39th Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk (Venue)
FIDE concerned about pace of Olympiad preparations
Mark Crowther - Friday 23rd July 2010
FIDE Vice-President Israel Gelfer has visited Khanty-Mansiysk to check on the preparation for the 39th Chess Olympiad in September. The players hotel is heading towards completion but there are concerns about progress on the logistics for the event.
Hotel "Olympic" Photo: | http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html
View from the "Olympic" Hotel. Photo: http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html
The venue is the "Olympic" Hotel complex. An external auditor has expressed concern about the lack of a contract with a service company responsible for looking after the atheletes.
"Olympic" Hotel. Photo: http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html
The head of the organizing committee Nikolai Bondarev explains this by saying that in fact the hotel was not yet ready for operation. Alexander Gerber director of the Olympiad says the they can't wait for the hotel's opening on September 1st. He says the logistics of catering and contracts for food can't be settled in 20 days.
Gelfer says that through Kirsan Ilyumzhinov he hopes that the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will put pressure on the regions Governor and everything will be sorted out next week.
Work in Progress. Photo: http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html
Building work on the hotel has been frenetic. Although the hotel looks spectacular, and big enough for the 1600 participants there is still obviously a lot more work to do. The rooms are nice but obviously not the 4 stars initially promised, the dining hall can only contain 600 people.
Work in Progress. Photo: http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html
Report based on the story at: http://ura.ru/content/khanti/23-07-2010/news/1052117193.html
