The Icelandic Chess Federation under the auspices of the European Chess Union organizes the European Team Chess Championship which will be held from November 12th (day of arrival) until November 22nd 2015 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The 2015 ETCC is held in Reykjavík’s Laugardalshöll sports-arena, the number one sports and exhibition centre in Reykjavik, which was the playing hall of the Match of Century in 1972, between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.
The Government of Iceland Iceland has decided to provide the Icelandic Chess Federation with funding in the amount of 25m ISK (€170k), to cover the cost of hosting the European Team Chess Championship.
The ICF set its sights on hosting the event back in 2012, when plans were first introduced to the government, which granted 2m ISK for the application effort and provided a promise of further support in the amount of up to 20-25 million ISK in the year the tournament was to be held.
Since the tournament has been given the go-ahead and will take place in Iceland in November of this year, the government approved its aforementioned grant to the ICF.
It is worth celebrating that this big chess event is going to be held in Iceland and we hope that it will be a boost for the sport of chess in our country.
– Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
This is one of the largest events the Icelandic Chess Federation has ever organized and it will undoubtedly promote public interest in the sport, as well as encouraging our strongest chess players. Our role is to create a world class framework for the event, and this funding will make that possible. The Chess Federation is extremely grateful to the Government of Iceland for their support.
– Gunnar Björnsson, President of the Icelandic Chess Federation
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