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Chess Olympiad: Moves
India made to play host
The mega event, a first for the country, will see
2,000-plus players from over 185 nations
VAIBHAV RAGHUNANDAN
New Delhi, 5 June
O
n the train back home after the
Nationals in Kanpur in February,
All India Chess Federation’s
(AICF’s) Bharat Singh Chauhan, satisfied
at the high quality competition he'd seen
the past few days, decided to take a punt.
The Nationals were proof that Indian chess
was world-class. Feeling particularly
upbeat, he sent the International Chess
Federation (FIDE) President Arkady
Dvorkovich a text saying India was open to
hosting international events in the future.
Dvorkovich’s reply caught him by sur-
prise. It simply read: “Chess Olympiad?”
Thrown off completely — because the
Olympiad was already scheduled to be held
in Moscow — Chauhan asked him what he
meant. Without committing much,
Dvorkovich said things were developing.
“The Olympiad is a hugely prestigious
event,” Chauhan says, sitting in his office
in Delhi. “There is a long line of countries
that bid for it and in its long history, it has
been awarded to Asia only twice before
(Dubai in 1986 and the Philippines in 1992).
It requires a lot of lobbying.” India, Chauhan
says was lining up a bid for the 2026 edition,
but “work for that was a while away”.
Within two days of that exchange, with
the Russia-Ukraine conflict already under
way, FIDE stripped Moscow of its hosting
rights. A day after that, Chauhan texted
Dvorkovich again. This time the message
was simple and clear: “India is ready.”
With the ball rolling fast and hard, the
AICF machine went into overdrive.
Organising, bidding for and being awarded
an international event is not just a matter
of administration but also financing and
logistics. The first thing AICF needed to do
was find someone to help them submit the
guarantee money — $10 million — to FIDE,
signalling their seriousness for the bid. It
helped that there weren’t too many others
so keen to apply for an event they’d have to
conduct in a matter of months.
“Obviously there were a lot of immediate
concerns,” says Chauhan, now the 44th
Chess Olympiad tournament director. “I
had put the money where my mouth was
(the Tamil Nadu government immediately
offered the federation the guarantee mon-
ey), but now the headache of logistics
PIECE BY PIECE

No of countries participating: 187

No of teams: 343 (189 in the
open; 154 in the women)

India teams: As hosts, India will,
for the first time, field four teams
— two in the open category and
two in the girls. It will be a
20-player-strong contingent.
Five-time world champion
Viswanathan Anand has been
named mentor

Venue: Mahabalipuram,
Tamil Nadu
began. First, where would we conduct it?
Did that city have the infrastructure to deal
with so many participants?”
A biennial event, the Chess Olympiad
began as a response to chess’ exclusion
from the Olympics in 1924. Despite the glob-
al sports extravaganza never embracing
chess into its programme since, the
Olympiad has only grown in size and
stature, rivalling, in pure participation num-
bers at least, the Olympics itself.
India, which will host the event in
Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu from July
28 to August 10, will see a record 343 teams
from 187 countries take part in the event.
“I can confidently say that India has
never hosted an event of this scale, with
over 2,000 competitors turning up from so
many countries,” Chauhan bullishly says.
With great numbers, though, comes
great responsibility. After being awarded
the event, the AICF narrowed its host venue
options to two cities: Delhi and
Mahabalipuram. Delhi, the headquarters
of the federation, had many advantages,
chief among them the ability to house this
volume of participants in a single area. But
Chennai and Mahabalipuram offered
something more.
“The Tamil Nadu government’s eager
support was a crucial factor in us selecting
it as a venue. And, of course, the state itself
has a vibrant chess culture,” Chauhan says.
The state and central ministries have
allocated approximately ~100 crore for the
event, where India will put out its largest
contingent — 20 players.
Arjun Erigaisi, part of the India A team
for the Olympiad, is one of 73 grandmasters
currently in India. He says the event will
shine a light on local talent and hopefully
some economic gains will follow. Erigaisi,
18, is the fourth-highest ranked Indian after
Viswanathan Anand, Vidit Gujrathi and
Harikrishna Pentala. Taking a one-week
break at his hometown Warangal, Erigaisi
says he’s excited: “Our performances over
the last two editions (India won gold and
bronze in the 2020 and 2021 online Chess
Olympiads, respectively) have meant there
will be renewed focus on us.”
Chauhan hopes an event of this stature
will further boost grassroots chess.
“Currently, AICF holds tournaments in
583 districts in the country. We hold tour-
naments starting from Under 7 — some-
thing no federation does — and go up to
the seniors.”
When MPL Sports signed a ~1-crore
deal for title sponsorship for the Nationals
with the federation in 2019, it was a huge
injection of funds into the sport. Prize
money at the Nationals spiked up and
more events were added to the calendar.
In addition, AICF decided that host states
could keep 75 per cent of entry fee collection
for themselves. A successful Olympiad will
lead to more money flowing in.
But not all is rosy. On Thursday, the
Division Bench of the Delhi High Court
stayed Chauhan’s election as secretary till
its next hearing, owing to his inability to
secure the required number of votes (two-
third majority) in the AICF elections held
on January 4, 2021. Chauhan’s role as tour-
nament director of the Olympiad is report-
edly not under threat.
In the meantime, preparations for
India’s biggest foray into international chess
continue. Players, organisers and sponsors
all are rushing to put together an event that
takes years of planning, in a few months.
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