Letter to the Scotsman by the chess correspondent of the Spanish newspaper El Pais Leontxo Garcia.

Dear Sir,

I am the chess correspondent of El Pais (since 1985) and of Radio Nacional de España (1986). I am also the Editor of Jaque (1990), the Spanish leading chess magazine. Herewith I wish to express my astonishment and solidarity with respect to the ordeal of your chess reporter John Henderson, who was evicted yesterday from the Brain Games World Championship Press Centre.

When I asked Raymond Keene the reasons for his eviction, he mentioned some articles signed by Henderson that were too critical to the match organisation. As far as I know, journalists allowed to work in a press centre are not under any compulsion to make positive comments on the organisation; furthermore, the organisation suffers from many weak points.

If things get worse, it might be better to complain to the Courts of Justice. It also seems incredible to me that in one of the countries of the World with an oldest democratic tradition, such attempts are carried out against freedom of speech. Since the second match between Gary Kasparov and Anatoli Karpov in Moscow in 1985, when I, together with several foreign correspondents, was persecuted and vexed by KGB agents because of the tone of our articles, I hadn't experienced a similar situation.

John tells me that Brain Games has sent you a letter accusing him of "abusing the staff". This seems incredible to me. I already know John for a couple of years and have worked with him in several countries. As far as I know, nobody has ever seen him behave in such uncouth manner against anybody. As I told yesterday Raymond Keene, to evict a journalist from a press centre without serious reasons means an insult and spite to his readers, listeners or TV followers. I assure you that in John's case, you have good reason to feel proud to count him among your contributors: he is a very considerate person and a good journalist.

Yours sincerely,

Leontxo Garcia

You can read Leontxo Garcia's El Pais columns in the Deportes section at: http://www.elpais.es/