Change your life. Make your move. With Kasparov

Garry Kasparov  comes  to Bucharest to inaugurate the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2021 chess tournament, within the Grand Chess Tour™ 2021 

The tournament’s opening ceremony: a celebration of the educated mind and inspiration for young people to renew their resources, after the shock of the pandemic, through chess.

Accreditation of journalists for the event begins

The first stage of the Grand Chess Tour™ 2021 circuit – Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2021 – will take place in Bucharest, from June 5-14, 2021, and will be inaugurated on June 4, with an official ceremony dedicated to the educated mind and honored by the extraordinary participation of the greatest chess player of all time,  multiple world champion  Garry Kasparov.

The opening event aims to convey, especially to young people, but also to chess lovers and the general public, a message of confidence and renewal of one’s own strength, after the difficult experience of the pandemic, summarized in the slogan of the edition: “Change your life. Make your move. With Kasparov” . 

“Together with Garry Kasparov, we want to encourage the younger generation to discover chess as a sport of the mind and as a tool for education and self-education to face the most difficult moments that young people can face in their lives.  We want to inspire young people to look for successful role models who can help them make the right choices in life,” said Augusta Dragic, President of the Superbet Foundation, co-organizer of the opening ceremony and the tournament.

The opening ceremony will take place on June 4, starting at 1 p.m., at  Face Convention (Piața Presei Libere, 3-5, Bucharest) , and will consist of a press conference, followed by the first move, made by Garry Kasparov together with a special guest, player draw and a series of invitational events featuring the 10 chess players entered in the tournament and International Grandmaster Kasparov. The full agenda of the event will be communicated later.

The chess competition that will take place in Bucharest between June 5-14 is the first of five stages in the world circuit founded by Garry Kasparov,  Grand Chess Tour™ 2021 . The organizers are the Romanian Chess Federation, the Superbet Foundation and the Grand Chess Tour (GCT). 10 internationally recognized chess players will participate, including Romania’s best chess player, who was confirmed by (GCT) as a  wildcard . The registered chess players are:  Fabiano Caruana ; Levon Aronian ; Anish Giri ; Alexander Grischuk; Wesley So ; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ; Teimour Radjabov; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ; Richard Rapport, Constantin Lupulescu.

The competition will be classical chess, unlike the 2019 edition hosted by Romania, which was rapid and blitz chess. Chess players will play in a tournament system, that is, each against each other, and the winner will be decided based on the accumulated points. Prizes for the Bucharest stage amount to USD 325,000.

Hierarchy of players registered in the stage from Bucharest:

Public health information

The opening ceremony and the chess tournament will be held in compliance with health protection rules. Access will be based on proof of vaccination, proof of the presence of sar-cov-2 antibodies, or a negative result of a rapid test, done at the entrance. The spaces will be set up respecting the physical distance between the participants. The mask will be mandatory inside.

Event support

Main sponsor: Superbet

Sponsor: One United

Additional details:  Oana.Marinescu@omavision.ro ; chess@omavision.ro ; 0741278737