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.
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 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
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LinksThe 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. |
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