The solemn Ceremony Opening of the 14th edition of the Moscow Open RSSU Cup was held Saturday, January 27 in the assembly hall of the Russian State Social University.
The Ceremony started with a fascinating show called the Chess by the Zvezdny Express dance theater.
Organizers and honored guests climbed the scene for the welcoming speech: RSSU Rector, Doctor of Economics, President of the Russian Student Chess League Natalya Pochinok, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, first Vice-President of the Moscow Chess Federation Nikita Kim and the first deputy of the Head of the sport and tourism department of Moscow Alexey Kondarantsev.
On behalf of the Moscow Government Alexey Kondrantsev welcomed participants and marked that this year more than two thousand players from more than 30 countries take part in the festival, he also wished best of luck and beautiful games to all of the participants.
Kirsan Iluymzhinov thanked RSSU Rector Natalya Pochinok and the university teaching team for their huge contribution in the chess development. “At the moment the RSSU is the center of the chess development and popularization, as well as the center of athletes’ preparation,” – FIDE President mentioned. He also added that Moscow Open revealed a way to the world chess arena to many grandmasters and masters. “By the year of 2020 we plan to involve one milliard people into the game of chess. I hope that we will achieve this goal with the help of the RSSU and the Moscow Government,” – Kirsan Iluymzhinov said.
Nikita Kim: “On behalf of the Moscow Chess Federation I would like to thank you for the participation in the RSSU Cup, we have been hosting this competition for 14 years already. Some of the competition participants took part in the children’s tournament and now they successfully play in the Men’s and Women’s Cups of Russia events. I would also love to express the warmest words of gratitude to all of the people, without whom this competition would have never been held. First of all, I’m talking of the department of sport of the Moscow Government, the Management of sports and entertainment events of Moscow and of course the hosts of the tournament – the Russian State Social University.” In conclusion Nikita Kim wished luck and success to everybody.
Natalya Pochinok read out the welcoming letters from the Press Secretary of the Russian Federation President Dmitry Peskov and the Deputy Minister of Education Tatiana Sinuygina. The RSSU Rector marked an increasing role of chess in the country: “The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin closely follows the progress of chess in our country. The Ministry of Education and Science takes active part in the implementation of chess into the school educational system. The tradition of the RSSU Cup organization has provided an opportunity and insurance of chess being one of the main kinds of sport in our country.” After that Natalya Pochinok declared the 14th International RSSU Cup, Moscow Open open.
The official part was followed by the performance of the Choir Bravissimo that sang popular musical items.
We should also add that the games of the leaders will be covered online by grandmasters Alexander Kalinin and Nikolay Chadaev in the tournament website.
Online games coverage. Photos by Galina Popova.