Participants at the Qatargas Chess Tournament are seen planning their next moves during the three-day events held at Al Mirqab Mall in Doha.
Doha: The increasing number of participants at this week’s Qatargas chess tournaments indicate the growing popularity of the sport, an official of sponsors said yesterday.
Qatargas joined hands with Qatar Chess Federation (QCF) to stage two events over the weekend at Al Mirqab Mall - the U-16 and Open tournament from Mar 21 to 23.
“It was a very successful event. It was the sixth edition since we launched tournament with Qatar Chess Federation in 2014. You can see from the increasing number of participants every year that this tournament is very popular in the country,” Hamad Ali Al Awai, Acting PR Manager, Qatargas, said yesterday.
“We associated ourselves with this sport because we believe strongly in our social responsibility programs at Qatargas. We want to engage young people through sports and aligning ourselves with Qatar Chess Federation, we are able to do that,” he added.
“Every year we assess which are the sports events we would like to be part with and chess is one of those sports. I have to say we would not have achieved success without the help and assistance of Qatar Chess Federation.
“The federation helps us reach our goals and we are happy with our association with them,” he said.
“This year’s edition saw all emotions you see at every event of ours. The winners were happy and the ones who could not do well are now aiming to do better next time,” Hamad said.
The Qatargas official lauded the idea of staging the event at Al Mirqab Mall.
“It was a good idea to stage this year’s event at Al Mirqab Mall. The visibility factor convinced us to back the event being staged at Al Mirqab Mall,” Hamad said.
“It is easy to get registered and then participate in the tournament. We saw that at the event this week. I am satisfied how the event was conducted and held at Al Mirqab Mall.
“You can see how popular chess has become,” he added.
