SAT & Company JSC continues its active participation in the most significant events taking place in the sports field of our republic. This time, the company's goodwill was turned to the most intelligent sport - chess. SAT & Company JSC was the general sponsor of the FIDE 2012 World Rapid and Blitz World Championships.

By decision of the leadership of FIDE and in agreement with the Chess Federation of Kazakhstan, the World Championship of Rapid Chess (Rapid) and Blitz Chess this year was held in Astana. The championship was held in two categories from July 1 to July 11, and was timed to the celebration of the Day of the capital. On July 5, the opening ceremony of the 2012 FIDE Championship was visited by the Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev and the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, as the host of the tournament they were met by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov - the permanent head of FIDE.

World-famous chess players Vladimir Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen, Boris Gelfand, Veselin Topalov, Peter Svidler, Vasily Ivanchuk, Sergey Karjakin, Teymur Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura were among the participants of the tournament. Our country was represented by international grandmasters Murtas Kazhgaleev, Anuar Ismagambetov, Pavel Kotsur, Rinat Dzhumabaev.

About 200 grandmasters from around the world took part in the qualifying competitions, which began on July 6, 16 of the strongest of them fought in the final battles. The list of participants unequivocally assumed a tough competition, and gave the audience unforgettable impressions. There was also general interest in the fact that Rapid competitions were held for the first time in FIDE history!

The total prize fund of the competition also corresponded to the international level and amounted to 400 thousand US dollars.

Of course, it is a pity that our compatriots had to be content with only participating in the final, but such experience at the international level, with the participation of well-known grandmasters, should give impetus to Kazakhstani chess players in further improving the strategy and tactics of the “mind game”.

As the Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev noted at the opening of the tournament:

- Today, the world does not stand still. Fast chess forces a person to think quickly, make decisions quickly, and thereby help people in life. When chess is taught in school, the performance of children increases several times. We are going to build a Palace and create a chess academy so that our young people can join this intellectual game. Our country is not deprived of chess celebrities, we have our own champions. Kazakhstan won the Asian tournaments, only in the last two years, young chess players of our country have won 18 medals.

It has become a tradition for SAT & Company JSC to assist in holding significant events in popular game sports and martial arts. Now, the company's charity has manifested itself in a special sports field, where the keen interest and enthusiasm of the fans is caused not only by live action, but by the results of a quick and subtle mind, accurate calculation, mathematical logic. The popularization of the chess game should go along with the propaganda of power sports, which, ultimately, will play an important role in the formation of the young Kazakhstani generation - they say in the company.