World Chess Championship: Delhi, Chennai submit competing bids

 Jun 01, 2024 10:10 PM IST

All India Chess Federation and TN government are both in the fray to host the D Gukesh-Ding Liren match. Singapore is in the race too

The World Chess Championship is at least six months away but there’s already a mini-match unfolding in India over who gets to host it. The Tamil Nadu government and All India Chess Federation (AICF) have submitted separate bids to the world chess body, Fide, two days apart pitching Chennai and Delhi respectively as venues.

AICF originally planned to name ‘Yashobhoomi’ in Dwarka, Delhi as the prospective venue in its bid, it has been revised to Bharat Mandapam, venue of the G20 summit in 2023, located in the sprawling Pragati Maidan complex in New Delhi.

“Yes, AICF has bid for the World Championship,” its president Nitin Narang told HT. On Tamil Nadu government sending in a competing bid, he said: “We are the only federation who have got the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the union government for the bid.” According to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ policy, its approval is to be sought before bidding for any international event.

Fide said it has received a bid from Singapore as well. “One of the criteria in favour of Singapore is that it’s a neutral venue,” Fide CEO Emil Sutovsky told Chessbase India. The world chess body is expected to decide on the host this month.

On the competing bids from India, Sutovsky said: “It’s a bit of an internal clash. Fide for one would welcome the competition because it’s good that two major Indian cities want to host the event. We have to be very sensitive so as to not offend anyone and create any extra internal tension within India. Even if we split the match between two venues, still one of the three bidders will be disappointed.”

Interest for the match – between China’s reigning world champion Ding Liren and Indian teen phenom D Gukesh – later this year is running high in the country and has now led to a situation where Gukesh’s home state Tamil Nadu put in a bid independent of the national federation on May 29. AICF sent in its bid on May 31, the final day of submission.