With the veteran players like Viswanathan Anand and Koneru Humpy alongside young promising talents such as Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh D, consistently performing on the global stage, India has emerged as one of the top chess nations in the world in the recent years.
Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur received the torch and handed it over to Grandmaster Deep Sengupta. The torch will travel next to Shimla.
The inaugural edition of the Chess Olympiad Torch Relay will visit 75 cities across the country as the All India Chess Federation (AICF) revealed the route map on Friday.
PM Modi will launch first-ever Chess Olympiad Torch Relay for the 44th edition of the event on Sunday at the Indira Gandhi International Stadium, Delhi.
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) introduced an Olympic-style Torch Relay tradition for its Olympiad from this year's event and named India as the starting flame point for each edition, commemorating the popularity of chess in the country where the sport originated.