Chennai
Office bearers may come and officer bearers may go for the All India Chess Federation (AICF), but the pathetic condition of the chess players and tournament organisers at the grassroots will continue as it is forever, said chess players. The office bearer’s election for AICF is slated next year. In the normal scheme of things, the polls should be held by March 1, 2024. Even after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2018 had ruled against AICF banning chess players — irrespective of their age — for playing in private tournaments, the practice still continues particularly in Tamil Nadu. Organisers of chess tournaments are also put to immense difficulty by vested interests that contact even the payment gateways and urge them to stop accepting the entry fee saying that the event is an unauthorised one. Recently we organised a chess tournament. After accepting the entry fees online, the payment gateway abruptly stopped it saying that it has been receiving several phone calls saying that our tournament was not authorised and the future business of the payment gateway would be affected from the chess field would be affected, retired army official J.Jeevan Kumar, Secretary, Evans Chess Club told over phone from Nagercoil. According to him, such an incident has happened to him earlier as well. Similarly banning of players for playing in tournaments not recognised by AICF also continues with gay abandon in Tamil Nadu and with the state and the national bodies turning a blind eye. In April this year, three players M.Karunakaran (68), V.Palanikumar (58), and Merryston David Scanny (48), were not allowed to play in the Tirunelveli District Selection tournament at the last moment. Scanny said that the Tirunelveli District Chess Development Association Secretary B.Paulkumar did not allow them to play as they had played in a private tournament in Tenkasi district earlier.
