Strongest Chess Open Ever - Qatar Masters Chess begins in Doha

Hello chess blog friends, the Qatar Chess Masters - strongest chess open tournament ever - has begun in the beautiful city of Doha with Anish Giri as top seed and three former world chess champions in attendance - Vladimir Kramnik, Antoaneta Stefanova, Zhu Chen.

The official opening ceremony took place on November 25th in the Al Manar Ballroom of Crowne Plaza Hotel Doha, the official venue of the tournament. The ceremony was attended by the State Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Khaled bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar Chess Federation President and Honored FIDE Vise-PresidentMr. Khalifa Al-Hitmi, Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros.Co. Board Chairman Mr. Osama Abdullah Abdul Ghani, Qatar Insurance Group Chief Executive Officer Mr. Ali Al Fadala, Qatar Chess Federation General Secretary and Tournament DirectorGM Mohamed Al-Medaihki and other honored guests.

After a National anthem and a short speech by Mr. Khalifa Al-Hitmi followed by an animated movie about history of chess, the ceremony of drawing of lots was conducted.

Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nicolopoulos invited the first-seeded Anish Giri tochoose the color for the odd-numbered players in the first round. First game in Qatar Masters Open the Dutch GM will play against Mikhail Antipov from Russia with White pieces.

After the opening ceremony a short technical meeting was held, where page Chief Arbiter announced principal points of the regulations, and players chose the Appeals Committee members: Chairman Khalifa Al-Hitmi, members GM Stefanova Antoaneta GM and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, reserved member GM Zhu Chen.

The first round has begun and you can watch it at the official website live. (Report inputs via Maria Emelianova, photos by official photographers Dmitry Rukhletskiy and Maria Emelianova.)

For more photos visit the gallery.
For the pairings visit this page.

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