Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the historic torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi yesterday. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the torch to the Prime Minister, who in turn handed it to Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand.
The torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days. At every city, the chess grandmasters of the state will receive the torch. It will then reach Mahabalipuram near Chennai where the Olympiad will be held.
This is the first time that FIDE has instituted the Chess Olympiad Torch. It is part of Olympic tradition but was not done so far in the Chess Olympiad. The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held in Chennai from July 28 to August 10, 2022. It has been organised since 1927 and is being hosted in India for the first time. There are 189 countries who will be taking part in this Olympiad.
