Opening Ceremony of FIDE World Chess Championship Match 2018
The official opening ceremony of the FIDE World Chess Championship Match 2018 was held on November 8th at a prestigious red-carpet event at the iconic Victoria & Albert Museum in London, UK.
Guests from all over the world, including Woody Harrelson, Hou Yifan, Judit Polgar descended onto London for the glittering evening, hosted by British television presenter, George Lamb. Entertainment included a modern contemporary dance between two men featuring the unity and struggle of two strong characters, like in the game of chess, and a breath-taking performance by the talented Stephen Ridley – a young charismatic pianist, composer and singer.
The highlight of the evening was the introduction of the competitors, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Fabiano Caruana of USA. The Chief Arbiter of the Match Stepahne Escafre conducted the ceremony of the drawing of lots. Magnus Carlsen will have the black pieces in the first game. The first move of the World Chess Championship match will be played on November 9th, at 3 pm local time.
President of FIDE, Arkady Dvorkovich, CEO of World Chess, Ilya Merenzon, as well as Vice President and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Chess Federation, CEO of PhosAgro, Andrey Guryev, Head of Global Partnerships and Sponsorships at Kaspersky Lab, Aldo del Bo, CEO of S.T. Dupont, Alain Crevet joined the players on the stage.
Taking place from 9-28 November, the world’s most esteemed chess tournament consists of a 12-game Match, avidly followed and analysed by a global audience of hundreds of millions of chess fans, which will see current World Chess Champion, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, defend his title against US challenger, Fabiano Carlsen. No player born in the United States has won or even competed for a World Championship since Bobby Fischer in 1972, so all eyes will be on the two players. Those following the games online will also be catered for; they will be able to watch the moves for free on worldchess.com/london, the official broadcasting platform. They can also sign up for a $20 premium account, giving fans access to multi-camera views, commentary, behind-the-scenes footage, the opportunity to ask questions during press conferences and more.
The last World Championship match, held in New York, in 2016, enjoyed record-breaking coverage with the total audience for the whole event topping 1.5 billion people.
Leading partners supporting the Championship Match 2018 include:
PhosAgro, a leading chemical company as the Official Strategic Partner
Kaspersky Lab as World Chess and FIDE’s Official Cybersecurity Partner
PRYTEK as Technology Transfer Partner
S.T. Dupont as Official Writing Instrument
Isklar as the official mineral water of the Championship Match
Unibet as the Official Betting Partner
Beluga as the Official VIP Partner