May 28, 2015 – FIDE Grand Prix

5-28-2015 FIDE Grand Prix Khanty-Mansiysk For the last two two weeks the chess world once again followed news from Khanty-Mansiysk. Today the concluding stage of the FIDE Grand Prix series was finished, naming the winners and those who qualifies for the Candidates Tournament.

The closing ceremony was attended by Ugra Governor Natalia Komarova and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

“The exciting and hard-fought tournament is over. More than 50,000 people from a dozen countries followed the games online. Modern technology broadens chess borders. It is especially pleasing for us that this year chess players made an unusual contribution for the land of Ugra, and planted the Alley of Champions”, said Natalia Komarova. She also invited all the Grand Prix participants to visit Ugra more often not only to play chess, but also to follow growth of their own trees. “Welcome to Ugra!” this slogan concluded her speech.

“Today we are closing the final stage of the Grand Prix. The fourth tournament of the series, which took in Ugra, was most tense, most uncompromising, and most unpredictable of all. For millions of chess fans Ugra is a land that popularizes and develops chess. It hosts the most prestigious chess events”, reminded Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, listing the milestones in Ugra chess history. He also noted that Magnus Carlsen’s road to the championship started ten years ago in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Chief Arbiter Boris Postovsky thanked the organizers for ideal conditions. He noted excellent play of the Ugra representative Dmitry Jakovenko, who won the tournament and finished third in the series.

Fabiano Caruana received the Grand Prix winner’s Cup from FIDE President and Ugra Governor. During the series he collected 370 points. Hikaru Nakamura finished second overall. Thus, these two players qualified for the Candidates Tournament.

SOURCE: khantymansiysk2015.fide.com