Diwali Greetings

Diwali Greetings

The AICF President, J.C.D. Prabhakar, Honorary Secretary V. Hariharan and CEO Bharat Singh Chauhan together with FIDE Vice President D.V. Sundar greeted the Indian players on the occasion of Diwali. India is moving from strength to strength in chess. Chess is a game invented by Indians and it is the most suited to our people to dominate.

Year-on-year, India had climbed several peaks. Number of events, players, rated players just to name a few. India joined a select band of nations that has organised the World Chess Championship match. The FIDE Presidential Board meets at Chennai to chalk out number of key decisions. It was held once before at Goa. It will bring the chess administrators of the world to Chennai.

The Indian administrators are enjoying a new challenge. Organising the first ever World Championship title match is keeping them busy. In the end, they will meet success since all the ends and bases are well covered and provided for. Plan and execution are happening side by side and our organisers are sure to make the chess world look up in awe.

At present, final touches to the organising of the Anand v Carlsen match is being done. The Tamil Nadu Government which had come up with a record budget of Rs.29 Crores has left the organising to the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association who are doing it at Hyatt Regency Hotel in the heart of the city.

When the huge base of Indian players start to become ambitious and move forward, the next wave of success will materialise. The present success is huge enough to keep journalists busy. The AICF’s success mantra will surely be replicated in Europe one day.

Besides the World Championship, there are other various side shows. Few of them are over and many of them are still to come. Planned as the Beach Blitz, the Chennai Blitz happened at the Nehru Indoor stadium as heavier rains did not allow the organisers to take chances with the weather at the Marina Beach. Forming part of the World Chess Championship Match, the 180-player blitz event had a prize money of INR 405000 and was won by GM-elect Vishnu Prasanna of Chennai.

The Rs.50,000 prize tournament for the chess journalists was won by S Sujatha of Deccan Chronicle who went on to defeat India’s first International Arbiter V Kameswaran in the finals. Kameswaran will be covering the World Championship match for United News of India. Besides this, events for veteran, IAS officers have already taken place. A huge awareness campaign was done at the major parks in Chennai.

Among the bigger events to come are the National Under-9, WGM Open and the Chennai Open. They are sure to take away space from the Anand v Carlsen match in the newspapers. Journalists from over a dozen nations will be covering the World Championship match, Media Hall. The organisers hope to make this event the best covered world championship match of all-time.

Chess lovers have a golden chance to witness the match and this opportunity is knocking. What you see you will be able to share with your children and grand children in the coming decades. Visit http://chennai2013.fide.com and pick up your ticket today.