Welcoming of Máriusz Révész

Dear Chessfriend!

I was glad to take the patronage of III. Sárkány-Aranytíz and II. Budapest Open tournaments. In Budapest as well as in all around Hungary, we are lack of strong chess tournaments, and without these our young chess players do not have the sufficient training and support for international achievements either. I am even more glad, that this tournament will be the strongest GM tournament in 2012 in the country. I hope, that this event will get stronger year by year, creating a tradition, and will provide lots of young players the opportunity to start their chess career, at first in the Open tournament and after winning it, in the IM and GM tournaments.

The date of the tournament is in connection with the National Holiday of Hungarian State Foundation. Although our chess traditions are not thousand-year old, we know that in the culture-friendly Royal Court of King Matthias chessgame was played, as we also know, that in the time of Miklós Zrínyi, the game was so well-known and popular, that he even refers to it, in his big epical poetry, called 'Vitéz hadnagy'. If we consider chess not only as a way of relaxation or an art, but as a sport, Hungary has great traditions, too: in the 19th century, chess players of Pest have already beaten the players of Paris, and later at the turn of the century, Géza Maróczy was considered to be a possible challanger of the World Chess Champion. We can be proud of our multiple olympic-winner chess team; and we hope we will be given the joy, to be proud of our talented players in the future, as well!

The tournament is organized in a great collaboration. Budapest Mayor's cabinet Office, the Budapest Sport Union, the Council of Belváros-Lipótváros, V. district of Budapest, the Aranytíz Culture House, and the Budapest Chess Federation have all been united for a successful tournament. I hope, that this event will be enjoyable for the chess-loving citizens of Budapest as much as for our guests from abroad, who, i hope, will have the opportunity to see and admire the beauty, and the cultural values of Budapest. I wish all players and visitors an experience-rich time:

Máriusz Révész
President of Budapest Chess Federation