The Hindu : Sport / Chess : CPAI on the warpath

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Wednesday, Jan 12, 2005

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Sport - Chess

CPAI on the warpath

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 11. It was meant to be a press conference by Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua. But the presence of several other International Masters, some of them not only vocal but also very articulate, lent credence to the pleas of the Chess Players' Association of India (CPAI) that is seeking support from all quarters to "discipline" the All India Chess Federation (AICF).

Barua, in the presence of International Masters P. Konguvel, V. Saranavan, Varughese Koshy, Shekhar Sahu, Vishal Sareen, Saptarshi Roy Choudhury and Anup Deshmukh, addressed the mediapersons and highlighted the players' plight.

Entry fees

Speaking as the CPAI president, Barua raised the issues of "unjust" entry fees charged by the federation, the recent "injustice" to Woman Grandmaster Nisha Mohota when it came to selecting the Indian players for the Asian women championship in Beirut and the refusal of the AICF to reimburse the 10 per cent it deducted from players' winnings between June 1 and December 31, 2004.

After the failure of talks with the AICF (at Pune in September and here on Sunday), the players decided to air their grievances to the mediapersons here.

Nisha's case

If Barua chose to highlight Nisha's case by saying the AICF had victimised her, Konguvel spoke about the unethical practice of deducting 10 per cent from the players' prize money. Sahu pointed out that the AICF spent a very large percentage on administrative expenditure and paid its secretary nearly Rs. 80,000 per month under three different heads. Later, a copy of AICF's audited accounts was circulated to the media to substantiate the claim.

The players plan to meet AICF president N. Srinivasan and apprise him of their problems.

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