European Chess Club Cup 2024 officially declared open
The 39th European Chess Club Cup and the 28th European Women’s Chess Club Cup were officially declared opened yesterday evening in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia.
The Opening ceremony of the event took place in the playing venue, with the attendance of ECU Vice Presidents Gunnar Bjornsson and Alojzije Jankovic, FIDE Deputy President Viswanathan Anand, the President of the Serbian Chess Federation Dragan Lazic, Director of Touristic Organisation of Vrnjacka Banja Ivan Trifunovic, ECU Tournament Director Petr Pisk and other distinguished guests. The ceremony started with the intonations of anthems of Republic of Serbia and European Chess Union.
Mr. Ivan Trifunovic, Director of Touristic Organisation of Vrnjacka Banja, addressed the players and guests and welcomed them to a municipality known as “Queen of Spa” and the Serbian capital of chess – Vrnjacka Banja.
The President of the Serbian Chess Federation, Mr. Dragan Lazic, emphasized that he is convinced that the players who are visiting Vrnjacka Banja for the first time will enjoy playing chess here. He wished good luck, well playing conditions and good quality games to all the players, and thanked the attendees for coming.
ECU Vice President Mr. Gunnar Bjornsson wished a successful tournament and good chess matches to the teams and officially declared the event opened.
The drawing of lots was performed by the Chief Arbiter of the event Laurent Freyd with the ECU Vice President Gunnar Bjornsson and FIDE Deputy President Viswanathan Anand, and determined that top seeded teams in both Open and Women’s section will play the first round with White pieces on the first boards.
The Technical conference took place in the venue after the closing ceremony, with the attendance of teams’ captains. The Chief Arbiter of the event Laurent Freyd, Deputy Chief Arbiter Shohreh Bayat, Anti Cheating Arbiter Ana Srebrnic, Secretary General of Serbian Chess Federation in front of the organising committee Nebojsa Baralic and Tournament Director Petr Pisk, informed the captains about the tournament rules and detailed information related to the championship.
The first round of the Championship starts tomorrow at 15:00 CET and the pairings can be found here. Live broadcast of the games can be followed through the ECU TV platform together with live video coverage with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska. Live video broadcast will also be available at the ECU YouTube channel.