Astrakhan FIDE Grand Prix

It was a holiday for the whole of Russia on 9 May but in the Astrakhan State Drama Theatre we witnessed the grand opening of the sixth stage of the FIDE Grand Prix. The ceremony was attended by President of the International Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the Governor of Astrakhan Region Alexander Zhilkin.

The Governor warmly welcomed the participants to the competition. “This tournament is very important to us”, said Zhilkin. “Looking at you, people have such high achievement in chess, our people have elected me as Governor, to contribute to part of the new theater, and the construction will soon end with a new chess school. We, in Astrakhan, will try to do everything possible to make the Grandmasters’ stay very comfortable” the governor continued.

The President of the International Chess Federation, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, thanked the Governor of the Astrakhan Oblast region for the decision to open a new chess center in the beautiful building of the Musical Theatre.

“FIDE its part will provide support, in particular, it will help to equip the center”, said Ilyumzhinov. “A new chess center, and we will have not only one international chess competition here. Chess popularity varies in many parts of the chess world. And for us it was a great honor to receive the proposal to hold a Grand Prix in Astrakhan. I hope that in this hospitable land of Astrakhan we will have new champions and world champions”, summed up the president of FIDE.

By tradition, during the opening ceremony the draws for the tournament pairings were organised. The chief arbiter, IA Faik Gasanov, helped by two charming girls, spun the drum and the tournament players selected balls with their numbers. The number one in the pairings went to Ukrainian GM and world number 9, Pavel Eljanov.

Round 1 results:

http://astrakhan2010.fide.com/