Baku presents World Chess Olympiad

Today, the organizers of the World Chess Olympiad in Baku held a media tour for the press. A tour for journalists was arranged in the 'Crystal Hall', a place where chess battles will begin on September 2.

Media representatives were able to see a conference room, press center and game room, which can receive up to 1600 spectators. At the moment, applications for accreditation were sent by more than 250 journalists. 100 of them represent foreign media, 1news.az reports.

Various chess tournaments will be organized during the Olympiad - for journalists, for volunteers and so on. Chess exhibition will be also opened in the 'Crystal Hall'.

42nd World Chess Olympiad will be held in Baku from September 1 to 14. The opening ceremony will begin at 18.00 MSK on September 1 in the National Gymnastics Arena. It will last an hour, the plot of the ceremony is associated with various aspects of chess traditions of Azerbaijan. The audience will also see elements of the country's national culture.

The Olympiad in Baku will be attended by 182 teams from 176 countries, 3,1 thousand players, judges, coaches and sports journalists, the director of the Operational Committee of the Baku Chess Olympiad Mahir Mammadov said.

"This is the highest number of participating countries in the history of this Olympiad. In addition to this event, we will organize a number of accompanying projects," he stressed.

Azerbaijan got the right to host the 42nd World Chess Olympiad in 2012. This decision was made by the International Chess Federation during the general assembly in Istanbul.