On May 11, the second part of the FIDE Grand Prix series – a part of the 2017-2018 Championship cycle – started in the old mansion on Malaya Ordynka street in Moscow.After the official part, a drawing of lots was held. In total, 18 chess players will play in the tournament: Piotr Svidler, Ian Nepomnyashchiy, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Alexander Grischuk, Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia), Teimour Radjabov, Shahriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Maxim Vachier-Lagrave (France), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Pentala Harikrishna (India), Saleh Salem (United Arab Emirates), Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain), Michael Adams (Great Britain), Jon Ludwig Hammer (Norway), Ding Liren and four-time World Champion Hou Yifan (China).
On May 12, the first day of the tournament was held in the Central Telegraph building. It was attended by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Israel Gelfer and three years old chess player Misha Osipov, who, incidentally, made the first move.
Further, the head of FIDE played a friendly game of chess with the head of the State Housing Inspection of Moscow, former Prime Minister of Kalmykia Oleg Kichikov.
Recall that the second stage of the Grand Prix will last until May 21. It will be a nine-round Swiss system tournament with long time controls but without the Sofia rules (so a draw can happen any time).
