Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister welcomed all the players and chess lovers from all over the world to India.

Polgar is considered the strongest female chess player of all time. She was speaking at the greet and meet session conducted by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) at the Chess Olympiad venue in Mamallapuram, Chennai.

Praggnanandhaa remained unbeaten and finished half a point ahead of Alexandr Predke, who ended up with 7.5 points.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 16 (ANI): A teaser video for the upcoming 44th edition of the Chess Olympiad, hosted in Tamil Nadu this year, has stoked a row with state BJP chief calling the ad "all show and substance" as it does not feature sporting the country's ace player Vishwanathan Anand.

A record-breaking 187 teams, the highest-ever for any Chess Olympiad, have registered for the showdown in India and in order to even out the number of entries, as per norm, FIDE approved a third team from the host country.

This year, India's contingent in the Chess Olympiad is the biggest so far.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were present at the opening of the Chess Olympiad Torch Relay.

FIDE announced that in this Olympic-style tradition, the Torch Relay will always begin from India--the land chess originated from, and then it will travel across all continents before reaching the host city.

Chennai Mar 24 PTI The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held in Chennai from July 28 to August 10 the games world governing body FIDE said The 44th Chess Olympiad which was moved out of Russia after it invaded Ukraine was awarded to Chennai recently making it the second major global event of the sport to be held in India after the World Championship match in 2013 The event is held over 11 rounds in both open and womens categories with likely participation of over 2000 players Several important decisions were taken including the one to award the Olympiad to Chennai during the FIDE Council held virtually recentlyThe Council decided to award the organisation of the 44th Chess Olympiad to the All India Chess Federation to be organised in Chennai within the period from July 28 opening ceremony till August 10 Departure FIDE said Also it was decided that the 94th FIDE Congress would be organised by the All India Chess Federation in Chennai from July 31 to August 9 and to approve August 7 as the date for FIDE elections FIDE also said it had decided to note strong preference to organise the Chess Olympiad for people with disabilities at the same dates as the 44th Chess Olympiad Also taking into account the current recommendations of the IOC FIDE decided to suspend the national teams of Russia and Belarus from participation in official FIDE tournaments until further notice In the individual tournaments of the FIDE World Championship cycle players from these countries will be allowed to participate under the FIDE flagFIDE also said it had chosen to postpone the Womens Candidates Tournament 2022 to the last quarter of 2022 and to continue consultations with players regarding the format of the tournament PTI SS ATK ATK