| In a path breaking move, India is bidding for this year's World Chess Championship. The AICF Secretary and FIDE Vice-President P T Ummer Koya briefed the press on Wednesday, 10-05-2000, that India would present its bid for the prestigious Championship at the Presidential Board meeting of the FIDE, to be held in London from May 12 to 15, 2000.
If India is allotted the championship, it would be the biggest chess event in country's history. Having twice successfully organised the World Junior Chess Championships - both at Kozhikode in 1993 and 1998 - and many Asian and Commonwealth championships, as well as quite a few closed and open GM tournaments, a World knock-out championship will be a giant leap for Indian chess.
China and Morocco are the two other countries bidding for the event. But the AICF secretary sounded optimistic of India's chances. "Given our excellent track record in hosting many international tournaments in the past, I am confident that we would get the World championship. Of late, the entire chess playing world is impressed by our achievements and the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is also happy with the progress we have made in the organisational and development activities," said Mr Ummer Koya.
India would bid for the first stage of the championship, as Iran, a country which is keen to improve its chess base in the Asian and the world arena, has already presented a bid for the World Championship finals. The Indian bid therefore is for competitions from the preliminary rounds to the semifinal stages. India is also bidding for the World Women's Championship, which will be held along with the men's event. If India gets to organise the championship, the country will see some of the world's best talent in chess at display. "I feel the World Championship will make the game even more popular in the country," added Mr Ummer Koya.
On the cost factor Mr Koya said,"We are expecting a cost of $1.5 million for the two events. Given the magnitude of the championship, I hope the corporate houses would come forward to sponsor the event in a big way. The Chess Federation has also been getting a lot of encouragement from the present Central Government, and this World Championship would become easily feasible if a few Chief Ministers show interest in it,".
The corporate support had been one thing the Indian chess - blessed with talents and an active association - lacked all these years, but the recent sponsorship deal for P Harikrishna, India's youngest International Master and Aarthie Ramaswamy, the World Under 18 Champion, from the Bangalore based IT giant Wipro has raised hopes of big sponsorships for the game. Wipro is sponsoring the talented duo in their quest for the Grandmaster titles. Last year a host of Indian youngsters had benefited hugely from a couple of coaching stints from the top Russian coach Alexander Lyssenko. This year, a renowned Grandmaster coach - most likely Evegeny Vladimirov - will train the Wipro players, Harikrishna and Aarthie, at Bangalore.
Bombay, Calcutta and New Delhi are the cities being considered for the World championship. "But we are also looking at the possibility of holding the event in two or more venues, by splitting it," Mr Ummer Koya said. Like last year's championship in Las Vegas, no player will be seeded in this year's event, scheduled for November-December this year. As Russia's Alexander Khalifman did last year, the Champion will have to come through the tough grind to reach the top. In last year's final, Alexander Khalifman had beaten Vladimir Akopian of Armenia to become the 14th World Champion in Chess.
Mr Koya also confirmed that Sri Lanka will be holding the Asian Zonals in Colombo during September. Mr Koya, who had met Mr S B Dissanayake, the Sri Lankan Minister for Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports, said that the island nation was very keen to promote chess. "They have even requested its players be allowed to participate in India's National Championships. The AICF will consider that proposal at the General Body meeting. The Lankan government, which has allocated Rs 10,00,000 for the development of chess, has also sought support from us for raising the standard of the game in that country. We would be sending Indian coaches for that purpose," Mr Koya concluded.
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