The opening ceremony of the Baku Open 2024 international chess tournament was held.
Idman.biz reorts, at the event organized in the Baku Sports Palace, Minister of Youth and Sports Farid Gayibov, Deputy Mariana Vasileva, Head of Sports Department Elnur Mammadov, FIDE President Arkady Divorkovich, Deputy Minister of Science and Education Firudin Gurbanov, President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation Mahir Mammadov and first vice president Faig Hasnov attended.
The National Anthem was played before the ceremony. Later, a video about the culture, nature and history of Azerbaijan was shown.
Minister of Youth and Sports Farid Gayibov said in his speech that Azerbaijan is known as a sports country in the world. He said that Azerbaijan hosts a number of international competitions and Azerbaijani athletes have enough successes: "Of course, chess is not an exception. We have hosted several international competitions of this type. Today, one of them was saved. We have many results in this field. The most important among them is that Ulviyya Fataliyeva is the European champion. We thank the Federation for developing chess. We are grateful to the International Chess Federation for always trusting us. Once again, I wish success to all Azerbaijani chess players. I believe that they will achieve high results in this competition held in Baku."
Mahir Mammadov emphasized that this competition has already become a tradition. He noted that the number of participants in the tournament is increasing every year: "This makes us happy. This year is the 100th anniversary of FIDE. A series of events are held on this occasion. We are happy to see them here and thank you. An event will be held in Paris on July 20 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of FIDE. Chess is an extremely successful sport in Azerbaijan. Mr. President Ilham Aliyev pays attention and care to sports, especially chess. The successful results achieved by Azerbaijani athletes in this field are a clear proof of the development of chess. It is the first time that we are using the Baku Sports Palace as a competition venue. We hope you all like it here. I wish the 9 match days to be successful for everyone."
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich talked about the development of sports, especially chess, in Azerbaijan. He assessed it as an admirable event: "It is very gratifying to hold such an event in Baku. It is no coincidence that Faig Hasanov has been a judge for 60 years. We also congratulate him."
Later, Dvorkovich presented a special gift to the President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, Mahir Mammadov, and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Farid Gayibov.
After that, a video was shown, which includes the history of Azerbaijani chess and materials on international tournaments held in this field.
After the official speeches, the Minister of Youth and Sports and the President of FIDE made the first move on the chessboard and declared the competition open.
Banuchichek Huseynli
Idman.biz
