An out-of-this-world memento has landed at Expo 2020 Dubai as Arkady Dvorkovich, president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), visited the venue of the next FIDE World Chess Championship.

The event will take place at Dubai Exhibition Centre later this year.

Dvorkovich met Omar Shehadeh, chief international participants officer at Expo 2020 Dubai, and revealed the first chess set to be taken into space, carried on the Soyuz 3 and Soyuz 4 capsules from 1968 to 1969, highlighting the game’s longstanding universal appeal.

The board was designed with pegs and grooves to keep the pieces in place in zero-gravity environments, and will be on display at Expo 2020, which runs from October 1st until the end of March next year.

The 2020 FIDE World Chess Championship, which was postponed from last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, will be held at Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo 2020 Dubai.

The championship will run from November 24th to December 16th, as part of Expo’s diverse calendar of events and activities.