The formal opening of the RSSU Chess Cup Moscow Open 2020 was held on Friday, January 24 in the Hall of the Russian State Social University.
The ceremony opened with a performance of the Russian folk orchestra of the Moscow State Institute of Music named after Schnittke “Moscow” with a potpourri of popular folk songs from all over the world as well as a gymnastics show “Da Vinchi – mirror ring”. This was followed by the greetings from the organizers and honorary guests of the festival of the participants and guests.
The first deputy head of the Moscow Department of Sports, the Olympic Ice Skating Champion Svetlana Bazhanova wished all the participants luck and victory. “I hope this tournament will bring you many interesting games that you will remember for the rest of your life, and will become your beacon in the world of big sports”, said Svetlana Valerievna.
Sergey Lazarev, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation noted that this year the Moscow Open festival once again broke all the records. It means that chess is on the rise now. “This year is an Olympic one and significant for chess players from all over the world. In addition, this year will see the jubilee of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and this competition, among other things, is dedicated to these events.
The founder of the charity fund “Sozvezdie Dobra”, the first vice-president of the bookmaker company “Liga Stavok” Olga Zhuravskaya congratulated everyone with the opening of the festival, wished the participants of the competition to set new chess records and conquer new mastery summits.
Rapid and blitz chess champion Sergey Karjakin thanked the festival organizers for all the advances. “It is great that from one year to another there are more young sportsmen and professional chess players participating in Moscow Open. I wish all the participants bright victories, beautiful games, and may the strongest win!”, concluded the Grandmaster.
Natalia Pochinok, the RSSU Rector talked about the new records of the tournament. “Moscow Open is the largest chess festival in the world. As of today a number of registered participants exceeded 2800 people. Among them are young chess players as well as veterans. This year of Great Patriotic War Jubilee we honour our veterans. With their participation in the tournament they show their strong spirit and love for chess”. Natalia Borisovna also noted that the RSSU Cup will continue developing in the future and will continue uniting chess players from all over the world. To conclude, the RSSU Rector thanked the mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin, the Moscow Department of Sports and all the co-organizers and partners for their help in conducting the Moscow Open 2020 Festival.
The prefect of the north-eastern administrative district Alexander Belyaev congratulated the guests and participants with the beginning of the competition and thanked the RSSU Rector Natalia Pochinok for hosting the traditional festival in the walls of the social university.
After that, Natalia Pochinok announced the XVI International RSSU Chess Cup Moscow Open to be open.
