Olympiad 2020 is a priority project for Ugra

On November 13, a Project Committee meeting under the chairmanship of the Ugra Governor Natalia Komarova was held in Khanty-Mansiysk. It was attended by representatives of municipal units of Ugra in the video conferencing mode.

By the decision of the Committee, the launch of a priority project for the organization and holding of the World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2020 was announced.

“The goal of the project is to increase the number of people systematically engaged in physical culture and sports by 2024 to 55% of the total population living in Ugra, increasing the competitiveness of the Ugra sports in the Russian and international sports arenas, increasing the competitiveness of the region as a host of the largest world sport events, as well as popularization of physical culture and sports among various segments of population,” said the director of the Department of physical culture and sports of Ugra Sergey Artamonov.

The significance of this project was emphasized by Natalia Komarova: “Ugra, as a region where the Russian and international chess tournaments are held on regular basis, has a lot of trust from FIDE, the Russian Chess Federation, and players themselves. I hope we all understand the importance of our status”.

The head of the region also focused on the fact that a new infrastructure would be made, first of all, for the people of Ugra, and will only be used for the Olympiad for the time it will be held.

It is to be reminded that the Chess Olympiad will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk in August 2020. The capital of Ugra will become the fourth city in the entire history of the Olympiad, which will host the largest chess forum on the planet twice. The first time Khanty-Mansiysk hosted the Tournament of Nations was in 2010.