Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The logo for the 42nd World Chess Olympiad 2016 to be held in Baku was revealed in the capital recently.

The tournament, scheduled for next September, will host about 2,000 chess masters from 175 countries.

The logo depicts the Baku Crystal Hall, which will be the venue for the Chess Olympiad.

The Chess Federation of Azerbaijan came up with an offer to host the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Baku back in July. The other two proposals by Albena, Bulgaria and Tallinn, Estonia were not presented before the voting period and were not approved.

Chess Federation Vice President Mahir Mammadov told Trend that about 3,000 guests are expected to come to the event. He expressed confidence that the 2016 Chess Olympiad will be held to the highest standards.

The Baku Crystal Hall, is an unusual building and from the outside it takes the shape of the so-called “Baku Crystal,” which is a crystal shining during the night.

The complex, which hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, has a capacity of 23,000 seats.

Meanwhile, the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup, an integral part of the 2014-2016 World Championship Cycle, came to an end in Baku on October 5.

The event hosted 128 of the world’s best players, including five former world champions. Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin won the competition, earning $120,000.

Earlier in September, the First European Deaf Chess Championships for National Deaf Chess Teams was also held in the country’s capital.

Baku will pass on the Olympic baton to Batumi in 2018.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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