The Sports Authority of India-All India Chess Federation Arbiter Refresher course was organized by Delhi Chess Association on behalf of All India Chess Federation with the support of Government of India Ministry of Youth Affairs Sports at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from 15-17 Feb 2019.
In a brief opening ceremony, AICF Secretary Shri. Bharat Singh Chauhan inaugurated the event in presence of Shri. Naresh Sharma, Joint Secretary AlCF and Shri. AK Verma, Secretary Delhi Chess Association. Before moving to the inauguration, the guests and participants observed two-minute silence for the CRPF soldiers, who were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack.
This is the first refresher course and three more such refresher courses will be held at Mumbai, Kovilpatti and Bhopal in the coming month to enhance the knowledge of Arbiters about FIDE Laws as well as other regulations. AICF made this refresher course mandatory for Arbiters. With effect from 01 Apr 2019, Arbiters undergone refresher course for the year 2019 are only allowed to officiate in FIDE Rated events.
International Arbiter and FIDE Lecturer MS Gopakumar was the lecturer of the course and 147 Arbiters from across India attended the event slated for three days. IA Gopakumar lectured on topics like Laws of Chess, Rating regulations, Title regulations, Arbiter regulations, Competition rules, Tiebreaks, Pairing regulations, Anti-cheating regulations etc. The participants were very enthusiastic and inquisitive with lot of inputs. Many of them cleared their doubts they had in their mind about many regulations. Several case studies and practical examples were also discussed during the course.