Chess Grand Prix launched in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne

The event has been launched on the evening of March 1st in the premises of the prestigious Olympic Museum, on the shore of the Geneva Lake. This same location had already hosted the FIDE Knockout World Championship Final 1998 between Anatoly Karpov and Viswanathan Anand.
The opening ceremony was attended by some prestigious guests, such as Lausanne Mayor Grégoire Junod, or Andrew Hoffer of the International Olympic Committee. In his speech, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich expressed his gratitude to the Olympic Museum and stressed the importance of presenting chess in world-famous places such as this one. Barely a year after settling into Lausanne, the International Chess Federation stages one of its major events in the Olympic Capital. The President of the Swiss Chess Federation Peter Wyss stated that the Women Grand Prix was a worthy addition to the long list of historic chess tournaments held in the country.

Lausanne is the third of the four-event Grand Prix Series. The leader of the race, Indian grandmaster Humpy Koneru, has a rest during the Swiss leg. This will certainly allow her nearest pursuers to close in and position themselves advantageously before the final event in Sardinia in May. At stake are two qualifying places for the Candidates Tournament. Out of contention for qualification are of course reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, who appear in Lausanne as the two clear favorites.

The first round starts on March 2 at 3 pm at the Mövenpick Hotel. Pairings areAleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) - Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus)Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) - Nana Dzagnidze (Geo)Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz) - Ju Wenjun (Chn)
Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul) - Marie Sebag (Fra)
Harika Dronavalli (Ind) - Pia Cramling (Swe)
Anna Muzychuk (Ukr) - Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr)

All the action can be followed live with commentary by grandmasters Mikhail Gurevich and Keti Tsatsalashvili on the tournament website http://wgp2019.fide.com. Pictures in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.

Contact:
Press officer: Yannick Pelletier
+35 2691760922
press@fide.co