion smart persons in the world."

"Iran is one of the most active federations in FIDE,� Ilyumzhinov stated.