28 April 2021

FIDE Candidates Tournament Officially Closed

The ceremony took place in Yekaterinburg.


The official closing ceremony of the FIDE Candidates Tournament, which had been won by the Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, was held in Yekaterinburg on April 28. 

Leonid Rapoport, Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of the Sverdlovsk region, delivered the opening speech. Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, Anatoly Karpov, the many-time World Chess Champion, Deputy of Russian State Duma, and Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky, official cybersecurity partner of the FIDE World Chess Championship, sent their video greetings. 

Dana Reizniece-Ozola, FIDE Managing Director, presented FIDE's honourary certificates to Yevgeny Kuyvashev, Governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Andrey Simanovsky, founder and owner of Sima-Land, General Partner of the FIDE Candidates Tournament, President of the Sverdlovsk Region Chess Federation, and Albert Stepanyan, Tournament Director. 

After Andrey Simanovsky made his speech, the participants were invited to walk up on to the stage for the awarding ceremony.   

The winner of the tournament Ian Nepomniachtchi thanked everyone who was involved in the organisation of this event.  

By tradition, the winner of the tournament received an additional reward: at the initiative of the Chateau La Grace Dieu des Prieurs winery, an Art Russe Saint-Emilion Grand Cru wine-and-chess case became a super prize for Ian Nepomniachtchi. Wine from the Art Russe collection is a top wine produced in the famous wine region of Bordeaux. Six bottles of unique Saint-Emilion wine with paintings by Russian artists on the labels, contained in a special-edition case with a set of chess pieces and a chessboard lid, were presented to the winner of the Candidates Tournament by the chateau Director Laurent Prosperi. 

In his turn, Ian Nepomniachtchi handed the prize over to Andrey Simanovsky as a sign of gratitude and respect. However, the grandmaster will get another wine-and-chess case in Moscow. 

President of the Chess Federation of Russia Andrey Filatov: "I thank Andrey Simanovsky, all the organisers and partners for holding this glorious event in such complicated circumstances. Ian Nepomniachtchi's victory is a key milestone in the history of Russian chess and a great achievement for our country. It would have been impossible without the support of PJSC "PhosAgro", the CFR's general partner. Many thanks to everyone!"

Official website

Tournament page 


Photos by Eteri Kublashvili