Chess battles of the FIDE World Youth U14, U16, U18 Championships are now over, it’s time to celebrate the victories!
Traditionally, the closing ceremony of the event was held in the concert and theater center “Ugra-Classic”. The Chief Arbiter of the championships Carlos Oliveira Dias was the first to address the participants of the tournament and to congratulate them on the new achievements and success:
“First of all, I’d like to thank the organizing committee of these Championships for their work. Everything went smooth during the tournament. Thanks to the participants, their parents, relatives and coaches who paid much effort to take part in these Сhampionships. And, of course, thanks to the team of arbiters, who were working with me all these days. I am congratulating all of you on the successful closing of the tournament!”
Carlos Oliveira Dias
The Director of the department of physical culture and sports of Ugra Igor Gubkin thanked FIDE for its support and expressed his hopes that many players of these Сhampionships will come back to Khanty-Mansiysk in 2020 to participate in the Chess Olympiad:
“Today we are closing these Сhampionships, but we are not saying good-bye to chess, as in less than two months we are going to host the Women’s Grand-Prix here. We want to thank FIDE for giving us opportunities to conduct such big and important chess events. And we want to thank all players who made it possible for us to watch their games with our own eyes. I am sure, among this audience there are those who will come back to Khanty-Mansiysk in four years to participate in the Chess Olympiad 2020”.
Igor Gubkin
The President of Ugra Chess Federation Vasily Filipenko has concluded:
“During this tournament we had a unique opportunity to meet the future of the world chess. These Championships are an evidence of the fact that chess is developed in all parts of the world. There are different approaches and different styles of playing chess, so it is very interesting to see all of them meet in one place here in Khanty-Mansiysk. The tension and heat of the games was growing from round to round and it couldn’t be cooled down by our Siberian weather. Success was achieved by whose who kept in mind our folk wisdom – keep your head in cold, but your feet in warmth”.
Vasily Filipenko
After the speeches of FIDE representatives and officials of Khanty-Mansiysk region the most pleasant part of the ceremony started. Gifts and diplomas were given to the medalists and prize-winners of the championships. In each category top-10 players were awarded with presents from the organizers. Besides, those who achieved norms during the tournament got their certificates as well.
The majority of the new champions were coming to the scene wrapped in their national flags. Five anthems played in honor of six gold medalists from Armenia, China, Russia, Greece and India are an evidence that chess is popular in all countries of the world.
In the end of the official part of the ceremony Carlos Oliveira Dias declared the FIDE World Youth U14, U16, U18 Championships closed.
The ceremony continued with the performances of the best song and dance ensembles of Khanty-Mansiysk, whose energy made all 412 participants of the Championships think again about all the emotions they felt during the rounds of the tournament. We hope, these emotions won’t be forgotten! See you next time!
The official website of the tournament
