All participants of World U-16 Chess Olympiad came together in the opening ceremony  of the championship early in the morning. Delegations met in the city center and they started to walk to the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality with their national flags. This year, Turkish Chess Federation is organizing the olympiad with the contribution of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. After one moment of silence to show our respect to the memory of earthquake victims in Van and Kazakhstan, the Turkish National anthem played.  Deputy President of Turkish Chess Federation Mr. Tahsin Aktar made his speech after the national anthem. In his speech Aktar noted: First of all I would like to express my sincere condelences to all our people and Kazakhstan citizens."


Mayor of Municipality Mr. İbrahim Karaosmanoglu delivered his speech later on. After welcoming all participants, he noted: I would like to thank you to Turkish Chess Federation to make this event with us in Kocaeli."

There are 122 players from Turkey, Scotland, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Slovakia, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Iran, Kenya, Armenia, Czech Republic, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Moldova, England and Georgia.