Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan will travel to Berlin on Friday, March 9 to attend the opening of the Candidates Tournament in the German Capital.

As a guest of honor at the 8-player double round-robin chess event, Sargsyan will make the first symbolic move.

Participating in the tournament are Levon Aronian of Armenia, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Wesley So (U.S.), Fabiano Caruana (U.S.), DIng Liren (China), Alexander Grischuk (Russia) and Sergey Karjakin (Russia).

The winner of the 8-player event will be the challenger of Magnus Carlsen at the World Chess Championship 2018.

Aronian will face Ding in round 1 of the tournament on March 10.