The Opening Ceremony of the European Universities Mindsports Championship 2019 took place on July 24 in Budapest at the University of Physical Education, officially starting the sixth edition of these Championships.

The ceremony was attended by Mr Ádám Kiss, President of the Hungarian University Sports Federation (HUFS/MEFS); Mr Norbert Fogarasi, Board Member of the Hungarian Chess Federation; Mr Liviu Matac, European University Sports Association (EUSA) Auditor and Executive Committee member and Mr Zsombor Lacza, Vice-Rector of the University of Physical Education (TE). 



In his speech, Mr Kiss expressed that MEFS is very proud to host the event while emphasising that the Championship will trigger the expansion of both Chess and Bridge among university students.

Mr Fogarasi told participants that in addition to competing with each other, they should also enjoy the game and the atmosphere of the European Universities Championships. 

On behalf of EUSA, Mr Matac thanked all the organisers and volunteers for their time and effort they have put into making the Championships happen, before all in attendance witnessed the beautiful choreography of two local dancers.



Following the speeches, participants took an oath which was read out by Ms Klára Varga and Chess Competition Jury Mr Tamás Gyömbér.

The competition is organised by Hungarian University Sports Federation (HUSF/MEFS) and the University of Physical Education (TE). The Hungarian University Sports Federation has already organised a number of international events, including the European Universities Basketball Championships in 2017.

This year’s EUSA Mindsports Championship will take place from July 24-28 in Budapest.

EUSA is also represented at the competition by Technical Delegates Mr Harry Van de Peppel (Bridge) and Mr Oleksandr Sulypa (Chess), who will make sure that the event will run smoothly and without problems.

The Competition will host 138 participants from as many as 35 European universities from 19 different countries.



The title of European Universities Chess Champion in the rapid team category is defended by Ural State Mining University (men) and Minho University (women), whereas the individual blitz title is defended by Pavel Ponkratov (men) and Klaudia Kulon (women). The bridge title is currently defended by the University of Padova.

For more information about the event, please visit www.mindsports2019.eusa.eu.

For the latest results, please see www.results.eusa.eu.