AICF to organise tourneys to popularise chess in run up to 44th Olympiad

Chennai: The All India Chess Federation (AICF) will be organising tournaments for school children across the country with an aim to promote the forthcoming 44th Chess Olympiad and also to popularise the sport.The AICF will be organising state-level tournaments for school children across India in the next couple of months to select 268 children who will get an opportunity to interact with international chess stars and watch the world's biggest chess event, scheduled to be held in Mahabalipuram near here from 28 July to 10 August.The initiative, a part of the Chess in Schools Project by AICF, will be conducted through the state associations and with the support of the government of Tamil Nadu.The national sports body will be spending Rs 86,00,000 in order 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 children 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.Tournament director of the 44th Chess Olympiad, Bharat Singh Chauhan, said: "We are trying to attract the younger generation to chess. Our aim is to get 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 themthis much needed exposure. We are spending about Rs 1 crore on this project."School children, registered with AICF for the year 2022-23 and below 15 years of age can take part in the tournaments.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, IPL Live Score, IPL 2022 schedule, IPL 2022 Points table and Entertainment News. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.