Tromsø wants new Olympics
Refusing to be checkmated by its failure to get the Winter Olympics, Tromsø now wants to host the Chess Olympics in 2014. With the Norwegian world class chess player Magnus Carlsen taking part, this may lift local spirits.
Tromsø’s Mayor, the city and the Northern Norway as a whole, want to make use of the experience gained while trying to land the Winter Olympics.
“The sites which were to have been used during the Winter Olympics will be retained and kept available for new projects of a similar kind,” says Mayor Arild Hausberg to daily newspaper Aftenposten. The city is already working hard to get the Chess Olympics in 2014.
“We’re going to the Chess Olympics in Dresden in November in order to state our case. The decision will be made at the games in 2012 in Kanty Mansysk in Siberia,” says the mayor. He has already played host to Magnus Carlsen and his family, to show what Tromsø has to offer.
Twice as many countries take part in the Chess Olympics, as in the Winter Olympics. The game is particularly popular in Asia and Eastern Europe.
“We expect to need a budget of NOK 100 million (USD 18 million). We can manage 40 percent ourselves. As for the rest, we have to impose on the Ministry of Culture for economic guarantees from the government,” says Hausberg.
The Norwegian Chess Federation celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2014, which is one more reason for wanting to host the event.
The organisation which is working to get the Chess Olympics to Tromsø, has already hired a full-time employee to work on the project.
This may be a good move.
Aftenposten English Web Desk
That would be a nice place to have an Olympiad.