Welcoming the 39th. Chess Olympiad

The President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev welcomed the participants of the 39th World Chess Olympiad

The 39th World Chess Olympiad will be opened today in Khanty-Mansiysk. The President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev welcomed the participants of this event. The welcoming speech of the Russian President will be broadcast tonight at the Opening Ceremony.
“Today Khanty-Mansiysk is hosting the representatives of 160 states. The leading world chess players are to perform their professionalism and strong character in the tense competition to be the best. FIDE delegates representing each national chess federation will get together to discuss their burning issues and to elect FIDE leadership for the next 4 coming years. Hosting of such an important sport event once again proves the high reputation of the Russian national chess school.     
I am confident that the outcome of the 39^th Chess Olympiad and the 81^st FIDE Congress will contribute to the popularization of chess in the world and further development of sport alliances as an important part of international cooperation. Let me wish all of you success and all the best’”- says the message of the Russian President.
Let us remind you that this World Olympiad will be a record-breaking one in terms of participants as well the equal number of men and women players in each team. There will be 160 men and 120 women teams.
The favorite of the tournament is the Russian team with its leader Ex World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. The spirit and the results of their games will depend much on the performance of the leader. At the 38^th Chess Olympiad in Dresden Kramnik showed strong result “+1” and in 2006 in Torino he brilliantly defeated his opponents at the 1^st board.”We stake everything on the victory”, - declared Kramnik.

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