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30/07/2009
The mayoress of Valencia, Rita Barberá, accompanied by the sports councilor, Cristóbal Grau, received with big expectancy the ex chess World champion, Anatoli Karpov. There were also the members of the organizing committee of the event (the society 'Valencia, Cuna del Ajedrez Moderno'), Juan Anguix and Basilio López, ex presidents of Valencian chess federation, the historian and journalist José Garzón and Yago Perrín.
The Russian chess player thanked the city council for the cordial welcome and showed his satisfaction for the fact of Valencia being the city finally chosen, under the big international candidates. Like the mayoress says, "this city is doubtlessly the cradle of the modern chess, because it was here in the XVth century where the queen acquired the strength she actually has. Before this historical innovation, the king and the queen were the most vulnerable pieces and nowadays, the queen is the most powerful one". Karpov is one of the many chess professionals who support these theories of the Valencian origin of this sport.
Rita Barberá added that, without the Valencian contribution, "chess would have died". She also underlined the "important consideration the teaching of chess has in other countries, to show to think and rationalize to teenagers and kids" and added that in Valencia, there are 1.250 children practicing chess as an out-of-school activity.
Anatoli Karpov has already visited Valencia in other occasions; that’s why the mayoress is going to give him the book "Vivir Valencia", so that he gets to know more of our city. The chess player showed his friendliness towards Rita Barberá and predicted a total success, because "it’s expected that 10 million people will follow the games thanks to the internet retransmission".
