Tuesday, January 24, 2017 the press conference devoted to the 2017 Moscow Open, RSSU International Chess Cup was held in the TASS multimedia center.

President of the Moscow Chess Federation Vladimir Palikhata, Head of the sport and tourism department of Moscow Nikolay Gulyaev, the RSSU Rector, Doctor of economic sciences, Docent, RASN current member Natalya Pochinok, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President Honorary of the Liga Stavok bookmaker company Oleg Zhuravsky and Moscow grandmaster, European champion, current European Champion Ernesto Inarkiev took part in the press conference.  

Nikolay Gulyaev expressed confidence that the present edition of the festival will be held in the hospitable RSSU on the highest possible level. He marked that the Moscow Open RSSU Cup managed to gain recognition as in Russia so as abroad.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov promised the FIDE will continue to support the festival in future and marked that the Moscow Open RSSU Cup is a major tournament, assembling all the chess categories, from kids and veterans to the world chess stars. Besides, different seminars and master classes are held within the frames of the festival and under the FIDE umbrella.

Vladimir Palikhata thanked all the partners of the tournament and marked the growing interest to the game of chess: “Last year became very successful for the chess. For instance, the selected team of Moscow – Legacy Square Capital – won many awards, including gold ones and found itself in the number of prize winners at almost all the tournaments. High results shown by our players secured not only love of fans and chess admirers but also attracted attention of the leaders of our country to this kind of sport.”

While answering the question on the development of the Chess in Schools program in Moscow, Vladimir Mironovich told that last year chess was included into the school program in 50 schools, and this year the game of chess is being introduced as the third lesson of the physical culture in 223 schools. “This project is rapidly developing in the capital. We’ve been able to increase the number of participating schools with the support of the International Chess Federation and the Department of education of Moscow,” – Palikhata marked.

Natalya Pichinok told of the current edition of the festival innovations: “We always try to widen possibilities for all the people in love with chess. This year we will host a unique rapid chess tournament for partially sighted and blind people. A student tournament within the frames of the National student chess league will be also organized. Another very important part of our tournament is the Chess in the education system major international conference that will be composed of four round tables.” Natalya Borisovna also told about the chess working process that has been constructed for many years in the RSSU.  

In his turn Oleg Zhuravsky thanked the organizers of the tournament for the invitation to support the event that his company received three years ago: “It’s nice to cooperate with such a major project and I hope that our mutual work will continue.” Oleg Anatol’evich mentioned that his son Georgy will take part in the tournament for the third time and he hopes that this year he will play successfully. 

Ernesto Inarkiev marked that he graduated from the RSSU and told that he is of not so many chess players having participated in all the five editions of the Moscow Open Cup of Russia. According to the opinion of the grandmaster the RSSU is now one of the leaders of the chess education not only in Russia but also worldwide. “It’s great to see the development of the tournament. I hope it will become even more successful in the future,” – Inarkiev marked.

In the course of the press conference the draw of colors was held for all of the tournaments of the festival. It was mastered by Natalya Pochinok and the star of the Far the Best TV show on the Channel One Misha Osipov. The three-year old chess player drew a black pawn and the ranking favorites and all the chess players with uneven start numbers will play black in the first round.

Photos. Video.