Mamallapuram, Jul 30 (Chess News) India's ability to put together an event of the magnitude of the Chess Olympiad in as little as four months has left a top official of the Hungary Chess Federation in awe.
Secretary general of the Hungarian Chess Federation, Robert Kapas says he and his team are at the ongoing 44th Chess Olympiad to learn how to go about organising the sport's showpiece event as Budapest will be hosting the next edition in two years' time.
Chennai was allotted the hosting rights of the Olympiad in March after the event was moved out of Russia following its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
The All India Chess Federation swung into action quickly and with support of the Tamil Nadu government got down to work to organise the Olympiad, which is featuring a record number of teams in the Open (188) and women's (162) sections.
"We will organise the next Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, in 2024. We are here for an observer programme. We are here to see how to organise an Olympiad," said Kapas, who is here as part of an observer programme.
The capital city of Hungary will be hosting the 45th chess Olympiad in 2024.
"We have learned some things so far. Altogether, it is beautiful. It is good that the whole of Chennai and its neighbourhood are a part of the Olympiad," Kapas said.
"The last man on the street knows that the Olympiad is happening here. We are also happy to see the enthusiasm that surrounds chess here." The Hungarian official said they were trying to learn how the logistics of such a large-scale event is being managed by the organisers here.
"Yeah…The accreditation process, the placement of the tents, the venue and the hotels, transfers from and to the hotels, organising the buses and cars, everything. The online process, like registration, Safety and cloak rooms, bascialy we are in the middle of the process," he said.
"We are also talking to FIDE (world chess body) officials about the medical stuff, how they take care of safety and how they do the pairings for the Olympiad." Kapas said he and his team were looking forward to interacting with the Indian chess federation officials in the days to come.
"We had a few moments with the All India Chess Federation officials. They are busy now. We will talk more in the coming days," he added.
Talking about the chess scene back in Hungary, Kapas said the situation currrently is not very rosy but he was optimistic that things will improve before the country hosts the next Olympiad.
"Actually, we have a big history in chess. We have had some big names like Judit Polgar. Right now, we are not at the top. Our Open team is not ranked too high, but we will do our best. We have big chances with the women's team. They are 12th (seeds), but I think they will do better than that.
"We don't have (Vishy) Anand (laughs). Judit Polgar can be the face of the Olympiad. We will be happy to see her do that.
"We have young talents, so who knows what will happen in two years. We have a 15-year old girl (Zsoka Gaal), who is very talented. She is here. Maybe she can be the best player for us in the 2024 Olympiad, we don't know."
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News Source : PTI
