The Opening Ceremony of the World Chess Championship 2015 started on time on 7 May at 14.30 local time. Mr. Philip Chan, Director of the Social activities conducted the ceremony. He greeted all the participants of the championships, parents, guests and officials of this event.
The anthem of Thailand Kingdom and FIDE anthem were played to start the Opening Ceremony.
The floor was given to the General Secretary of the Thailand Chess Federation Mr. Panupand Vijjuprabba. Mr. Vijjuprabba expressed his hope that the logistics worked out well and all the participants and guests were happy with the conditions of the hotel, food and organization so far. He also mentioned that apart from games of chess, there are a lot of activities that could be done in Pattaya city during the period of the championships. Mr. Vijjuprabba wished to all the participants and guests enjoyable stay and good chess results.
The Chief Organizer Mr. Ignatius Leong was invited to the stage. He welcomed all the participants, guests, organizers and partners in Thailand, Pattaya city. He recollected that when his Chess Academy made a bid for this event, he could not expect the raise of costs of the hotel in Singapore. When this happened, they looked for another place of organizing. Together with Mr. Panupand they made a decision in favour of Pattaya city He hoped that this decision was correct.
Mr. Leong said that he was very grateful to all the delegations which came to Pattaya to participate in the Championships. The special thanks were addressed to Latin America delegations from Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru. Also, he mentioned a great love to chess which made Kazakhstan delegation to be the biggest delegation consisting of 111 people, together with parents and accompanying persons. He also underlined that only 10% of participants are from Thailand, which means that these championships were more foreign than local. At the end of his speech, Mr. Leong wish luck and victories to all the participants.
The President of the International School Chess Union Mr. Alexander Kostyev shared with the audience his gladness that the School championships are very popular in the world of chess and are organized nowadays on a regular basis. He congratulated all the participants with the start of the championships. Mr. Kostyev expressed his confidence that many of the participants of the championships would become very strong grandmasters in future.
The official FIDE Technical Delegate, a member of the FIDE Events commission, Mr. Ozgur Solakoglu welcomed all the participants, distinguished guests, parents and organizers and thanked them all for organizing this great event. He mentioned that FIDE and FIDE Events commission always try to make the conditions of every chess event better, popularizing game of chess and increasing the number of participants. Mr. Solakoglu expressed his hope that all the participants will like the conditions of the championships and enjoy their stay in Pattaya city.
Mr. Solakoglu delivered a message from the FIDE President who wished good luck, interesting games, pleasant atmosphere and good results to all the participants. He expressed his hope that chess funs will follow interesting battles and friendship that is being started between kids now will be continued in the future as well.
The floor was given to a special guest of the Opening Ceremony – Mr. Banjong Bantoon Prayub, the Deputy Spokesman of Pattaya City. On behalf of Pattaya government he welcomed the participants and guests of the championships. He said that the World School Chess Championship is very important tournament for Thailand and Pattaya city in particular. Mr. Prayub thanked the Asian Chess Academy for giving such an opportunity to host such an important major event in his city. It was a great chance, he mentioned, to host so many young chess players from 35 countries. He underlined that game of chess helped to promote the intellectual development among children. Mr. Prayub was very happy that this championship was organized in Pattaya city. He wished success to all the participants.
To upkeep the spirit of the sportsmanship and fair play in the championship, the nominated player Mendoza Shania Mae of the Philippines was invited to the stage. Mae swore to the audience on behalf of all participants that they will show a fair play, respect all competitors and friendship between players, truth faith of sportsmanship and glory of chess.
To uphold the spirit and integrity of the laws of chess, the Chief Arbiter Mr. Mahdi Abdulrahim was invited to the stage. He swore to the audience in the name of all arbiters to conduct a fair judging during the championships, respect to all the participants and complete following the FIDE chess rules.
After the Opening Ceremony the 1st round of the World School Chess Championships 2015 has started…
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