With less than 24 hours to go for the World Championship match, the preparations are on in full swing at the Hyatt. Various teams are working in coordination round the clock to ensure everything goes without a hitch.
The model of beehives present at the hotel has a story to tell too. When the building was earlier caught up in litigation, construction was halted and there were huge beehives. The owners, seeing that, were inspired and had them incorporated into the design.
A buzz is present among the team as the D day approaches, one that they have been working for the past five months after the confirmation of the venue. One of the core members of the organising commitee, Vasudevan, likened organising the event to that of a ‘kumbh mela’ or conducting 50 marriages at one time, that is the enormity of the event. Apart from the World Championship final, there are other events going on simultaneously as part of the chess festival campaign. A number of tournaments are going on, the FIDE presidential board meeting is being held at the same venue, so that the members can have a first hand view of the final.
Vasudevan praised DV Sundar as the brains behind the whole operation that took just over five months to fructify. “Bharat Singh Cauhan, CEO, AICF, who had virtually relocated to Chennai over the past two months and Hariharan, secretary, AICF, formed the major support group.”
So how much manpower is required for this? “There are teams for publicity, accreditation and accommodation. Parallelly, there are a lot of logistical issues and manpower required because there are five-six tournaments going on. There are around 200 people who are dedicated to this. In fact 80% of the people are not making a living from chess but working on this due to their passion for the game,” said the organising committee member.
The ball room containing the playing area that will become the centre of attraction over the next few days wears a busy look already. The police are busy going over security arrangements. High tech cameras have been put into place to ensure proper surveillance.
Vasudevan added the technology dry runs and trials are going on for various types of media. “One is for the live telecast through DD Sports. The others are the live webcast being done by chessdom.com. Also, testing is being done for the live coverage for mobile through apps.”
When the opening move is made at 3pm on Saturday, one hopes all their efforts bear fruit.
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