A spectacular venue awaits the Carlsen – Nepomniachtchi 2021 match. The Expo Dubai 2021 will be the host of the World Chess Championship and the venue setup is nothing less than fabulous.
With the slogan “Connecting minds, creating the future”, chess is the perfect promotional fit for the Dubai Expo. Originally it was scheduled to start 20 October 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates, the new dates are 1 October 2021 – 31 March 2022. Despite being postponed, organizers will keep the name Expo 2020 for marketing and branding purposes. It is the first time that a World Exposition has been postponed to a later date rather than cancelled.
The confirmation that the World Chess Championship 2021 is still a part of the event came this January 28th. In an article on the official website of the Dubai Expo, we read
The showdown between the game’s finest Grandmasters highlights Expo 2020’s diverse and inspiring events calendar. It will take place between 24 November and 16 December 2021 at Dubai Exhibition Centre, with the two players competing for a prize fund of EUR 2 million (AED 9 million).
Dubai Expo official website, Jan 28, 2021 (full article)
Dubai Expo does not miss the opportunity to point the connection between the growing chess popularity and the Netflix movie “Queen’s Gambit”. And rightly so, this is the first time that the World Chess Championship has the chance to beat its reach record set in 2013 (more on this record at a special article on Chessdom later this month)
It is estimated to be played by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, including more than 30 million children engaged in chess school programmes around the world. Its popularity reportedly surged as chess became a favourite pastime during the global lockdowns, also fuelled by the success of the chess-themed Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit.
Dubai Expo official website, Jan 28, 2021
All this is a real chance for chess to position itself as the popular and trendy world sport that it inspires to be. And here is the venue that awaits it.
Beautiful, isn’t it? And most importantly, global. There will be more than 200 participants including nations, multilateral organizations, businesses and educational institutions. To date, more than 190 nations from across the world have confirmed their participation at Expo 2020.
