Narva - the autumn capital

This autumn Narva was granted a special status - the autumn capital of Estonia, thus joining Tallinn, Pärnu -the summer capital, Otepää -the winter capital, and Türi - the spring capital, becoming the center of cultural and sports events for the season.

In addition to the festivities of the official handing over the scepter of the capitals, where Mayor of Tallinn, Edgar Savisaar was present, the delegations from all four capitals took part in the openings of the exhibitions of the Narva caricaturist V.Mokijevski and the Russian artist M. Chagall. The programme of the events that will take place in the autumn capital before the end of the term, which officially expires at 19:46 on 21 December, is full of various concerts, competitions in many different kinds of sport, theatrical performances, photography and arts exhibitions, and events for the youths.

Among the highlights of the events there was the international chess competition "The Stars of the Baltic Sea", held on 4-9 October at Narva Castle. The tournament, organized for the 4^th time already, attracted young chess-players from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Estonia. The honorary guest of the tournament, the grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, performed a simultaneous display game with the participants. Together with congratulations to the winning national team of Poland, Mayor of Narva, Tarmo Tammiste, emphasized that chess is one of those games where there are no losers. All participants have gained a lot of experience from the matches, mastered their strategies and more importantly, found new friends. This is particularly important in the times when the relationships between the neighboring countries are sour, and the chessboard becomes a nice place to settle the disputes peacefully.

Narva will certainly do its best to ensure that the following requirements listed on the official Autumn Capital Certificate are fulfilled: "Narva is obliged to receive guests at the highest possible level, make sure that the autumn storms are of moderate force, the migrating birds are seen off properly and all the people adopt a good mood".