{"id":1123,"date":"2017-12-26T07:13:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T07:13:52","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2017-12-26T07:13:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-26T07:13:52","slug":"saudi-granted-qataris-visa-for-an-international-chess-championship-taking-place-in-riyadh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/en\/news\/feature\/saudi-granted-qataris-visa-for-an-international-chess-championship-taking-place-in-riyadh\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Granted Qataris Visa For An International Chess Championship Taking Place In Riyadh"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-adunit c-adunit--mpu\">\n<div id=\"mpu\" class=\"c-adunit__container\"> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>World chess federation (FIDE)\u00a0announced on Sunday that despite rumors, visas are being granted to Qatari and Iranian players to enter the Kingdom. An international chess championship,\u00a0The King Salman World Blitz and Rapid Championship will take place from December 26-30 in Riyadh.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This will be the <strong>first <\/strong>of its kind in Saudi Arabia, that will include as many great chess players from different parts of the world to compete for the title. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenational.ae\/world\/gcc\/saudi-grants-visas-to-qatar-chess-team-denies-israel-1.690475\" target=\"_blank\">prize<\/a> is a staggering\u00a0US$2 million (SAR 7.4 million), which is also the highest prize to be won at a chess championship.<\/p>\n<h3>FIDE confirmed in an official statement that visas were given to Iranians and Qataris\u00a0<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"content__quote\">\n<p>As stated above, after combined efforts of FIDE officials and Saudi Arabian authorities, visas for players from Iran and Qatar were secured. Any publication on the internet stating that visas for players from Iran and Qatar have been &#8220;refused&#8221; is completely wrong. The fact that players from Iran and Qatar may decide not to participate, after consulting their own authorities, is clearly their own individual decision.<\/p>\n<p><cite>Official Spokesperson for FIDE (via online)<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FIDE secured visas for Qatar and Iran<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uCed64vQuQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/uCed64vQuQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FIDE (@FIDE_chess) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FIDE_chess\/status\/945060076242563072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 24, 2017<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"c-adunit c-adunit--mpu_mid\">\n<div id=\"mpu_mid\" class=\"c-adunit__container\"> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Visas had already been issued to 3 Qatari players\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>According to <em>The National,\u00a0<\/em>people should not listen to unconfirmed sources as three chess players from Qatar had been issued visas, namely\u00a0Mohammed Naser Al Sayed, Mohammed Ahmed Al Muthahaka and Shin Zhu.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"content__quote\">\n<p>\u201cAny publication on the internet stating that visas for players from Iran and Qatar have been &#8216;refused&#8217; is completely wrong. The fact that players from Iran and Qatar may decide not to participate, after consulting their own authorities, is clearly their own individual decision,\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite>FIDE<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Israeli players were not let into the Kingdom As part of the Kingdom&#8217;s strong stance not to engage in diplomatic relations with Israel.\u00a0<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World chess federation (FIDE)\u00a0announced on Sunday that despite rumors, visas are being granted to Qatari and Iranian players to enter the Kingdom. An international chess championship,\u00a0The King Salman World Blitz and Rapid Championship will take place from December 26-30 in Riyadh.\u00a0 This will be the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, that will include &hellip; ","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,31],"tags":[],"acf":{"legacy_image":"https:\/\/cloud.lovinsaudi.com\/images\/_relatedEntryImage2x\/Screen-Shot-2017-12-26-at-9.59.39-AM.png?mtime=20171226065820","legacy_full_image":"https:\/\/cloud.lovinsaudi.com\/images\/_featuredImage\/Screen-Shot-2017-12-26-at-9.59.39-AM.png?mtime=20171226065820 880w","legacy_meta_tags":"<title>Saudi Granted Qataris Visa For An International Chess Championship Taking Place In Riyadh  - Lovin Saudi<\/title><meta name=\"description\" content=\"World chess federation (FIDE) announced on Sunday that despite rumors, visas are being granted to Qatari and Iranian players to enter the Kingdom. 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