Third leg of FIDE Grand Prix starts in Hamburg on November 5
Hamburg, November 4, 2019 – Hamburg welcomes the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by WorldChess. There hasn’t been a top chess tournament for 54 years, since the European Team Championship in 1965 in the Curio-Haus. From 5 to 17 November Hamburg will become a centerpiece for all chess enthusiasts. 16 of the world’s top chess players will take part in the FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg 2019. The third leg of the Grand Prix series opened with a press conference today at the Theater Kehrwieder, featuring Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of FIDE; Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, the organizer of the Grand Prix; Ulrich Krause, German Chess Federation President, W. Sean Ford, Chief Operating Officer, Algorand; as well as Peter Neumeier, Head of Channel Germany, Kaspersky. Speakers thanked the city authorities for their help in organizing the tournament, invited all chess fans to the event and explained the new system of the Grand Prix. Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, said: «We are officially opening the third leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series, organized by World Chess. This time we are running the tournament in Hamburg, a city known for its chess culture. We are grateful to our Hamburg colleagues for their hospitality and help. We hope that the games will please all chess enthusiasts.» Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, said: «We are very pleased that the third leg of the Grand Prix is taking place in Hamburg, one of the most chess friendly cities. We hope chess fans from all over Germany will join us in following the live games of the greatest grandmasters.» Andreу Guryev, CEO of PhosAgro, Vice President of the Russian Chess Federation: «We believe that Russian grandmasters have all the chances to enter the Candidates tournament! We will be watching the games of the third leg of the Grand Prix with great interest. Hoping for the success of our players, PhosAgro, as a strategic partner of FIDE, promises to sign a sponsorship contract with those Russian chess players who will win the Grand Prix series and enter the Candidates tournament. We believe that in Hamburg, one of the most chess-intensive cities in Europe, an exciting and non-compromising battle awaits us!» “We are honored to support the most played sport in the world and inspired by the World Chess’ focus on bringing innovation and technology to the forefront of the game,” said W. Sean Ford, COO of Algorand. “We look forward to collaborating on next generation blockchain solutions for our joint communities of blockchain adopters, computer scientists and chess enthusiasts in the coming months.” Peter Neumeier, Head of Channel Germany, Kaspersky: «We’re proud to be – for several years already – the official cybersecurity partner of the FIDE World Championship series. Chess requires a sharp mind and a high level of strategic thinking. These are essentials traits also for our work at Kaspersky. Our mission to build a safer world depends on the commitment, creativity, and skills of our experts around the world.» The four-tournament series, which is running throughout the year, features 22 of the world’s best Grandmasters 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 an additional €280,000 for the overall performance in the whole series. To make the series even more exciting, each tournament has a knock-out format, starting with 16 players. To win a Grand Prix, a player has to survive four rounds. Each round consists of two classical games, followed by rapid tie-breaker games if necessary. The FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg will be held in the Theater Kehrwieder (Kehrwieder 6, 20457 Hamburg) from November 5-17. All guests and spectators will be able to enjoy games as well as the outstanding architecture of the historical buildings and Elbphilarmonie – the most recognizable landmark of the city. The rounds start at 3 PM Hamburg time. Chess fans will be able to enter the playing venue starting from 2 PM. The organizers will provide on-site commentary. The games will be broadcast live at worldchess.com, the official FIDE broadcasting platform. First round parings: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Wei Yi Hikaru Nakamura – Veselin Topalov David Navara – Nikita Vitiugov Radoslaw Wojtaszek – Alexander Grischuk Teimour Radjabov – Daniil Dubov Peter Svidler – Pentala Harikrishna Dmitry Jakovenko – Yu Yangyi Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Ian Nepomniachtchi Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019 include: Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain Partner PhosAgro as the Official Strategic Partner Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner Pella Sietas Shipyard as the Official Partner PRYTEK as the Technology Transfer Partner For further questions, please contact: media@worldchess.com. Guide to FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg for Press Official FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg Press Kit About FIDE The World Chess Federation or Fédération Internationale des Echecs, (FIDE), is recognized by its members and the International Olympic Committee as the international federation in the domain of chess, the supreme body responsible for the sport of chess and its Championships. FIDE has the exclusive rights to organize the World Chess Championships and the Chess Olympiads. www.fide.com About World Chess World Chess is a London-based media company. It’s the official broadcaster of the World Chess Federation events and a commercial partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). World Chess organized the World Championship Matches in Russia, the USA, and the UK. It revolutionized chess by signing the biggest media partnerships in the history of chess. World Chess is also developing Armageddon, the chess league designed for television. It operates worldchess.com. About Algorand Based in Boston and founded by cryptography pioneer and Turing award winner Silvio Micali, Algorand is an open-source software company building technical innovation for the borderless economy with a platform that delivers decentralization, scalability, and security. Algorand’s first-of-its-kind, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake protocol supports the scale, open participation, and transaction finality needed by users to build opportunity and fulfill the promise of blockchain technology. For more information, visit https://www.algorand.com. About Kaspersky Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services