Dear Visitor,

The Lékó &... rapid chess game has been hosted by the City of Miskolc for the sixth time with the greatest pleasure. This time, Péter Lékó's opponent is the several times World Champion Candidate, the last year's World Cup Winner Boris Gelfand of Israel. The prestigious duel will be fought as usual at the National Theatre of Miskolc that has special atmosphere increasing the ranking of the event.

Miskolc is the third biggest city in Hungary; the inhabitants are fond of culture and sports very much here. In the last few years great athletes form Europe and all over the world met here and tried a fall with each other for example in ice-hockey, handball, basketball, karate, boxing, speedway etc. Two of our frequented events have become traditional, namely the Bartók+ International Opera Festival in summer and the more and more popular Kocsonya Festival in wintertime.

It is well-known that chess has also got serious traditions in Miskolc for there has been a several times national champion chess team and a number of players of international level originate from Miskolc or still live here. Furthermore, we proudly state that Peter Leko has opened his first chess school in our city. Peter Leko played in the last few years against such big names as Michael Adams, Anatoly Karpov, Magnus Carlsen, the absolute champion of chess Vladimir Kramnik or Viswanathan Anand.

I hope besides watching the exciting chess game you will have time to become familiar with the natural beauties of Miskolc, as well.
I wish all our guests and visitors a pleasant stay and a very good time in our City.

Sándor Káli
Mayor of Miskolc