We can organise even ten Olympiads now, says Bharat Singh Chauhan

The felicitation was for the medal-winners as well, but no one except B. Adhiban attended the event

The 2022 Chennai Chess Olympiad organising secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan at a felicitation function organised by the Rotary Club of Chennai Velachery on Saturday emphasised on the efficient conduct of the event here.

He said that no complaints regarding the food and the internet were received.

"We collected the menus of the past three Olympiads and we hired a retired chef from the Oberoi's (G.S. Talwar); believe me, we did not receive even a single complaint about the food! In most of the Olympiads, players will have complaints about the food and the internet."

He added that he tended to the internet connectivity only two days before the event and that it was eventually arranged for a budget of around ₹20 lakh from an initially proposed-to (by a pvt. company) budget of ₹1 crore.

He also said that the Tamil Nadu government provided excellent medical support with around 486 people tended to for various medical reasons during the event.

"Someone asked me if we'll be able to do the Olympiad. Yes, and not even one but ten Olympiads! When we can do it in four months, we can do many Olympiads. Pre-Olympiad, it was a very challenging thing, but now I think everything is possible."

He concluded by saying that there is work to be done at the grassroot level. "There are 766 districts and we have a presence in 643 districts. There is no reach in 123 districts; no chess players in those districts. So, I think there is a need to work at the grassroot level and on women's chess."