3 October 2015
Women's FIDE Grand Prix First Leg Begins in Monte Carlo
Andrey Filatov and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov attended the opening ceremony.
The first leg of the Women's FIDE Grand Prix was opened on September 2 in the casino of Monte Carlo. The event was attended by such honorable guests as Mr. Jacques Boisson, Secretary of State of Prince Albert II of Monaco, the president of FIDE Kirsan Ilumzhinov, Andrey Filatov, President of Russian Chess Federation, and other important personalities of Monaco and the chess world.
The drawing of lots produced the following pairings of the first round:
Sarasadat Khademalsharieh - Anna Muzychuk
Natalia Zhukova - Nana Dzagnidze
Mariya Muzychuk - Antoaneta Stefanova
Alexandra Kosteniuk - Almira Skripchenko
Pia Cramling - Hou Yifan
Humpy Koneru - Natalija Pogonina
The tournament is played from October 3 to October 15 with two rest days on October 7 and 12. All rounds except the last one begin at 4 pm Moscow. The final round starts at noon.
Monte Carlo, one of the most famous European resorts and formerly a big gambling center, hosted many spectacular chess events. David Janowsky, Mikhail Chigorin, Geza Maroci, Siegbert Tarrasch, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Carl Schlechter and many other top players of their time attended the Monte Carlo tournaments of 1901-1902. In 1967-1969, there were three big tournaments with Robert Fischer, Bent Larsen, Mikhail Botvinnik, and Vassily Smyslov among the participants. Finally, in the late 90s - early 2000s Monte Carlo and famous Dutch chess patron Joop van Oosterom carried out 20 Melody Amber tournaments - a unique blend of rapid and blindfolded chess, which attracted all top players of our time except for Garry Kasparov. And now once again we are going to witness an elite chess event - a Women's Grand Prix round robin with exceltionally tough line-up that uncludes the World Champion and three former champions.
Photos by Berik Balgabaev
