^[1]

The Opening Ceremony of the 7^th Ugra Governor’s Chess Cup took place on Wednesday, 30 August in Khanty Mansiysk.

The prize fund of the tournament is 1.5 million rubles. The Governor’s Cup is also a stage of the Russian Cup.

The FIDE and Ugra government representatives and the leadership of the Ugra Chess Federation took part in the Opening Ceremony of the tournament. They welcomed the guests and participants and wished good luck, beautiful and interesting games.

«The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov declared at the World Cup Opening Ceremony that Ugra is a chess Mecca and this is true indeed. The World Cup is still on the way and we are opening another Governor’s tournament which is a stage of the Russian Cup. It is pleasant that the tournament is well known by all the fans of this ancient game and attracts the chess players from other countries,» — noted the Chairman of Ugra Duma Boris Khohryakov.

^[2]

After the Opening Ceremony the Ugra Department of the physical culture and sports Director Evgeny Redkin mentioned that recently he also took part in one chess tournament. «I was representing the Sport Committee at the tournament for the Governmental Authorities. I won one out of four games! Chess is a universal game, you can play it at any season of a year. You cannot do it with biathlon, for instance, though it also occupies a leading place in the sport life of the Okrug. I think this is why 16 000 Ugra people study and play chess on a regular basis,» — added the Olympic Biathlon Champion 1992.

Let us remind you that more than 150 chess players including 40 Grandmasters from 9 countries of the world will fight for the main trophy of the Ugra Government in the 7^th edition of this tournament. Among the participants nine chess players who could not manage to qualify to the 2^nd round of the World Cup but intended to stay in the hospitable Ugra land for longer, also take part in the Cup. This time players’ composition is the strongest in the history of the tournament.

^[3]