On October 14, the Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Sisak Gabrielyan took part in Yerevan Open Chess International Tournament at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex.
The President of Yerevan Chess Federation Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, the Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Gayane Melkom-Melkomyan attended the solemn opening ceremony.
The President of Yerevan Chess Federation Mkhitar Hayrapetyan welcomed the participants of Yerevan Open International Tournament. “The Republic of Armenia, being one of the most important part of the chess international community and family, is glad to host you in the heart of Armenia,” Mkhitar Hayrapetyan noted.
According to the President of Yerevan Chess Federation, the 1st and the 2nd Tournaments of Yerevan Open were held in 2016 and 2017, the third one should take place in autumn of 2020, but conditioned by pandemic and the unleashed war because of the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression, it was postponed. “This is really a festive event for the chess players, who will have an opportunity to compete with the strongest ones,” he said.
The Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Sisak Gabrielyan highlighted the holding of similar events. He noted that it was a good opportunity also for the Committee not only to get familiarized with the problems existing in the given sports, but also to understand especially in what directions the financing should be targeted by the state, underlining that in the near future the allocations of the next year budget would be debated in parliament. According to him, the Tournament is also important for the athletes that arrived from 120 countries in terms of getting acquainted with our country and culture.
Yerevan Open Chess International Tournament is held for the third time. It is one of the biggest open tournaments ever held in the history of the third republic of Armenia. 311 chess players from 14 countries take part in the Tournament. 191 chess players are from Armenia, and 120 – from other countries, 22 out of them are international grandmasters, and 25 - international masters. The prize fund is 11 million AMD. This year the Tournament is comprised of two sub-groups.