2 April 2016

From Telegraph To New York

The closing ceremony of the candidates tournament in the review of Eteri Kublashvili.

On March 29 the Central Telegraph building hosted the official closing ceremony of the Candidates Tournament, which outlined the results of the exciting chess marathon carried out in the capital city.

Prior to the start of the ceremony the participants and guests could spend time communicating each other as much as they liked, while the representatives of the mass media could take interviews from those they were interested in. However, after a while everyone was invited into the hall in which the tournament participants had been playing only recently, and I have to admit that there was no place to swing a cat. Multitude of film crews and photographers surrounded the barrier line in tight ranks.

The ceremony kicked off with a short film devoted to the competition: all participants of the chess festival could plunge into the Candidates Tournament environment once again, refreshing their memories of certain of its moments and catching sight of what was going on in a parallel program.
It was followed by a speech addressed towards the audience from the head of the “Agon” company, the Tournament Director Ilya Merenzon, who went on answer the questions of the host, spoke in the Russian and English languages about the work accomplished in the course of the competition, thanked FIDE and the "Tashir" group of companies for their support, narrated about the importance of exclusive rights to broadcast tournament games as well as about the business program conducted within the framework of the competition.

After that the stage was one by one stepped up into by Igor Levitin - Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov - FIDE President, Alexandr Zhukov - first Deputy Chairman of the State Duma and President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Pavel Kolobkov – the Russian Deputy Minister of Sports, Andrey Filatov - President of the Russian Chess Federation and Vice-President of FIDE, and the Chief Referee Werner Stuibenfall, who voiced the final results.

Igor Levitin: "I want to address my congratulations to all Russian chess fans, because we have long since been waiting for the moment when the ultimate title in the chess hierarchy is challenged by our compatriot. I want to express my feelings of gratitude to Sergey Karjakin for the courageous play demonstrated by him, as well as to the Russian Chess Federation, FIDE, the Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Sports, and the tournament organizers. I would also like to thank the participants for the beautiful games that they have shown here. It is the strongest who wins in sport, and I am pleased that he is a representative of Russia. I wish Sergey every success on the main match of the century. "

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, "I would first of all like to thank our players who have rejoiced us with their outstanding performance for the duration of two weeks. During this Candidates Tournament we have never seen any short draws as each player was fighting to the end. I would like to congratulate the winner of the tournament Sergey Karjakin. Two young players, two age peers, two "Ks" will compete for the world chess crown in New York from November 11-30.

I would also like to thank the members of the Presidential Board of FIDE: dozens of issues have been addressed within the period of two days. The Board members have presented a gift to the President of the Russian Chess Federation and Vice-President of FIDE Andrey Filatov: out of five countries, claiming the right to hold the World Championship among schoolchildren, Dagomys of the Russian Federation has been picked up as a venue for the event. Andrey Vasiljevich, we give you our congratulations!

I would like to say "thank you" to the President of Armenia and President of the Chess Federation of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, President and founder of the "Tashir" group of companies Samvel Karapetyan, the German company BMW, administration of the “Four Seasons” hotel and, of course, the company "Agon” for organizing and running this wonderful event".

Alexandr Zhukov: "I would like to thank the participants of the Candidates Tournament for the pleasure that their game communicated to millions of chess fans all over the world. It would be hard to imagine a more exciting finish, when the fate of the first place was in fact being sealed in the last game of the last round. I am confident that all Russian chess fans are happy that it is Sergey Karjakin who is the winner and the qualifier into the "youngest" match for the world title in the history of chess. Thanks to the organizers and sponsors of the tournament for bringing the tournament into Russia. I hope that this is not the last large-scale chess competition to be held in Moscow, Russia. I think that this tournament has shown that chess is still one of the most popular sports in our country, and following such events the number of fans invariably tends to go into increase."

Pavel Kolobkov, "I congratulate all participants on successful completion of the Candidates Tournament. I congratulate Sergey Karjakin on his excellent and well-deserved victory and thank all participants for their interesting games. By all accounts, the tournament was held to a high level of organization and raised a great amount of enthusiasm from the mass media and chess fans both in Russia and around the world. I want to thank FIDE for having granted the right to host such an important event in Moscow. From our part, we will continue supporting major international chess competitions in Russia. I wish that the Russian chess goes on with its further progress, and I wish Sergey Karjakin every success in New York."

Andrey Filatov, "I would like to say that the value of chess in Russia is high, and would like to thank all of you for this festival. Our country can take proud both from the tournament and from such a victory."

When the delivery of congratulatory speeches was over, Igor Levitin, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Andrey Filatov went on to carry out the awarding ceremony: the participants would come out on stage, where they would be awarded with glass trophies featuring the tournament logo. The tournament winner Sergey Karjakin was awarded with a weighty gold medal on top of that.



Sergey Karjakin, "I am by all means very happy to have won this tournament and it's the most memorable victory of my life. I want to dedicate it to all those who supported me during my lengthy chess career: my coaches, my parents, my wife, my son, and everyone who was otherwise involved in my formation as a chess player. I would also like to thank my sponsors for their support, as well as the Russian Chess Federation and the organizers. The competition was held to the highest level. For me it is always a great joy and a great honor to play in Moscow, and I, being a citizen of Russia and a native of Crimea, will be happy to play in the World Championship match, representing my country at the highest chess battles."

Sergey would not be allowed to leave the stage for a long time yet, but the reasons of it were the most enjoyable ones: at first the marketing director of the BMW Group in Russia Hans De Fisher presented grandmaster with a one month test drive of a super-power sports car that was waiting for the winner at the entrance to the Telegraph, and then the Candidate was awarded with a rare exhibit item from yet another partner - "Beluga".

Besides, the "Young Stars of Moscow" tournament winner Vitaly Gurvich and the Moscow Chess Federation Student Blitz Cup winner Igor Vakhlamov were also awarded at the closing ceremony of the Candidates Tournament.

Following the end of the ceremony’s official part, the participants and the organizers went out to celebrate the tournament completion and Sergey’s victory in a more informal setting. The Telegraph building gradually emptied of the crowd of people and began its preparations for events to come.

At the end of our review and coverage of the tournament as a whole we would like to once again congratulate Sergey Karjakin on his outstanding achievement and wish him good luck in New York!