Turkey tried to earn money due to participants of 2010 Women’s World Chess Championship?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Participants of the recent 2010 Women's World Chess Championship in Hatay, Turkey, sent an open letter to FIDE, presenting their resentment over the poor level of the championship organization.

The letter was posted on Alexandra Kosteniuk's chess blog.

“The reason for this letter is to make the governing chess body, FIDE, aware of the problems that exist. We are chess professionals and would like to see the women’s chess world championship as the ultimate chess event which should be organized at the highest level. After qualifying for this prestigious event, we have to pay our own expenses to come and play in this championship. As such we would like to feel that we are the participants of a world chess tournament rather than are being overcharged, starting from the transfer and ending with the hotel.

There are certain points we neither understand nor accept, and to avoid disappointments in the future, we would like to express them now, so that next time around, the same problems do not occur,” reads the letter, which was signed by 18 participants of the championship, including Armenia’s Elina Danielyan and Lilit Mkrtchyan.