India to bid for Chess Olympiad, start game's professional league

NEW DELHI: India will bid for the Chess Olympiad in 2026, announced All India Chess Federation's (AICF) newly- elected president Sanjay Kapoor, who also unveiled plans to commence a professional league later this year.

"We want India to become the chess destination for the world. We have drawn out a detailed plan to achieve this goal," Kapoor said at a press conference here on Sunday, immediately after the AICF's AGM.

"For a long time, we have been keen on starting the Indian Chess League with an international flavour to popularise the game even more. The first edition, following the franchise-model, will be organised before this year is through," he added.


Kapoor stated that the AGM has also decided to host the Women's Grand Prix, which is an important part of the world women's championship cycle, to give a huge boost to women players in the country.

"Not just that, we are also going to initiate an AICF-Chess in schools program to popularise chess at the school level. All our 33 state affiliates will be implementing this simultaneously. We want every school-going kid in India to play chess. This will help in developing smarter future generations, thanks to the life-skill benefits that come naturally from the game."

Among the other major decisions taken at the AGM included single window registration for all players, establishment of a Centre of Excellence and Organisation of a Super Tournament.

"The Super Tournament will see many top-level players in action. It will give our higher-ranked GMs an opportunity to compete with the best in business at home while also helping upcoming youngsters improve by watching them from close quarters," he explained.