PM Modi to inaugurate chess olympiad in Chennai

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be inaugurating the 44th Chess Olympiad taking place in Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu today. The tournament is being hosted in India for the first time and in Asia after 30 years. 

Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin and Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur and other delegates would be present during the opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium in Chennai. 

The competition would be conducted in Mamallapuram. The Olympiad is being held in India, after being moved out of Russia due to the ongoing war between them and Ukraine. 

As many as 188 entries in the Open and 162 entries in women's sections are being received for the competitions.  The Torch relay, after traversing 75 cities in the past 40 days will reach the venue before the official opening.

 
Modi said he was looking forward to being in the city for the inauguration of the event. "This is a special tournament and it is our honour that it is being held in India, that too in Tamil Nadu, which has a glorious association with chess," Modi tweeted.

The Tamil Nadu Government has pulled all the strings to promote the event. Cutouts of 'Thambi', the Olympiad mascota knight wearing traditional Tamil attire, are being installed at various places in the city and near the venue at Mamallapuram by the State Government and the All-India Chess Federation (AICF). 

Meanwhile, the Greater Chennai Police have made seven-tier security arrangements, with the deployment of 22,000 personnel, for the Prime Minister who would be in the state for two days. He is expected to reach Chennai by 4:45 pm. From the airport, he would be flying by a helicopter to the INS Adyar helipad and from there, he would go by a car to Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium to inaugurate the Olympiad. 

After the programme, he will travel to the Raj Bhavan where he will stay overnight before taking part in the 42nd convocation of Anna University on Friday. He would leave the city from Chennai International Airport after the function. 

Four additional commissioners, seven Joint commissioners/DIGs and  26 Deputy commissioners/Superintendents, would be among the personnel deployed for security. 

The Chennai police had prohibited flying objects like microlight aircraft, hot-air balloons, gas-filled balloons, small-sized powered aircraft and para-jumping from aircraft in the city for two days under the provisions of section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.