Tower Concord Festival Opened in Nazran

Boris Gelfand and Ernesto Inarkiev drew lots.

On August 2, the Opening Ceremony of the 2nd International Chess Festival Tower Concord took place at the Palace of Culture of Nazran, the biggest city of the Republic of Ingushetia. The central event of the Festival will be a return match between the World Vice-Champion 2012 Boris Gelfand (Israel) and the European Champion 2016 Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia). Head of the Government of the Republic of Ingushetia Ruslan Gagiev, Minister of Education and Science Yusup Kostoyev, Minister of Physical Education and Sports Daud Alkhazurov, and President of the International School Chess Union Alexander Kostiev took part in the Opening Ceremony. The drawing of lots was taken care of by the Festival’s Chief Arbiter Artiom Akhmetov: Boris Gelfand will start the match with white pieces. 

The 2nd International Chess Festival Tower Concord will take place on August 2-13 at the Palace of Culture of Nazran, the Republic of Ingushetia. Many guests from different regions of Russia, as well as chess players from Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and Spain, will visit the festival. The organizers are Adi Akhmad Sports Club together with the Government of Ingushetia, with support from the Russian Chess Federation and the International School Chess Union.

On the Festival’s first day, August 2, the seminars for chess pedagogues and arbiters will be organized. The lecturers are the Honored coach of Russia Pavel Lobach and the President of ISCU Alexander Kostiev. A junior tournament Hopes of Northern Caucasus 2017 (Swiss system, 9 rounds) will be played on August 4-11. The best players will qualify to the All-Russian competition First League. The best participants of the senior age category will be rewarded with laptops. There will be a lot of special prizes as well. An extensive additional programme will be organized in a free time.

The final 3rd stage of the North Caucasian Federal District Cup will be held on August 12-13. The strongest players of the region will take part in it. 

The first game of Gelfand-Inarkiev match will be played on August 3, at 3 p.m. (Moscow time). The match will be held using an unusual formula: on August 3-4, 7-8 and 11-12 games with classical time control will be played, on August 5, 9 and 13 the opponents will determine the strongest in rapid games. Free days are August 6 and 10. 

On August 3-12, the grandmasters will play on the scene of the Palace of Culture of Nazran, but on August 13 they will struggle at the top of Tower Concord, the symbol of the Ingushetian capital Magas.  

Live games of the match will be broadcasted at our website. 

Tournament page

Photos by Vladimir Barsky