Women's World Championship Officially Opened in Khanty-Mansiysk
Drawing of lots takes place as well.
On November 2, the FIDE Women's World Championships started in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Opening Ceremony of the event was held in the Concert and theater center “Ugra-Classic”.
Guests and participants had a chance to enjoy fairy-tale organ melodies performed by Elena Kozemirenko before the official part of the ceremony.
The first part of the ceremony started with the presentation of 28 participating countries.
In the official part of the ceremony, Chief Federal Inspector of Ugra Dmitry Kuzmenko and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich greeted players and guests.
Dmitry Kuzmenko read out a greeting letter from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
Arkady Dvorkovich greeted everyone in Khanty-Mansiysk and thanked the Government of Ugra and its Governor Natalya Komarova in person, organizers, the Ugra Chess Federation, and all the people involved for hosting this event on the highest level. He also reminded the players that the format of the Women’s World Championship cycle would be changed.
“I will make sure that in the future the Women's World Championship cycle will be a standard one, and three semi-finalists except for the winner will qualify for the Candidates Tournament which will determine the challenger for the next World Championship Match with higher prizes and better conditions. I would like to reassure you that we will pay more attention to the women's chess in the future. So everyone could enjoy chess in all its beauty as it is art, sport, and science”, says Arkady Dvorkovich.
After his speech, FIDE President declared the Championship open.
Before the start of the entertaining part of the ceremony the drawing of lots was carried out. The Championship’s Chief Arbiter Igor Bolotinsky invited the top seed of the Women's World Championship, the reigning world champion Ju Wenjun of China, who picked a black pawn. It means that the players with odd starting numbers will start the first game of the first round with the black pieces.
The procedure of drawing lots was followed by bright and spectacular performances of singers and musicians.
After the Opening Ceremony, a short press briefing with Governor of Ugra Natalya Komarova and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich was organized.
The first round of Championship starts on November 3 in the Ugra Chess Academy.
There shall be five rounds of matches, comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The 6th (final) round shall be played over four games. If the score is equal after regular games of each match, tie-break games shall be played.
Schedule: November 3-5 - Round 1, November 6-8 - Round 2, November 9-11 - Round 3, November 12-14 - Round 4 (Quarterfinals), November 15-17 - Round 5 (Semi-final), November 18 - Free day, November 19-23 - Round 6 (Final), November 23 - Closing Ceremony.
Prize fund is USD 450,000.
Photos: Press service of the Championship
