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Crete 2002 - The Best World Youth Championships Ever |
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Sunday, 24 November 2002 00:00 |
 by IM George Mastrokoukos
The 2002 World Youth Chess Championships are entering the last and most exciting part of the event. The two last rounds will produce our new world youth champions, the latest generation of international chess stars and we are very proud of the fact that they will receive their trophies here in Crete, the land of the ancient Minoan civilization.
by IM George Mastrokoukos
For a whole year we have been preparing the games with a certain vision: to create the best edition of the World Youth Chess Championships ever held. Of course we do not have the moral right to evaluate ourselves but we can express our pleasure for the positive comments we have been receiving, including useful suggestions for further improvements. In a few words, we introduced the following main features which appeared for the first time in the World Youth Chess Championships:
Top level playing conditions in the 5-star Conference Center of Creta Maris Hotel;
5-star hotel accomodation for ALL the participating federations;
FREE internet access for ALL the delegations from the playing hall;
FREE daily bulletins for ALL the players and chiefs of delegations;
FREE excursion to the archeological site of Knossos;
Live transmission of the 20 top chessboards on the internet and the playing hall;
Live transmission of the championship&rsquos results and standings on the internet, the playing hall and the hotel rooms of each delegation through a total of 700 TV sets.
The Greek Secretariat of Sports, the Greek Chess Federation and OAA Heraklio Chess Club, we all want to thank the participating countries for their contribution to making this a record-holding event: 860 top chessplayers from 82 countries made Heraklio the capital city of chess for 10 days! For this reason we want to express our gratitude and we do hope that you all return to your countries with the most pleasant memories from this world championship. And we will be more than happy to host you in future Greek tournaments, here in Crete or in any other beautiful site of our country!
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