London Grand Prix Opening Ceremony

Andrew Paulson, the Chief Executive and Founder of Agon, the company that has been awarded the commercial rights to the World Chess Championships, created a very different opening ceremony for the FIDE London Grand Prix, held last night.

The occasion took place in the beautiful neo-classical building Somerset House which is an arts and cultural centre, and home to London Fashion Week.

Instead of a longwinded ceremony, official protocol was kept to a minimum at what was described as an "opening party".

Andrew Paulsen welcomes FIDE President Kirsan Illyumzhinov

.

The players joined Andrew Paulsen, waiting for the drawing of lots

.

The players each chose a London Monopoly card to decide their place in the draw

.

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura of the USA makes his choice

.

The opening party in full swing with many special guests

.

Andrew Paulsen with actress Gillian Anderson and English Junior Joshua Altman

.

The players gave blitz demonstrations for the party guests (Michael Adams v Anish Giri)

.

Boris Gelfand (left) and Hikaru Nakamura

.

Leinier Dominguez Perez (left) versus Veselin Topalov

.

Wang Hao (left) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov

.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (right) faced Alexander Grischuk

.

Model and actress Lily Cole challenged Veselin Topalov!

.

The official poster for the London Grand Prix

.

The full line-up for the first Grand Prix in London is:

.

The tournament starts today. See our preview here.  Who is your pick to win?

All photos by Ray Morris-Hill.