Legendary Aeroflot Open Festival Kicks Off in Moscow
It has brought together around 500 players.
Sunday, March 3, the International Chess Festival "Aeroflot Open 2024" began in one of the most famous hotels of the Russian capital, The Carlton, Moscow.
The programme of the Festival, which was revived in a new format after a break, includes an open tournament for chess players with a FIDE rating over 2300 and a stage of the Russian Youth Cup for young players under 15.
Dmitry Peskov, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Chess Federation of Russia and Press Secretary for the Russian President, sent a welcome telegram to the participants and guests of the competition.
Sergey Alexandrovsky, CEO of Aeroflot: Chess is a unique game and a universal language capable of uniting millions of people all over the world. Over the 20 years of its existence, the Aeroflot Open tournament has become one of the most anticipated and significant chess events, as well as a "success runway" for world-class chess stars. Today we are reviving the tournament in a new, even expanded format. I am sure that the 2024 Aeroflot Open will be an exciting event and will introduce new chess names to the world.
Andrey Filatov, President of the Chess Federation of Russia: Our famous international tournament Aeroflot Open, which has a long tradition and was entered into the Guinness Book of Records in 2004, will resume in a new format in one of the capital city's most beautiful hotels - The Carlton, Moscow. This has become possible thanks to our long-term partners - first of all Aeroflot, the general partner of CFR PhosAgro, and the Kadun company, which has created a unique chess for the competition. I thank everyone for this gift to all chess fans!
Participants of the main tournament will compete for an impressive prize fund. Side by side with famous players, young chess players under 13 and 15 will play in a stage of the Russian Youth Cup. Undoubtedly, participating in a tournament with chess stars will be a great incentive for them. I wish everyone good luck, fair play, and beautiful games!
On the eve of the start of the tournament, within the framework of the official opening, there took place a draw for colours ceremony. Sergey Alexandrovsky drew out a white piece for the rating favourites. When the official part was over, the laureate of international competitions, the pianist and child prodigy Yelisey Mysin, performed for the guests.
In the morning of March 3, the first round of the competition began. The symbolic first move in the game Grischuk - Aleksandrov was made by First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly Alexander Zhukov.
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Photos by Eteri Kublashvili, Pavel Iovik, and Vladimir Barsky
