The Hindu : Sport / Chess : National ‘A’ postponed

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Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Sport - Chess

National ‘A’ postponed

Arvind Aaron

Chennai: The 45th National chess Championship, which was supposed to have started on Tuesday in a college south of Chennai, was postponed by the All India Chess Federation after players objected to the accommodation offered by the organisers.

The Tamil Nadu State Chess Association tried to save the event by offering each of the 44 players Rs.5,000 (total Rs. 2,20,000) and find their own lodging or commute from Chennai and offered free transport.

The players led by IM P. Konguvel of Chennai and IM Sriram Jha of Delhi went looking for hotels and found one on the East Coast Road and asked the organisers for Rs. 5.30 lakh (Rs. 12,045 per player). As this was not in the budget, the event could not be saved.

“I have to postpone this event and new dates will be announced on September 16 in the AICF meeting though the calendar is tight to find dates,” said D.V. Sundar, Secretary of the AICF, after hearing the players on one side and the organisers and TNSCA on the other.

“This was first time I have been to a tournament which got cancelled,” said three-time champion Grand Master Dibyendu Barua. “When lodging was the issue at both previous National As’ at Kurushetra and Pondicherry (1991), I did not play.”

Remote location

Barua said that the main problem this time was the remote location of the venue with no hotels in the vicinity.

“This time the discussions were healthy and there was no animosity between the players and officials like in those two years,” said Barua, who is also the President of the Chess Players Association of India.

The accommodation offered was in a college hostel and it included free boarding as well. Talking to journalists, Abhijit Kunte said that the players were not asking only for a basic accommodation as most chess players stay in their rooms when not playing. Players asked for the venue to be changed to Chennai, which was turned down by the TNSCA. At the meeting with the players, D.V. Sundar said that he was comfortable with the accommodation on offer.

A dungeon

Konguvel called the accommodation a ‘dungeon’ and raised his hands to confirm that he would not play in these conditions. About ninety per cent of the players followed in support. “I have rested and prepared, and wanted to play but had to fall in line, else other players will fight with me,” said one International Master from Tamil Nadu. Majority of the players did not like the accommodation offered. In April 2006 at Visakhapatnam, the players were offered five and four star accommodation. At Valsad in December 2006 they stayed at a guest house with two players in one house.

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