The mayor of Yekaterinburg,
Alexander Vysokinsky highlighted the importance of this event for the local community, adding "we will try to do everything in our power so that this event is held according to highest standards, so everyone could enjoy!"
One of the speakers at the ceremony was Grandmaster
Anatoly Karpov, the 12
th World Champion in chess, who himself comes from the Ural region. Karpov emphasized the uniqueness of the tournament for the region and spoke about efforts made to develop chess education, including at the Ural Federal University.
The President of the Sverdlovsk Chess Federation
Andrey Simanovsky, as well as the Regional Corporate Sales Head at Kaspersky
Marina Usova joined the speakers in wishing the players good luck in the tournament.
This year's Candidates Tournament will take place from March 16 to April 3. The First Round starts on March 17 at 4 PM local time (noon CET; 11 AM GMT).
The pairings for the First Round are:
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) -
Fabiano Caruana (USA)
Ding Liren (China) -
Wang Hao (China)
Anish Giri (The Netherlands) -
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)
Alexander Grischuk (Russia) -
Kirill Alekseenko (Russia)
More information about the event can be found here:
https://en.candidates-2020.com/news_1_12-03-2020 The Partners: Sima Land - the title sponsor of the FIDE Candidates Tournament
Algorand - official blockchain partner
Kaspersky - official cybersecurity partner
PJSC PhosAgro - General partner of the CFR
Mercedes-Benz Russia – Official car partner
Pine Creek Golf Resort and
SILA International Lawyers - partners