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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will be launching the historic torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad at 5 pm at Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi. The prime minister will also address the gathering on the occasion.
This year, for the very first time, the International Chess Body, FIDE, has instituted the Chess Olympiad Torch which is part of Olympic tradition but was never done in the Chess Olympiad. India will be the first-ever country to have the Chess Olympiad Torch Relay.
This tradition of Torch Relay for the Chess Olympiad will henceforth always begin in India and travel across all continents before reaching the host country, said an official release.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich will hand over the torch to Prime Minister, who in turn will hand it over to Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand.
"An event like Olympic Torch Relay always fascinated me in my youth and now we also have a one in chess. The most amazing thing is, that the event is going to start from India. Nothing could be better than that and I feel immensely proud about this fact," Anand said.
The torch relay will be held across 75 Indian cities before reaching its destination - Mahabalipuram on July 27, a day before the start of the event. Notably, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bhopal, Patna will be among the cities. At every location, chess grandmasters of the state will receive the torch.
The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held in Chennai from July 28 to August 10, 2022. It is also the first-time ever, a record number of 189 countries are going to participate at the Chess Olympiad 2022. The prestigious competition, which has been organised since 1927, is being hosted in India for the first time and in Asia after 30 years.