Tamil Nadu gets ready to host 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram

The coastal town is gearing up to welcome over 2,000 chess players from 180 countries across the globe

The Tamil Nadu government and the All India Chess Federation on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding for hosting the 44th Chess Olympiad in the ancient coastal town of Mamallapuram near here from July 28 to August 10.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin here, a day after the government appointed 18 Working Committees headed by senior bureaucrats and Director General of Police Sylendra Babu to oversee the preparations for the world championship.

The committees include transport, sponsorship, hospitality, media and publicity, security, food, medical services, electricity, and organizing school chess events. Since this is the first time that India will be hosting the world championship, the Tamil Nadu government is pulling all stops to ensure that event is successful.

The ancient coastal town of Mamallapuram known for its magnificent architecture of the famed Pallava Kingdom will play host to the 44th Chess Olympiad from July 28 to August 10, after the international event was shifted out of Russia due to its offensive against Ukraine.

The coastal town, which had welcomed high-profile visitors in Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 2019 Indo-China informal summit, is gearing up to welcome over 2,000 chess players from 180 countries across the globe.

Over 2,600 rooms, mostly sea-facing, in luxury resorts that dot the scenic East Coast Road (ECR) connecting Chennai with Mamallapuram, have been booked for the Chess Olympiad.

The event will be held at Four Points by Sheraton – a sprawling and luxurious resort on the ECR just outside Mamallapuram – while players and delegates will stay at high-end hotels like Taj Fisherman’s Cove, Sheraton Grand, Radisson, and Intercontinental among others, sources told DH.

As the International Chess Federation (FIDE) removed Russia as the host for the 44th Chess Olympiad in February, the AICF approached several state governments including Tamil Nadu to find out whether they are interested in holding the prestigious tournament.

Mamallapuram is one of the top tourist destinations in Tamil Nadu attracting lakhs of foreign tourists every year. The magnificent Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance, one of the Group of Monuments declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, Krishna’s Butterball, and Five Rathas are major tourist attractions in the coastal town.