On February 17, the opening ceremony of the first round of the FIDE Grand Prix four-tournament series was held in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates).Addressing the audience, Ilyumzhinov, in particular, thanked Sheikh Nahyan for the fact that 16 years ago he was the first to propose holding the Grand Prix competitions.
Recall that the first cycle will be held from 17 to 28 February. This prestigious event marked the start of new series of the fight for world chess title, which will end with a match for the world crown in November 2018.
Following Sharjah, the further Grand Prix series will be held in Moscow, Geneva and Palma de Mallorca. This time, the organizers have replaced the usual full round-robin by an 18-player, nine-round Swiss system tournament in the cycle.
