The Russian president of the World Chess Federation is offering $10 million to buy the site of the controversial Muslim community center near Ground Zero in order to build an international chess center instead of the controversial mosque.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, also the president of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia, announced at a press conference in Moscow Thursday that he has sent letters to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hisham Elzanaty, an investor in the Park51 site, on behalf of the World Chess Federation with their offer.
“I believe that international conflicts are extremely dangerous in complex times such as ours,” Ilyumzhinov wrote in the letter to Bloomberg. “As the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and as a person who has always supported interreligious understanding, I propose the construction of an International Chess Center at the suggested site of the mosque.”