"In recent years, such tournaments opened the chess year in Russia", Mr. Zhukov said.
He also said that the event promises to set a record in the number of competitors: 655 sportsmen from 54 countries have filed applications. Registration is still on and their number may increase, Mr. Zhukov said.
This Aeroflot Open will be held for the fourth time. Sportsmen having the FIDE rating and amateurs will participate.
More and more chess players take part in this tournament every year. In, for instance, 2004 it gathered 644 participants, including 166 grand masters, beating the Guinness record in the number of competitors.
In the opinion of world champion international grand master Anatoli Karpov, "the presence of grand masters and amateurs in one tournament is very important for the popularization of chess".
The tournament will be nine-round according to the Swiss scheme. Director of the competition Alexander Bakh has said that last year the Aeroflot Open prize money was 15,000 dollars, this year it is 175,000 dollars.
