Not all the chess players managed to get on time into Sport Palace, where The European Blitz Championship started. The organization commitee changed the schedule a bit to make it easier for the players to fit the game. Instead of the first round the Opening ceremony was held. Amazing dances of belorusian performers gave the participants and the guests of the Championship a boost of energy and enthusiasm. Then the minister of sports and tourism gave a welcoming speech. Afterwards the president of the European Chess Union Zurab Azmaiparashvili followed. Thanks to his sparkling humor the Opening ceremony will remain in all viewers’ memory as a very hearwarming and memorable one.
 
The Opening ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Youth Sport Affairs of Armenia Gabriel Ghazarian,the Vice Minister of Sport of Georgia Shalva Gagaladze,the  head of the Ministry of Sport of Georgia Irakli Garabalidze and many other officials of relevant ministries and agencies.
The start of the European Blitz Championship was attended by 607 participants from 28 countries. Among them were 51 grandmasters.

According to the preliminary data more than 1, 5 million views of the online-broadcast was fixed only on the official site of the Championship. The peculiarity of the championship was the commentaries on the games of the brilliant grandmaster Sergey Shipov and the Ukrainian grandmaster Evgeniy Miroshnichenko. A great number of the viewers visited Sport Palace where they had the opportunity to enjoy  the rounds of simultaneous play with grandmasters as well as the variety of souveniers.

To the fans’ and participants’ joy Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Maksim Ruzhenkov, the First Vice-President, Assistant of the President of Belarus on physical education, sport and tourism, attended the playing area.

A few minutes ago the last round of the Championship finished.

The Final Results you can get here http://champ.openchess.by/ru/results/blitz/