"Following this EU Championship, we have an even bigger, more prestigious grandmaster tournament planned for Liverpool's 800th birthday next year and in 2008 we are planning to host the biggest tournament on British soil in 100 years.
"Other European cities have found chess to be a relatively cheap and extremely helpful way of boosting their image around the world.
"With the exception of football, chess is the only game with a global reach. It is a completely inclusive game, neutral to gender, class and ethnicity. We want to use it to create a new image alongside the familiar images of Liverpool, selling the finer qualities of the city.
"The initial programme runs for three years but we hope to establish a legacy that will make Liverpool into Britain's premier chess city.
"This tournament is underpinned by a schools strategy to rebuild the Primary Schools League in Liverpool and to reintroduce chess at a secondary level. Other countries use chess to boost scholarly performance and we want to build on the educational value that it offers.
"The things you need to succeed in chess are the same sorts of things you need to achieve at school and universities - concentration, perseverance, patience and the desire to win. There are no excuses in chess, you can't dumb it down."
Formby resident and former Merchant Taylors' School pupil Stewart Haslinger is Merseyside's strongest player and tipped to do well at the tournament which also features current EU champion
Zoltan Gyimesi, of Hungary. Mr Haslinger said: "I think this tournament is great both for British chess and for Liverpool. David Robertson and Dave Welch have done brilliantly in bringing this tournament here.
News RSS Feed