On July 29, Head of Republic of Kalmykia, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov arrived on a working visit to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to participate in the opening ceremony of the 5th stage of Women's FIDE Grand Prix.
A press conference for Mongolian and foreign journalists was held today in Ulaanbaatar at the government residence "Ihtenger". During the press conference FIDE President noted that the 5th stage of Women's FIDE Grand Prix is one of the strongest and most representative women's international chess tournament in the history, which is attended by four former Women World Champions - Maia Chiburdanidze, Antoaneta Stefanova, Zhu Chen, Xu Yuhua, as well as the leaders of the world chess rankings - Indian chess player Humpy Koneru and Chinese Hou Yifan.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that holding of such a big tournament in Mongolia is an important step in the development and popularization of chess in Mongolia and the whole Asian region. He thanked the Mongolian People's Republic for an excellent organization of the tournament.
He noted that the ladies almost for the first time will play in the main state residence, and the solemn opening ceremony of the tournament will be held at the main square named after Sukhbaatar, at the monument to the great Genghis Khan.
Immediately after the press conference, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov took part in the ceremony of laying of the foundation stone for the Chess Academy complex in Ulan Bator. The decision to build a special Chess Academy in Ulan Bator was taken up at the prior meetings of FIDE President with the leaders of Mongolia. The ceremony was also attended by the Chairman of organizing committee of the tournament, Minister of Education, Culture and Science Yondon Otgonbayar, President of Mongolian Chess Federation Suuri Enkhtsag, FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong, FIDE Commercial Director Geoffrey Borg, leader of MPR faction in the Parlament Lunde Dzansan and participats of the tournament.
During the visit President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will meet with Mr. Damdiny Demberel, Speaker of Mongolia's State Great Hural, as well as with business representatives of Mongolia to discuss the issues of mutually beneficial commercial and economic ties between Mongolia and Kalmykia within the framework of Russian-Mongolian relations.

Official web site of the 5th stage of Women's FIDE Grand Prix. Please see the pictures from the Opening Ceremony.