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Amongst the players (some of whom are arriving late) we have spotted, in no particular order, Anand, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Carlsen, Karjakin, Kamsky, Radjabov, Shirov, Girschuk, Kasimdzhanov, Bologan, Short, Atalik, Adams, Ponomariov, Mamedyarov, Morozevich, van Wely, Sasikiran; and in the women's section Humpy, Cramling, Zhu Chen, Stefanova, Skripchenko, Chiburdanidze, Lahno, Hou Yifan; and many others. It is really a giant event with a collection of stars you only otherwise see at Olympiads.
The Opening Ceremony took place in Limra Hotel on October 2nd 2007. During the ceremony FIDE Vice President and CEO of Global Chess BV Geoffrey Borg, TCF President Ali Nihat Yazici, ECU Board Member Werner Stubenvoll and Deputy Governor of Antalya Fazli Akgün delivered protocol speeches. There was also an impressive openings ceremony stage presentation with song and dance.
Video of opening ceremony – the video in WMV format is 25 MB in size and takes a while to download. You can watch a shorter (3.3 MB) version here. It is quite exhilarating to watch the joy and enthusiasm of the dancers in this modern Muslim nation.
To get you started on this exciting event we provide you with the following useful links:
The venue of the European Club Championship in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey
The living quarters of the participants
With temperatures at 30-35°C the pool is an important accessory in this
event
The dance performances at the opening ceremony
Drums play an important role in these stage performances
Lights and colours, grace and enthusiasm
The playing hall – actually a small part of one of the sites
Grischuk and Shirov playing on boards 2 and 3 of Ural Sverdlovskaya (Radjabov
is board one)
Vassily Ivanchuk, currently numer two in the world
Viktor Bologan playing for Tomsk-400
Who is this grandmaster playing for Linex Magic?
Yep, Brooklyn boy Gata Kamsky
Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Tomsk-400) with Teimour Radjabov (Ural Sverdlovskaya) in
the background
Kateryna Lahno, Yifan Hou and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya playing for Southern Ural
Cheliabinsk
Natalia Zhukova (wife of Alexander Grischuk) playing for T-Com Podgorica
