13.10.2015

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz takes place in Berlin

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2015 continues in Berlin. A record number of chess players in the history of rapid chess tournament under the auspices of FIDE take part in this tournament.
Chess players from 47 countries will take part in the tournament. Only from Russia arrived 33 grandmasters. The World champion of Rapid, Blitz and classical chess Magnus Carlsen and former champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik - here, too. Prize fund - $400 thousand.

"The annual tournament involving the world's best chess players of Rapid and Blitz, including grandmasters, who won the last championship. We are pleased that FIDE receives so many players of chess federations from different countries, "- said the president of FIDE.
9 October at the Kino International hosted the opening of the championship. The German premiere of the Hollywood film "pawn Sacrifice" took place at the opening ceremony. The film tells about one of the most famous in the history of chess duel for the title of champion of the world - between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer.
Many players have paid attention to carefully dubbed chess positions in the scenes of the film. "The authors, of course, had a good chess consultant" - said Vladimir Kramnik. The 10th World Champion Boris Spassky personally greeted the audience and wished good luck to the players.
The first 10 rounds of the championship at rapid chess were held at the site Bolle Meierei. The audience had a lot, and they could watch the fight in the tournament hall as well as from the audience on the screen with the live broadcast.
According to the results of the first two days, the leaders are Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Sergey Zhigalko from Belarus GM , they scored 8 points out of 10. With a score of 7.5 points are persecuted ex-world champion in classical chess, Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), World Rapid Champion 2007 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and the Latvian grandmaster Igor Kovalenko.
"We chose Berlin for the championship, as it is - a media and business center of Europe. Today, chess, as well as during the Cold War, are in the main pages of the German press. However, now journalists write about them in the sections "culture" and "business" and not "policy", – said the President of World Chess by Agon Limited Ilya Merenzon. - Chess keep pace with the times, and today people from around the world are able to watch all the games in the online broadcast site worldchess.com".


For information.
Company Agon Limited - official partner of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the owner of the commercial rights to the cycle of matches for the world title.
The company's mission: to promote the commercial appeal of chess, to create a comfortable environment for partners, players and brands, as well as to significantly increase the coverage of the sport worldwide.
To do this, the company represents the brand World Chess, which is addressed to more than 600 million chess players and chess fans.
In 2016 Agon Limited will hold a tournament of applicants and the match for the title of world chess champion.
Official site - www.agonlimited.com.