Checkmated by apathy
Chess players in the City are suffering from the absence of facilities and indifferent treatment by officials during tournaments
A forthcoming chess tournament for women recently carried an announcement asking its players to bring their own chess sets for participation.
Shocking though it may seem, this has been the current trend in chess tournaments organised by private and government chess players’ associations. Chess players and people within the Hyderabad chess players fraternity vent their ire over such associations and say that this is not the first time a tournament of this kind is being undertaken.
Siddharth Rai, a FIDE rated chess player said, “There are so many things wrong with these tournaments. Their game format, venue, facilities for players, system of rating,everything is wrong from point one.
They charge hefty registration fees that can be anything from `300 to `500 and yet we are treated with such disrespect. Would a cricket player be asked to get his own set of stumps for a State level tournament?” he asks.
Prashant Narayan, chess enthusiast says, “The game needs to evolve in the City in terms of encouragement. These incidents tend to happen because it is not a sports person’s initiative but a business plan to make money. The fact that they are asking players to get their own chess sets is nonsensical and very demeaning towards the game and players.”
When Postnoon got in touch with Anand Naik, one of the organisers, he said, “ We generally ask players to get their own chess sets as we cannot estimate the number of players turning up for a tournament. We are ready to provide chess sets but we have no idea as to how many players will actually turn up.”
While the organisers fumbled on the accountability of the funds raised through registration fees and as to why they were unable to procure chess sets for players, the chess fraternity within the City continues to suffer at the hands of men trying to make money out of sports.
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