Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan proposed that the World Chess Federation design suitable cooperation forms to help the city boost the development of the sports, especially in schools.

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan (R) hosts President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (Source: sggp.org.vn)

The city’s leader said that chess is a sport strengthening people’s brainpower, which is suitable to Vietnamese people, while hosting President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is on a working visit to Vietnam, in the city on March 8.

Nhan said that 158 local primary and secondary schools in the city have set up their own chess clubs.

Every year, the municipal Department of Culture and Sports and the Department of Education and Training jointly hold various chess contests drawing about 1,000 students, he said, adding that the city has about 150 national-level chess players, including the world’s grandmaster Le Quang Liem.

For his part, the FIDE President spoke highly of chess development in Ho Chi Minh City, especially in schools, over the past 15 years.

In recent years, the FIDE has organized many world chess tournaments for children with the participation of many Vietnamese players.

Ilyumzhinov acknowledged that Ho Chi Minh City has been ready to host international chess tournaments, adding that the FIDE is willing to assist the city in developing the chess playing movement through supporting chess tournaments and training.

Currently, about 600 million people in the world are playing chess, he noted, adding that the FIDE is striving for 1 billion chess players by 2020.-VNA