Press Conference before 2019 FIDE Grand Prix Series Leg in Moscow Takes Place on May 16
Drawing of lots took place on technical meeting.
The race for the 2020 World Chess Championship begins on May 17 in Moscow with the first tournament in the FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by World Chess.
The Chess Championship cycle opened with a press conference today at the Central Chess Player’s House, featuring Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President; Ilya Merenzon, chief executive of World Chess, the organizer of the Grand Prix; Andrey Guryev, head of PhosAgro, one of the principal corporate sponsors, and Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation; Mikhail Vasin, head of corporate communications, RussiaStan & META of Kaspersky Lab, the official cybersecurity partner; and grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, one of the tournament’s participants.
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The four-tournament series, which will unfold throughout the year, features 22 of the world’s top players fighting for two spots in next year’s Candidates Tournament to select a challenger for the World Championship title. The players are also competing for a total of €800,000 in prizes, with €130,000 in each Grand Prix and additional €280,000 for performance in the whole Series.
The Moscow Grand Prix will be held in the Central Chess Player’s House, an historic building in the center of Moscow, from May 17 to 29. Making the series even more exciting, each tournament will have a knock-out format, starting with 16 players. To win a Grand Prix, a player will have to survive four rounds. Each round will consist of two classical (or slow) games, followed by faster tie-breaker games if necessary.
Players from 9 countries take part in the Grand Prix Series (Russia is represented by 7 Grandmasters), and spectators from Russia, China, the USA, France, Azerbaijan, Armenia and chess fans all over the world will follow their favorite players to fight for the right to challenge incumbent Champion Magnus Carlsen.
The FIDE Grand Prix Series will be broadcast on worldchess.com, as well as on top media sites globally. There will be free live video and commentary, organized by FIDE and World Chess.
At the press conference, a long-term sponsorship deal was signed between PhosAgro and World Chess.
Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, said: We are pleased to launch the new Chess Championship cycle and looking forward to the exciting games. By changing the format to knock-out and making the Series more dramatic, we believe that we have made the Grand Prix Series a treat for both players and spectators alike.
Andreу Guryev, CEO of PhosAgro: “For the past nine years, as a Russian company that supplies environmentally friendly fertilizers to 100 countries around the world, we have been supporting chess in Russia and around the world, including the World Championship Matches. We invest in the most intellectual sport on the planet, and this fits perfectly with PhosAgro’s focus on taking a strategic approach to business, smart technologies and principles of sustainable development.”
Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, said: Chess is a competitive sport, with its titles, the winners, and the losers. It’s also an amazing tool for communication and having a great time. We hope that both spectators and fans will have a good time at the venue or at home watching and playing chess this season!
Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said:Chess is an amazing sport. It keeps changing together with the development of humanity. It’s not only a very interesting intellectual game with an ancient history, nowadays it’s a sport that uses leading innovational technology. This helps both players – in building intriguing strategies, and viewers all around the world – in watching these fascinating games online. And it’s clear that the role of cybersecurity in chess will only grow. As a partner of this tournament, we are proud to protect it from cyberthreats of any complexity.
Chief Arbiter IA Laurent Freyd (France) conducted the drawing of lots at the technical meeting. Four seeded players having the highest standard rating at the beginning of the tournament had been given starting numbers 1, 8, 9, and 16. For the purpose of distribution of other twelve starting numbers, the random drawing of lots was made.
The following matches will be played in Round 1:
Giri - Dubov
Radjabov - Nakamura
Duda - So
Karjakin - Grischuk
Nepomniachtchi - Aronian
Wei Yi - Jakovenko
Vitiugov - Svidler
Wojtaszek - Mamedyarov
The drawing of colors will take place in the Opening ceremony.
Photos: World Chess
