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India to host Chess Olympiad in Chennai as FIDE pulls out of Russia due to war
The Tamil Nadu government said that it took tremendous effort and coordination to win the bid to host the World Chess Olympiad after FIDE decided to shift the venue from Moscow due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
CHENNAI: India has won the bid to host the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Chennai, which was originally scheduled to take place in Moscow, after the International Chess Federation (FIDE) decided to shift the venue due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. This was announced by the Tamil Nadu government and confirmed by FIDE late Tuesday night.
“After FIDE declared that it is pulling the FIDE Chess Olympiad 2022 out of Russia due to the ongoing war situation, the world scrambled to take up this opportunity to bid for the prestigious event,” said a statement from Tamil Nadu government. The state government said that it “took tremendous effort” and coordination on part of all the officers involved in the state government, the team at the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and the personal interest of chief minister M K Stalin.
“In a period of exactly 10 days, from the announcement by FIDE about it looking for new hosts, AICF co-ordinated with the government of Tamil Nadu to have various approvals within hours of it approaching the chief minister’s office with the request to bid as the host,” the statement said.
The tentative dates for the event are July 26 to August 8, 2022. “The FIDE Council meeting is still ongoing, and the exact dates are being discussed, but the event will take place at the end of July - beginning of August. Not very far off from the dates originally planned,” FIDE tweeted.
In the previous 43 times that the official FIDE Chess Olympiad has been organised since 1927, India has not once been able to be the host nation. We are delighted to have won the bid for the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2022 and will be working towards making it the best ever organised chess event, the state government said.
The previous major chess event to happen in Chennai was the 2013 match between Magnus Carlsen and Vishwanathan Anand where the former was crowned the World Champion.
“Chennai warmly welcomes all the Kings and Queens from around the world!” tweeted Stalin.
In this event, Chennai will host 2000 participants from over 200 countries to compete for the top prize. India being the host nation will also get an opportunity to send in multiple teams thereby increasing the probability to have a podium finish.
Last year, 24 of the 73 grandmasters (GMs) were from India including GM Praggnanandha, GM Gukesh, GM Adhiban, GM Srinath and GM Vishwanathan Anand.
