The 42nd Chess Olympiad has begun\u00a0in Baku today. However, it will be held without one of the strongest chess teams, three-time Olympic champion, Armenia.<\/p>\n
The Armenian side\u2019s official version is that the decision was made by the sportsmen themselves, who were not confident in their security, though Azerbaijan guaranteed to ensure their safety at the state level. On the contrary,\u00a0last year a delegation of Armenian chess players, headed by its leader, Levon Aronyan, came to Baku to participate in the World Cup. There were no incidents. The public opinion of both countries has obviously become more negative\u00a0following the 4-day war in April. Yet, there is another, unofficial version, according to which\u00a0the decision was made on the recommendation of the Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, who is also the President of the Armenian Chess Federation.<\/p>\n
In all fairness, it must be said that Azerbaijani chess players also refused to participate in the World Chess Team Championship in Tsaghkadzor.<\/p>\n
Pierre de Fr\u00e9dy, the baron de Coubertin one of the founders of the modern Olympic movement, coined the\u00a0motto: “O Sports, you bring us Peace!\u201d Unfortunately, sports have turned\u00a0into a political tool. After WWI, the victor\u00a0countries banned the German athletes\u00a0from participating in any tournaments. In response, Germany held the 1936 Berlin Olympiad, serving to demonstrate the superiority of \u2018the supreme race\u2019. We can also\u00a0recall the attempt to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics or the disqualification of Russian athletes in Rio, etc.
\nWho is going to count, how much Azerbaijan has spent on buying mercenaries and what political dividends we have\u00a0gained from it? Have we gained any\u00a0at all? I recently watched a film by Go Group about the Georgian hockey squad. There are no mercenaries, only Georgians, to say nothing of rugby.<\/p>\n
Where\u00a0can we find a\u00a0new baron de Coubertin to revive the principle \u201cO Sports, you bring us\u00a0Peace!\u201d?<\/p>\n
Published 02.09.2016<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 42nd Chess Olympiad has begun in Baku today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":19334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,17,2,62,71],"tags":[],"formation":[],"post-author":[],"topic":[],"tooltip":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-4419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ermnistan","category-azrbaycan","category-cografiya","category-lifestyle","category-idman"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n