The opening ceremony of the third leg of FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2013-2014 took place at the beautiful Gallery of Fine Art on the 17th of September. The event was attended by many honored guests such as the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov, the First Deputy Minister of Sports of Uzbekistan Zhasur Akramov, the Head of the Administration of Sports Rashid Talipov, the Head of the Administration of Olympic reserve Kamil Bayazitov, the Head of The State Committee for Communication, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan Hurshid Mirzahidov and many others. The Chairperson of Fund Forum’s Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova couldn’t be present at the ceremony but passed her warmest welcome for the participants and expressed the hope to the future of the Fund Forum’s cooperation with the World Chess Federation.
The ceremony started with the national dance showed by the young charming girls of “Sabo” ensemble.
The classical song of Andrea Bocelli performed by the Honored Artist of Uzbekistan Ramiz Usmanov and laureate of the festival of young artists “Yangi avlod 2006” Shirin Mamatova made the perfect ambience in the hall of the Art Gallery.
The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is happy about the tradition of organizing tournaments in Tashkent, and pointed that FIDE is planning to organize lots of even bigger events in the capital of Uzbekistan.
Honored guests of the opening ceremony.
FIDE Prezident Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov before making the first move of the tournament
The Chief Arbiter and Organizer of the tournament IA Husan Turdialiev conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each participant was proposed to choose one of 12 national hats with the number inside of each.
Pairings of the first round:
| 1 | Danielian Elina | – | Kosteniuk Alexandra |
| 2 | Koneru Humpy | – | Ju Wenjun |
| 3 | Lagno Kateryna | – | Girya Olga |
| 4 | Stefanova Antoaneta | – | Nakhbayeva Guliskhan |
| 5 | Dronavalli Harika | – | Khotenashvili Bela |
| 6 | Muminova Nafisa | – | Zhao Xue |
The tournament will be held from September 17th to October 1st, with each round scheduled to start at 2 pm local time (10 a.m. European time) at the Gallery of Fine Art. The players will have 2 days off on September 22d and September 27th. Average rating of event is 2479.
Many young Uzbek chess players and rising stars, students, a lot of media representatives, guests from the Ministry, Olympic Committee, universities of Uzbekistan, members of junior national team, diplomats and Ministry of Foreign affairs representatives – all the guests showed how much people in Tashkent love and admire chess and promised a great future to this uniting and inspiring sport in Uzbekistan.
| Organizing Committee: |
| Husan Turdialiev – Chief Arbiter
Olga Sabirova – Executive Director of Uzbekistan Chess Federation Abdukahhar Abduhalikov – Tournament Arbiter Gulbahor Musaeva – Accountant of Uzbekistan Chess Federation Rustamzhon Mamatkulov – Governor of the Tournament Tahmina Turdialieva – Tournament Arbiter Irina Gevorgyan – Tournament Arbiter Eldar Gafurov – Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Chess Federation Bahodir Umurzakov – Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan Chess Federation |
| Appeals Committee: |
| Casto Abundo – Chairman of Appeals Committee
Members of Appeals Committee Antoaneta Stefanova Kateryna Lagno Reserve of Appeals Committee Alexandra Kosteniuk Humpy Koneru |
By WFM Maria Emelianova
Official website http://tashkent2013.fide.com/
