On June 9 the opening ceremony of chess tournaments of XXVII Summer Universiade took place in Kazan with the presence of the first President of Tatarstan, FIDE Senior Adviser to FIDE President, Mintimer Shaimiev, and President of FISU, Claude-Louis Gallien.



The chess tournaments are held in Kazan Equestrian Complex from July 9th to July 15th. Mintimer Shaimiev made the first symbolic move at Zhao Xue (CHN) - De Seroux Camille (SUI) board.
Chess debuted at the 2011 Summer Universaide in Shenzhen as an optional sport. This year the chess players from 46 countries participate in Universiade.
In his welcome speech Mintimer Shaimiev noted that “due to common efforts chess is a part of Universiade now and this is a good and wise decision. Children play chess from early ages, keep playing chess in school, achieve good results and student period is a chance for them to continue their career as chess players.” Calude-Louis Gallien said that he is pleased to be present at the chess tournaments as “chess is not a simple sport where sportsman has to train not only his body but also his brain”. FISU President thanked Mintimer Shaimiev for the development of world students sport as he is one of the founders of Universiade in Kazan. 

The opening ceremony was followed by the press conference where present were Mintimer Shaimiev, the first President of Tatarstan, Claude-Louis Gallien, FISU President, Gennady Zakharov, President of Chess Federation of Tatarstan, Alexander Tkachev, Director of chess tournaments at the 2013 Universiade, and Alisa Galliamova, outstanding Russian chess player and Olympic chess champion. 

Video from the opening ceremony http://www.tatar-inform.ru/news/2013/07/09/367301/

Visit the official website of 2013 Kazan Universiade http://kazan2013.ru/en/sports/10021 

Follow live games at the website of Chess Federation of Tatarstan http://www.tat-chess.ru/