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 to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
About The Pella Sietas shipyard
The Pella Sietas shipyard is located on the south bank of the Elbe on the west side of Hamburg, the maritime capital of Germany. The shipyard first mentioned in 1635 is now a supplier of high-quality special ships and offshore technology structures. Pella Sietas is part of the Pella Group, which produces ships and ship accessories in Russia with more than 3,000 employees.
Thanks to modern and flexible infrastructure as well as efficient management processes, we are able to provide our customers with a wide range of products and services. They appreciate Pella Sietas as a fully integrated shipyard, which, with more than 350 highly specialized employees, can reproduce the whole ship development process from the initial rough concept to the finished ship. We pick up our customers where they need us: be it when discussing a transport task or carrying out the construction of a finished design.
Pella Sietas’ products are innovative, well-thought-out and reliable. With highly efficient and low operating and life cycle costs, they help our customers to be competitive in their respective markets.
About PhosAgro
PhosAgro is one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia’s only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).
PhosAgro’s main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world’s inhabited continents. The Company’s priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe, and Asia. PhosAgro’s shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company’s GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets index.
About PRYTEK
PRYTEK corporation is a global VC integrator that invests in Fintech, HRtech, Cybersecurity, Mediatech, AI, and Education, and transfer disruptive technologies to emerging markets. PRYTEK established a unique ecosystem where technologies enter new markets, investors are not charged for assets management and corporates get “one-stop-shop” access to best global innovations which enable them to be ahead of the competitors.
PRYTEK corporation operates in 7 countries, with over 30 cutting edge technologies worth $1,8 bln and more than 2500 corporate customers. www.prytek.com
