The neighborhood-size development consists of a central, four-story domed City Chess Hall surrounded by an Olympic-style village of Californian-Mediterranean Revival Style architecture.
The site has a conference center, public swimming pool and a museum of Kalmyk Buddhist art.
Kalmykia is a poor republic of approximately 300,000 people located in the barren steppe regions in the southeastern corner of Europe.
[2] As a result, the construction of the opulent Chess City was greatly criticized for spending large sums of money on a tourist resort.
Additionally, the desert climate of the area puts many of the planned expansions for Chess City, like the water sports complex, under scrutiny.