The opening ceremony and technical meeting of the 6th and final FIDE Grand Prix were held on Saturday evening at the Chapelle de la Villedieu in Paris, France.
The opening was attended by the FIDE President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Deputy Director General on Economy and Finance of “GC Titan” (tournament sponsor) – Svetlana Titova , the Vice President of the urban community of St. Quentin, Alexandra Rosetti, and the FFE President, Diego Salazar.
French hip-hop dance attraction “Black Blanc Beur” (also known as B3) performed the artistic act.
Chapelle de la Villedieu in Paris
Group photo of the participants
Black Blanc Beur in action
Round 1 pairings:
GM Fressinet Laurent 2708 – GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2756
GM Grischuk Alexander 2785 – GM Wang Hao 2736
GM Caruana Fabiano 2779 – GM Bacrot Etienne 2723
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2731 – GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2757
GM Nakamura Hikaru 2772 – GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2703
GM Gelfand Boris 2764 – GM Giri Anish 2737
Photos by Alina l’Ami – Official website
Speech by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FFE President Diego Salazar
Drawing of the lots
A toast before the start
