A signature campaign vehicle to collect signatures in connection with the World Chess Championship was flagged off from the Nehru stadium recently. The All India Chess Federation (AICF), along with the Tamil Nadu Government has launched this campaign to wish Vishwanathan Anand for the FIDE World Championship Chess match scheduled to take place here in November. Magnus Carlsen is the challenger of the reigning World Champion, Anand.
The Tamil Nadu Government, AICF and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) are also hoping to create awareness about the forthcoming championship and encourage children to play chess through this signature campaign. “This is a good start for the championship and people will be more interested in chess as the trend picks up,” said Hariharan, AICF Secretary. “This is a unique way to create awareness — something very wonderful that starts from the land to which Vishwanathan Anand belongs,” added Bharath Singh Chauhan, CEO, AICF. Members from AICF, chess and sports enthusiasts signed on the canvas as a mark of support to Anand.
The AICF has planned to organise several events in the run up to the Championship. An open house competition in which citizens of Chennai will have the opportunity to challenge Indian chess players will be held on Monday. This open competition, which is an interesting chance to interact with chess players, will take place at five different corporation parks. “This will certainly help galvanise people to pursue chess as a sport,” said D V Sundar, Vice–president of AICF.
Several chess competitions and training camps were organised for school children by AICF and SDAT in the past month. The FIDE World Chess Championship match between Vishwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen of Norway will take place from November 7 – 28.