Chennai: As part of holding the 44th Chess Olympiad in India, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) will hold state-level chess tournaments for school students across the country.
According to AICF, 268 school students will be selected out of these tournaments to witness the Chess Olympiad, to be held for the first time in India at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu from July 28 to August 10.
The initiative, a part of the Chess in Schools Project by the AICF, will be conducted through the state associations and with the support of the Tamil Nadu government, the AICF said.
The AICF will spend Rs 86 lakh to conduct the tournaments and create chess awareness among the school children and boost chess activities in the country ahead of the Chess Olympiad.
In total, 76 kids from 38 districts of Tamil Nadu and six players from each of the other 32 states/union territories affiliated to AICF will be travelling to Mahabalipuram to witness the Olympiad.
No entry fee will be collected from the players to participate in the tournaments. A travelling allowance will be provided to each student, in addition to free boarding and lodging for three days.
The AICF will be allocating Rs 100,000 for each district for the district-level tournament in Tamil Nadu while Rs 150,000 will be provided to each of the 32 states/UTs affiliated to the chess body.
“We are trying to attract the younger generation to chess. Our aim is to ensure the participation of at least 30,000 students in this project. For school children, access to travel and tickets for the Olympiad would be difficult and we want to provide them this much-needed exposure. We are spending about Rs 1 crore on this project,” said Bharat Singh Chauhan, Tournament Director and AICF Secretary.
School children registered with the AICF for the year 2022-23 and below 15 years of age will be taking part in the tournaments, which will be held for boys and girls for two days in each state.
Tamil Nadu being the host state has the privilege of organising district-level tournaments in all the districts separately.
The winners and runners-up of the state-level tournaments as well as the best boy and girl among the government schools will be selected, while from Tamil Nadu, the champions from each district will get to witness the Chess Olympiad.
(IANS)
