Opening ceremony and technical meeting


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Opening ceremony and technical meeting

By WGM Alina l'Ami

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Already before the start of any Formula 1 race, one can feel the latent tension from the way the drivers race their motors with the cars immobile yet. Is a similar feeling to be expected when we speak about a different kind of Grand Prix competitions, such as the Paris 2013 chess tournament?
At first sight, the general picture displayed by the opening ceremony and the technical meeting suggest a negative answer. It was more like a high class and refined spectacle, rather than an anticipation of ruthless fight!

These events were hosted by an absolutely superb hall, Chapelle de la Villedieu, and the audience was honoured by the presence of the FIDE President, Kirsan ILyumzhinov, the Deputy Director General on Economy and Finance of “GC “Titan” (tournament sponsor) - Svetlana Titova , the Vice President of the urban community of St. Quentin, Alexandra Rosetti and the FFE President, Diego Salazar.
One could hardly guess the gladiators’ spirit lying inside the elegant 12 players, all dressed in suit and tie!

The opening speech of the FIDE President, Kirsan ILyumzhinov
May I add the absolutely magnificent location? In reality it looks much more inspiring than a picture could tell.

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The FIDE President, Kirsan ILyumzhinov, the Deputy Director General on Economy and Finance of “GC “Titan” (tournament sponsor) - Svetlana Titova and the Vice President of the urban community of St. Quentin, Alexandra Rosetti enjoying the FFE President Diego Salazar's gifts.

All these are superficial appearence for all those knowing the inside psychologic subtleties of the chess World. Although the games were scheduled to start only the day after the technical meeting, one could bet that at least some of the players’ attention was only partly present. The drawing of lots is the best time for existential questions such as: How many Whites will I get? Will I have a psychologically tough opponent in the first round? Did I prepare in the best way for this important event, am I in the best possible shape?

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...might be some of Alexander Grischuk's thoughts.

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More Whites for Fabiano Caruana!

But not for Ruslan Ponomariov, who got number 12 under his champagne bottle.

Lovely artistic moment, performed by the Blackblancbeur band!

Tension...

The players seem to be ready for the first round!
Vassily Ivanchuk was not able to attend the opening ceremony due to late arrival.

FIDE Grand Prix Series - Paris

Round 1		September 22nd

SNo.		Name	Rtg	Res.		Name	Rtg	SNo.
1	GM	Fressinet Laurent	2708	-	GM	Ponomariov Ruslan	2756	12
2	GM	Grischuk Alexander	2785	-	GM	Wang Hao	2736	11
3	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2779	-	GM	Bacrot Etienne	2723	10
4	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2731	-	GM	Dominguez Perez Leinier	2757	9
5	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2772	-	GM	Tomashevsky Evgeny	2703	8
6	GM	Gelfand Boris	2764	-	GM	Giri Anish	2737	7

*Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then each player will be allotted 15 minutes after the second time control and an increment of 30 seconds per move will be allowed from move 61 onwards. And of course: no draws, according to Sofia rules!

Some players may dissimulate this inherent tension with excessive joyfullness, while others would stick to a polite but retained behaviour. It is a matter of style, but most surely they all feel the accumulating tension. And so do we all, spectators, commentators, specialists, anxiously waiting for the first move to be made. Because, ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to announce that at 19:00 CET, on Saturday September 21st, the Paris Grand Prix tournament was officially opened!

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Before we go into the 'war zone' we should toast for a beautiful event!

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Boris Gelfand in good spirits

For more pictures, kindly visit the Photo gallery.
The full pairings' overview can be found here.

We will all be waiting for you to watch us live tomorrow at 15:00 CET! Until then, like reall chess players, we need just a little bit more patience...