In Irkutsk, new chess clubs are planned in Novo-Lenino and in the future Palace of Arts, to make chess more accessible for residents of different districts. The current chess school can no longer handle the influx of people, and a larger venue for city tournaments is being sought, able to hold up to 200 people.
«By opening the city chess club, we took the first step,” said Irkutsk Mayor Viktor Kondrashov. “Now we can see that the decision was the right one, and the chess school is already unable to accommodate everyone who wants to attend. So we are ready to take the next step: chess clubs will appear in Novo-Lenino (in one of the buildings of the Lokomotiv sports complex) and in the new building of the future Palace of Arts (on Dekabrskikh Sobytiy Street). Thus, chess schools will be opened within transport access for virtually every resident of the city.”According to Dmitry Abramovich, head of the Department of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy, three options are being proposed for the placement of the Irkutsk City United Chess Federation in the building of the future Palace of Arts. Including the building where the banquet hall used to be: this space can accommodate up to 200 people at once, which is highly relevant for city chess tournaments, which now bring together more than 100 people in a space on Mayakovsky Street that is not suited for such a number of people. The leadership of the Irkutsk City United Chess Federation and the Department of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy will go to choose the premises next week.