High-Level Virtual Event on World Chess Day

First-ever World Chess Day, helps calm nerves during COVID-19 pandemic.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Side Events
• Video Length: 01:32:37
• Production Date: 20 July 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: MELISSA FLEMING; MHER MARGARYAN
• Subject Topical: 2030 AGENDA; CORONAVIRUS DISEASE - COVID 19; EPIDEMICS; INTERNATIONAL DAYS; SPORTS; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
• MAMS Id: 2551556
• Parent Id: 2551537

Description

“Today is a day of celebration for an intellectual game that for centuries has managed to entertain, stimulate and sometimes even confound millions of us, the world over”, Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General of UN Global Communications said, at a virtual commemorative event.

“And as we celebrate, we remind ourselves of the special value that a game such as chess is bringing to so many people during this awful COVID-19 pandemic”, she added.
In her keynote address, the UN communications chief noted that the pandemic represents a physical, social and economic crisis – imposing restrictions on everyone and rendering sports that can be played online, or at a safe physical distance, more important than ever.
“They feed our lifelong sense of play…nurture our passion and enthusiasm… refresh our minds and bodies…distract us from troubles, and reduce our anxieties”, said Ms. Fleming.

“The UN is mainstreaming sport initiatives into its work towards development and peace, part of our wider efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030”, affirmed Ms. Fleming.
Moderating the event, Armenia’s UN Ambassador Mher Margaryan said that chess was an “essential part of Armenia’s culture, having earned our country, with a population of three million people, the title of Olympic and world champion”.
Arkady Dvorkovich, President of the International Federation of Chess (FIDE) noted that he looked forward to making chess “a tool to improve the world”.
Also taking part in the event, the fifteenth world chess champion, groundbreaking Indian grandmaster, Viswanathan Anand, reflected on the long history of chess as a masterful "game of strategy".
For further details please see SOURCE below.
UN NEWS