Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - 10:52
Organiser and Hotel Manager Franco Ostuni, tournament director Stuart Conquest, Miss Gibraltar 2018 Star Farrugia, Gibraltar’s Sport and Culture Minister Steven Linares and festival founder Brian Callaghan. Pic by David Llada.
Organiser and Hotel Manager Franco Ostuni, tournament director Stuart Conquest, Miss Gibraltar 2018 Star Farrugia, Gibraltar’s Sport and Culture Minister Steven Linares and festival founder Brian Callaghan. Pic by David Llada.

The Gibraltar International Chess Festival opened yesterday with an “extremely hectic” day. There was the arrival, registration and catching up with old friends and making new. But most importantly everyone wanted to know who they were playing in the opening round and so the first of the pairings on Monday night were drawn – with the help of last year’s winner Levon Aronian and Miss Gibraltar 2018 Star Farrugia– determining who would play the top seed in this year’s tournament. 

The official opening was carried out by Gibraltar’s Sport, Culture and Youth Minister Steven Linares who gave his government’s full support to the event. The Government, he told all those present, thought very highly of this tournament.

“This is why we invest in this tournament and we are now its biggest sponsor and will continue for many years to come. The value of this tournament to us is immense,” he said.

Everyone in Gibraltar he added was proud to be celebrating 17 years of chess on the Rock.

“This is the best open tournament in the world. For little Gibraltar where we only have 32, 0000 people we are very, very proud of this tournament.”

23-01-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR