On April 2, the FIDE President arrived to Nepal to participate in the closing ceremony of the Asian 3.2 Zonal Championship. In Kathmandu Kirsan Ilyumzhinov also visited the Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC). Stanistlav Simakov, the Director of RCSC, welcomed the guests and introduced them the Chess center, which is the heart of the whole chess activity in Nepal. In Nagarkot Kirsan Ilyumzhinov took part in the closing ceremony of the zonal championship together with the Minister of Youth and Sports of Nepal Mr. Purusottam Poudel and the officials of the Nepal Chess Association. Also the FIDE President took part in the opening ceremony of the 3rd Kamana Co-operative Cup open chess tournament in Lalitpur. This is the tournament for Nepal players with the biggest prize fund. 150 chess players will compete for the main prize Yamaha motorcycle.

Final Standings of Asian Zonal 3.2 Chess Championship 2015


The officials of Nepal Chess Association meet the FIDE President in the airport

Stanislav Simakov, Director of the Russian Center of Science and Culture, welcomes the guests


Signing the picture for the Chess Center 

The officials including the FIDE President, the Minister of Youth and Sports, and the President of Nepal Chess Association at the closing ceremony


Mr. Rajesh Hari Joshi, President of Nepal Chess Association

The closing ceremony was held in the Ratna Giri Resort


Meeting the Minister of Youth and Sports of Nepal Mr. Purusottam Poudel

Lalitpur. The opening of the 3rd Kamana Co-operative Cup


Awarding the activists of Nepal Chess Association


In Nepal Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited Lumbini, one of the four main centers of Buddhist pilgrimage, the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha. The leader of Nepal Buddhists welcomed the guests.


Visitng Maya Devi Temple which is considered to be the birthplace of Buddha.


30 monks from Thailand, France, Canada, Singapore, Nepal, Vietnam and Japan telling the prayers 8 minutes long each.


Kirsan Ilyumzhinov proposed to construct a temple in Lumbini and to hold an annual chess tournament in December – Buddha Cup.


On April 3, the FIDE President was invited by the Rupandehi District Chess Association to visit the district, 20 km far from Lumbini. The association is quite young with 150 players including 15 rated.

On April 3, the FIDE President met with the Prime Minister of Nepal Mr. Sushil Koirala. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov shared his impressions on his visit to Nepal in general and in particular the agreements with the national chess federation. The Prime Minister favoured the idea to organize the Lord Buddha Cup. The meeting was also attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Nepal Mr. Sergey Velichkin and the representatives of Nepal Chess Association.

FIDE President, Prime Minister of Nepal Mr. Sushil Koirala and Ambassador Sergey Velichkin

On April 3, the FIDE President left Lumbini for Kathmandu to meet with the leadership of Nepal Chess Association. He noted the excellent organization of the Zonal Championship. It was noted that more than 3,000 children in Nepal are participants of Chess in Schools programme. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov promised to allocate 20,000 Euro to support the programme in this and next years. It was announced about the Lord Buddha Cup, which is going to be the annual December tournament. The Nepal officials expressed the wish to send several students for chess studying in the Russian universities taking up the quota set by the Russian government for FIDE.


Also the FIDE President met with the President of the National Olympic Committee of Nepal Mr. Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan. At the meeting also present were Mr. Rajesh Joshi, President of Nepal Chess Association, and Mr. Jeevan Ram Shrestha, General Secretary of Nepal Olympic Committee.

FIDE President met with the former Prime Minister of Nepal Mr. Jhala Nath Khanal. He is a leader of the Nepal Communist party of Nepal (UML) and one of the most famous and influential politicians of Nepal.