Opening Ceremony

The solemn opening ceremony of Tsaghkadzor Open International Chess Tournament took place at Tsaghkadzor Marriott Hotel on November 22, 2017.

The ceremony was honored by the presence of the President of RA, who doubles as the President of Armenian Chess Federation Serzh Sargsyan, the first vice-president of the Armenian Chess Federation, the Founder and President of the Chess Academy of Armenia Smbat Lputian, Director of general sponsor Norfolk Consulting LLC Armen Unanyan a number of state officials and honorable chess players. 

About 150 chess players representing 17 countries are going to compete for the title of the winner of Tsaghkadzor Open. 23 GMs and 21 chess players with international titles are among the participants of this event.

Mr. Lputian and Mr. Unanyan delivered speeches welcoming the chess players and congratulating all people present in the ceremony on the occasion of this great event. They wished good luck to all the participants and expressed hope for brilliant and exciting games.

A video telling about chess tournaments and other chess events being held in the city of Tsaghkadzor so far was another fascinating part of the opening ceremony. Famous Armenian MIM studio, opera singer and a jazz band came up with beautiful performances.

During the ceremony the main and special prizes of Ashot Anastasyan Memorial were distributed to the winners. The winner of the blitz tournament became GM Arman Pashikyan representing Armenia.

After the opening ceremony the drawing of lots took place where the top seed of the tournament GM Vladimir Onischuk chose the white for himself for the first game.

The first match of A Tournament will be played tomorrow, on November 23, at 3 pm local time and the matches of B Tournament will be played on the same day at 4 pm. 12 games will be broadcast online on our website.  

Photos of the opening ceremony are available here.