The ceremonial opening of the match in honour of the 90th anniversary of the first soviet chess king Mikhail Botwinnik was held in the House of unions yesterday.

Two of his famous apprentices - Harry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik - will play 4 classic, 6 speed and 10 blitz games.

Chairman of the organizational committee, Russian president's representative in Central federal region Georgy Poltavchenko has read Vladimir Putin's address. Then the 13th and 14th world champions started draws ceremony and determined the pieces color for the first matches of the marathon. All the three parts of the supermatch Kramnik will play the white. The first one takes place today.