A great tradition formed in which world-famous individuals, such as founders of organizations and world leaders, are allowed to make the first move in a chess competition for the world crown. As a rule, such invitations are accepted gratefully. Such an invitation was initiated for Henrikh Mkhitaryan to make the first move during the world champion challenge between Magnus Karlsen and Fabiano Caruana in London. However, the initiative failed. Head of the competition, Ashot Vardapetyan, explained the reasons for this to Aravot.
“The tradition to invite famous people has been spread a lot. That is a great honor to both the organizer and the invitee. Taking into consideration the fact that the competition was going to take place in London, I was able to negotiate with the organizer to invite Henrikh Mkhitaryan. We got in contact with his sister, Monika. The organizer presented all the conditions and problems to her. But in the end, it was unable to be carried out. Mkhitaryan was so busy with practices that he did not even have time to come for two hours to make the first move.”
Ashot Hakobyan
