Present at the opening ceremony were President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and representatives from relevant agencies, such as the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the Hanoi People’s Committee, and several embassies in Vietnam.
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Standing Deputy Chairwoman of HDBank Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao speaking at the event |
This was the first time Hanoi has hosted such an event with its biggest-ever prize fund of USD 55,000.
At the ceremony, FIDE President Ilyumzhinov and Standing Deputy Chairwoman of HDBank Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao made the first chess moves to kick-start the six-day competition.
The tournament attracts the largest ever number of players, 271 from 21 countries and territories, broken into two categories: Masters (Elo rating from 2,100 for men and 2,000 for women) and Challengers (Elo rating below 2,100 for men and 2,000 for women).
Notably, the event sees the participation of many high-rated players on FIDE list, such as Le Quang Liem (Vietnam, rating 2736), Wang Hao (China, rating 2713), Sethuraman (India, rating 2649), Mareco Sandro (Argentina, rating 2635), Gordievsky (Russia, rating 2630), and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam, rating 2630).
At this competition, Liem is named as the top seed.
The male champion of the Master category will receive USD 15,000. The two runner-ups will be awarded USD 6,500 and USD 5,000, for second and third.
The female winner will get USD 5,000, while the youngest and oldest players, who put in the best performances, will receive USD 200 each.
Translated by Chung Anh