Jalandhar, Mar 15 (IANS): The Senior National Chess Championship will be held in Kanpur from April 13 to 20 and the first Punjab International Grandmasters (GMs) tournament would also be played this year in Jalandhar, the All India Chess Federation (AICF) announced on Sunday.

While making this announcement, AICF President Sanjay Kapoor also shared new initiatives and development programme for chess.

"We believe that fans need to see top players in action for chess to become a true phenomenon in the country and we aim to have the cream of the players for this tournament," he said.

To promote chess, Kapoor wants to take the sport especially to the states where it is not so popular.

"Our goal is to create close to 1,500 trained organisers in the country soon so that we can have multiple tournaments all through the year," he said.

To make the sport truly universal, Kapoor said that for the development of chess at the grassroots level, the AICF would be selecting and training at least three organisers in each district of India, starting next month.

The AICF President disclosed that under the 'Training for Trainers' programme, 14 Grandmasters and 14 International Masters are currently training 1,500 trainers.

"Our aim is to create employment for thousands of chess coaches, who will in turn teach and develop lakhs of players. We are looking at creating an intellectual force in modern India, the kind of which has never been seen before anywhere," he said.

As for Punjab, Kapoor revealed that the AICF was already in an advanced stage of talks with the Punjab government for implementing his ambitious 'Chess in School' programme in the state.

"We want every child in India to play chess for at least three to four years in their lives. Hundreds of chess teachers will be going to schools all over the country. We will also create the biggest digital platform so that lakhs can learn and play chess online," he said.