São Paulo Opening Ceremony and simul

São Paulo Opening Ceremony and simul

Report and pictures by Albert Silver

The opening ceremony to inaugurate the São Paulo stage of the grand slam masters took place today, to also be held in Bilbao for the second half. It also settled the drawing of lots and the player pairings, for which the São Paulo rounds have been published. On the day before, the players went to the CEU in Jaguaré where they played part of a simul (the opening move actually), but also met fans who were excited to meet the great champions. CEU, which means Unified Educational Center, is part of a city effort to provide its more than 50 thousand children, with extra curricular activities which include chess.

Simul at CEU Jaguaré

The world champion Vishy Anand and Sergey Karjakin joke before the event started

The time-honored group picture with dignitaries

Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, and Levon Aronian bide their time

The children were excited to play the champions

When they lacked paper they asked to have their t-shirts signed

Magnus Carlsen signs for the children

Fabiano Caruana makes the first move

Levon Aronian shakes hands with his young opponent

The players posing with the children afterwards

On his way to the van, Carlsen was caught up by some children for a last picture

The opening ceremony

The opening ceremony went smoothly and was open to the public

Karjakin, Aronian, and Carlsen

The mayor Gilberto Kassab greets the players and audience

The players patiently wait through the proceedings

Chief Arbiter Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk coordinated the drawing of lots

Magnus Carlsen tried to show the number but found it sealed in an envelope

Avid fans could not wait and snuck in a request to Magnus for an autograph. He was
gracious about it and duly signed their shirts.

Photos by Albert Silver and official site

Schedule and results

São Paulo partners

Links Official tournament site The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

Copyright ChessBase