Chennai: PM inaugurated the 44th Chess Olympiad, 2022 in Chennai. It is the first ever chess Olympiad in India.
PM said that this is the most proud moment and the Olympiad has returned to its birth place. This is for the first time within three decades the competition is coming to Asia.
This time, it has reached to its place of origin and it is like coming back to home, said the PM.
PM said that the sports competitions have always been considered as divine and the place where it takes place has to be the most suitable. In Tamil Nadu there is a temple for ‘ Sathuranganathan’. Even Devas had played chess and the state has strong connections with it.
The Sathuranganathan temple is an ancient temple of lord Shiva at Thirupoovanur, near Needamangalam, in Tiruvarur. Sathuranga Vallabhanathar, the presiding deity of the temple was an expert in chess.
“There could not have been a better place to host the 44th Chess Olympiad than Tamil Nadu, which is India’s chess powerhouse”, PM tweeted.
PM added saying that “Sports unites us. Every sporting tournament gives the message that we are stronger and better together”.
The function, arranged in Jawaharlal Nehru Indore Stadium Chennai, was attended by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin and Union Minister Anurag Thakur.
The Indian chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will not compete this time but will join as an advisor to the contestants.
As Russia attacked Ukraine, the chess Olympiad venue had shifted from Russia to Asia and eventually selected Chennai and come to India
Comments