DOHA: With a proven reputation of making slick moves on a football pitch, former Barcelona midfielder and Al Sadd captain Xavi Hernandez feels Qatar could be a breeding ground for young chess players in the future.
“I am happy to make the first move on the chess table,” the 35-year-old, who now plays for Qatar’s Al Sadd, said after invited over to witness the Qatar Masters event at Aspire Zone.
Xavi set the things in motion on the top table involving unbeaten Anish Giri of Netherlands and Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland, which kicked off proceedings of the third round of the nine-round $130,000 tournament.
The Spaniard said visiting the venue of the Qatar Masters Chess revived some of his childhood memories of chess.
“I played a little bit of chess during my childhood days, but thereafter football took over and never had a chance to indulge in the game in the later years of my life,” Xavi said.
“I am happy to know that reigning champion Magnus Carlsen and a number of former world champions are here in Qatar for the championship. It is good for the future of sports in Qatar and for chess in general,” Xavi said
The experienced player represented Spain in 133 matches and turned out for Barcelona for an astounding 505 matches from 1998 to 2015. Xavi after kick starting the proceedings of the third round went around the tables and was flooded with photographs requests from a number of Grandmaster’s and International Master’s.
The affable Spaniard obliged all requests.
The 10-day championship, which ends on December 29, features the top-three ranked including five former world champions and several Grandmaster’s.
Besides Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Giri are the top three players of the 148 players taking part.
Reigning champion Yu Yangyi of China is also back to defend his crown and joining him are Sergey Karjakin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Jakovenko all of Russia, Chao Li and Wei Yi of China; Shakhriya Mamedyarov and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan; Wojtaszek of Poland; Anton Korobov, Vassily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and David Howell of England.
The Peninsula
