Chennai, the venue for the 44th chess Olympiad — the first-ever to be held in India, is 382- year-old city boasting of a very rich cultural heritage, historical and traditional places along with its robust modern medical and engineering amenities as well as educational institutes.
Chennai is one of the prominent economic and educational centre, seeped in tradition and culture, located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal and is the capital city of Tamil Nadu state. Chennai formerly known as ‘Madras” was ranked the 36th most visited city in the world for the year 2019.
Chennai with its intrinsic chess culture and players is referred to as the chess capital of India and is the home city of five- time World Champion Viswanathan Anand.
Chennai is well connected by road, rail, air and sea. It has an international airport and seaport. City transport comprises autorickshaws and buses. Tirupati, Kanchipuram and Pondicherry are the places which can be visited for a one-day trip. It has a Guindy wildlife sanctuary in the heart of the city and a Crocodile Park on the outskirts.
Mercer’s 21st annual Quality of Living survey 2019 ranks Chennai as Southern Asia’s safest city. Amongst the smart cities in India, Chennai is one of the most pocket friendly one. Chennai is ranked 93rd among most developed city according to GDP in the world.
A hot hub for tourists, the UNESCO World Heritage site Mahabalipuram about 57kms from Chennai, attracts maximum local as well as foreign tourists. Interestingly Chennai is also termed as India’s ‘Health City Capital’ attracting 45 % of health tourists visiting India. The oldest buildings in the city, the Kapaleeshwarar temple and the Parthsarthy temple can be traced almost to 7CE. The Pallavas, Cholas, Pandvas and the Vijaynagar Empire ruled here and later it was occupied by Portuguese and Britishers.
Chennai was added to the UNESCO creative Cities Network list for its rich musical tradition. Interestingly the oldest buildings in the city dates from the 7th and 8th centuries CE.
Chennai is known for its silk and cotton industry while Gold jewellery, silver and bronze artefacts is another thriving industry here. The popular breakfast ‘idly’ which has gained popularity world- wide is an intrinsic part of every Tamilian’s meal as are the rasams and sambars.
More than one third of India’s automobile industry is based in Chennai as is “Kollywood’ the film industry of TamilNadu, one of the biggest ones in India.
Chennai has a glorious sports culture as it is a host to ATP Tennis Tournament, Indian Premier League cricket, formula racing, football, field hockey, athletics and aquatics.
The huge momentum the Indian Chess fraternity needed came in 2013 when the city hosted the World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswathan Anand. The event was a huge success and has clearly resulted in India producing a huge list of new talents.
And now we are ready to host the biggest sporting event ever of our country!