Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: The first-ever Chess Olympiad Lantern Relay got to Mumbai on Saturday, where it obtained a grand reception at Wankhede Arena.
At the essential occasion kept in Mumbai, Grandmasters Pravin Thipsay, Abhijit Kunte, as well as Soumya Swaminathan were present in addition to authorities of the Department of Sports, State Chess Association, chess lovers and also budding players.
Resolving the occasion, Past master Abhijit Kunte shared his joy on India being the initial country where the lantern relay has started its journey.
” For the first time ever before, a lantern relay has been presented in Chess Olympiad; we are really happy that the torch relay has actually begun from India. There are lots of chess events being arranged in the nation,” said Abhijit Kunte in a declaration.
Working President, Maharashtra Chess Organization, Siddharth Mayur said that from now on, the Chess Olympiad Torch will start its trip from India whenever the Chess Olympiad is to be held anywhere around the globe.
Earlier on Saturday, the torch had gotten to Nagpur as well as Pune. It will next travel to Panaji, Goa.
Various other cities that have actually been covered up until now include Leh, Jammu, Srinagar, Dharamshala, Shimla, Chandigarh, Patiala, Amritsar, Panipat, Gurugram, Kurukshetra, Dehradun, Haridwar, Meerut, Kanpur, Kevadia, Ahmedabad, Dandi, Surat, Jaipur and also Daman.
The lantern relay was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The lantern will certainly take a trip to 75 cities for 40 days before it culminates at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. Over 200 countries are joining the Chess Olympiad. Chess grandmasters will receive the torch at various determined places.
This year, for the really first time, the International Chess Body, FIDE, instituted the Chess Olympiad Lantern which belongs to the Olympic tradition but was never ever performed in the Chess Olympiad. India is the first-ever nation to have the Chess Olympiad Torch Relay.
The 44th edition of the world’s biggest chess occasion will certainly be held in Mahabalipuram near Chennai from July 28 to August 10.
