Today 100 best Grand Masters from 30 world countries met in Almaty to compete for the Eurasian Blitz-Chess Cup of the President of Kazakhstan. The representatives of Germany, Bulgaria, Ukraine, France, India, Luxembourg, Uzbekistan, Spain, etc., came to the megalopolis.

The Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, the Mayor of the City of Almaty Bauyrzhan Baybek, the President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, as well as the outstanding chess players and members of the public participated in the opening ceremony.

B. Baybek noted the role of chess in a person’s intellectual development.

“Chess is a very important game which discovers the people’s abilities. A child who practices chess will always show best results in school, as chess trains to labour, patience, will, to control emotions, and to think through. In fact, our life is like a huge chess board, where there are always options and ways to solve this or that problem. I want to cite the words of one of the world champions, who said that chess is a game in its form, an art in its content, and a science in its complexity”, –the Mayor said.

In his turn, the International Grand Master, Honoured Master of Sports Anatoly Karpov pointed out at the democracy and popularity of chess in Almaty and in the whole country. Besides, he marked the touristic potential of the megalopolis which is famous not only for its chess traditions, but the sporting traditions, too:

“It is a big event, when so many famous chess masters come to compete for Cup of the First President of Kazakhstan Almaty has very old and strong chess traditions. I should mention that we develop chess practicing in all directions. Recently, we have opened a training center here, which is very popular now. I want to emphasize that this wonderful city of Almaty has been famous for its sporting traditions; the world famous skating rink “Medeu” and the high-mountain resort “Shymbulak” are located here, so I invite you all to come and hit records here”, - A. Karpov said.

The world chess stars will participate in the basic competitions of the Cup; they will take place on June 18-19 in The Ritz – Carlton Hotel. The current Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan came to Kazakhstan from China for the first time. The Champion of Europe Ian Nepomniachtchi, the three times world champion in quick chess game Alexander Grischuk, the World Cup winner Pyotr Svidler, the FIDE World Champions Ruslan Ponomariov(Ukraine) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov(Uzbekistan), Wang Hao (the national champion, China), Lê Quang Liêm (the world champion in quick chess game, Vietnam), Boris Gelfand (the World Cup holder, Israel), and Shakhriyar Mammadyarov ( the two-time champion of Europe, Rapid Chess World Champion, Azerbaijan) will also come to Kazakhstan to participate in the tournament.

The international umpire team from Australia, Armenia and Kazakhstan will come to the competition – Ashot Vardapetian, Flura Khasanova and Jimmy Kenmur. The Cup organizers are the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the Shakhmardan Yessenov Science and Education Foundation. The Cup is organized with the patronage of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Ministry of Sports and Culture of Kazakhstan, and the Akimat of Almaty.

In order to develop the chess in Kazakhstan, and despite the high level of the sportsmen who participate in the competition, the organizers took into account the possibility of participation of the Kazakh veterans and very young sportsmen, too. Among them there are: Asel Serikbay, Nazerke Nurgali, Asel Lesbekova, Kazbek Nogerbek, and Ramazan Zhalmakhanov, who have already become the national and Asian champions.

Information:

The Kazakhstan Chess Federation was founded in 1992 with the purpose of developing this kind of sports, holding competitions in the country, organizing the participation of the leading sportsmen and the Kazakstan teams in the international competitions and healthy-life propaganda.

The Shakhmardan Yessenov Science and Education Foundation was founded in 2013 in its best traditions of philanthropy with the purpose of developing education, science and innovations in Kazakhstan. The Foundation mission is to develop the intellectual potential of Kazakhstan

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/almaty/press/news/details/10804?lang=kk