The second leg of the 2022 Fide Grand Prix series was officially opened in Belgrade, Serbia. In the next 14 days, 16 top world players will try to advance in the 2022 GP series in the hope of securing one of the two places leading to the Candidates Tournament
The Opening Ceremony was held at the ballroom of the “Dom Grade” venue – an impressive building from the 1920s, which was once home to the Serbian Royal Guard. The guest list included prominent Serbian chess figures, athletes, senior government officials and business representatives and was attended by many journalists.
The host of the evening, Dragan Lazic, the president of the Serbian chess federation, reminded the guests of the long-lasting chess tradition in Serbia and former Yugoslavia and the tremendous popularity the game has in this part of Europe.
“The Serbian public has been eagerly anticipating once again to see some of the strongest world chess players,” Lazic said.
The president of the Serbian chess federation also emphasized that chess is a game of peace and that “in these complex and difficult times we should all remember to act in the spirit of the motto of FIDE: ‘Gens Una Sumus’ - ‘We are one Family’”.
FIDE Vice President Lukasz Turlej noted how popular chess is in Serbia and also reflected on the rich chess history of the country: “We appreciate how many people play chess in Serbia, and we are happy that such a big and important event is hosted in this country.”
Turlej expressed his gratitude to everyone who helped in organizing this event and wished the tournament participants “a wonderful start”.
The speeches were followed by a remarkable short video covering the history of chess in former Yugoslavia. The video included never before seen footage of famous players attending tournaments and events across former Yugoslavia. The video will also be broadcast on Serbian national television, which will air daily reports from the Grand Prix.
Following the Opening Ceremony, the guests were invited to attend a reception where they discussed chess and the pairings for the first round, which were determined by the drawing of lots held by Chief Arbiter Nebojsa Baralic earlier today.
Round 1 pairings:
Pool A:
Alexander Grischuk (CFR/FIDE), 2764 — Dmitry Andreikin (CFR/FIDE), 2724
Etienne Bacrot (France), 2642 — Sam Shankland (USA), 2708
Pool B:
Pentala Harikrishna (India), 2719 — Nikita Vitiugov, (FIDE), 2726
Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2772 — Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623
Pool C:
Richard Rapport (Hungary), 2763 — Vladimir Fedoseev (FIDE), 2704
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (India), 2727 — Alexei Shirov (Spain), 2704
Pool D:
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761 — Alexandr Predke (FIDE), 2682
Yangyi Yu (China), 2713 — Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2767
Full pairings for the pool stage can be found here.
Text: Milan Dinic
Photo: Mark Livshitz
About the 2022 Grand Prix series:
The three-tournament series, which will unfold from February to April, features 24 of the world’s best Grandmasters competing in two out of three events. To make the series more exciting with a minimum number of draws, FIDE and World Chess have changed the format compared to previous events. In this series, each event consists of a group stage followed by a knockout semi-final and final.
Two winners of the series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament that will take place later in 2022. The prize fund for each event is €150,000, which is a €20,000 increase from 2019.
The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix will take place in the Crowne Plaza in Belgrade (Vladimira Popovića 10) from March 1 to 14. The rounds start at 3 PM Belgrade time.
The games will be broadcast live at worldchess.com:
https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/13605.
For further questions, please contact media@worldchess.com.
