Russians set to build city devoted to chess

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The president of the Russian republic of Kalmykia plans to build an international chess city in the Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai with total investments of about 9.6 billion dirhams, or $2.6 billion. A joint statement by Kalmykia's president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and the chief executive of Dubai Projects, Sulaiman al-Fahim, said over the weekend that the city would include 32 buildings shaped like chess pieces and cover an estimated area of 64,000 square meters, or 688,900 square feet. "Dubai will play host to over 60 million amateur and professional chess followers from around the globe annually," the statement quoted Ilyumzhinov as saying during a visit to Dubai. It did not say when work would start.
Reuters Monday, August 9, 2004