Berik Balgabaev (FIDE President's Advisor) and Kema Goryaeva (FIDE events manager) visited Khanty-Mansiysk for an official inspection to review the preparations for the World Chess Olympiad. The FIDE delegation paid visits to the hotels, airport and other infrastructures of the 44th Olympiad, that will be held in the Russian city during the first half of August 2020.

Afterwards, they held a meeting with the local authorities in charge of the event. On behalf of the local organizers, the meeting was attended by Yuri Yuzhakov (Deputy Governor of Ugra region), Sergey Artamonov (Director of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Ugra), Roman Genkel (General Director of the Ugra Development Fund), Valery Radchenko (Director of "UgraMegaSport") and Vasily Filipenko (President of the Ugra Chess Federation). In the meeting, all the main organizational aspects of the Olympiad were discussed – transportation, accommodation, communication, registration, flights to Khanty-Mansiysk and others.

During the Chess Olympiad 2020, the airport of Ugra capital will become the main transport hub of the region. Every day it will be served with 15-17 flights from Moscow, compared with the 2-3 daily direct flights that normally connect Khanty-Mansiysk with the Russian capital. This will ensure that the thousands of participants, arbiters and officials of the Olympiad will find suitable travel connections. To make the process smoother, it was decided to establish two arrival days in the schedule instead of one. The airport is the place where people get their first impression of a city, so the renovation process has already started there.

The new Sports Arena, which is planned to be built near the Tennis Center and the Exhibition Center "Ugra-Expo", will be a modern playing venue for the 44th Chess Olympiad. The construction works will start next week and it is scheduled to be completed by June 2020, with margin enough to add the final touches before the competition starts.

The accommodation of players and accompanying persons was another important topic of the meeting. Thousands of people will visit Khanty-Mansiysk for the Olympiad, and the organizers informed the FIDE representatives about the current number of hotel rooms that the city offers at the moment. "We are expecting approximately 3300 players, team members, arbiters and officials to come to Ugra for the event. The sporting infrastructure will be ready on time. Khanty-Mansiysk already hosted the Chess Olympiad in 2010 and the organizers proved to have the capabilities and experience to do this once again", – said the Director of Physical Culture and Sports Department of Ugra, Sergey Artamonov.

"FIDE has been closely cooperating with Ugra since 2005. All the events here were held at the highest organizational level, and I am sure everything will run smoothly this time as well", said Berik Balgabaev. "Some minor issues have already been solved, some will be fixed soon. FIDE notes with great satisfaction that the organizers have already fulfilled all their financial obligations to the International Chess Federation both in organizing the World Cup 2019 and the World Chess Olympiad 2020. I am sure that all other issues that have been raised today will be settled accordingly. The event is in good hands."