A Scholastic Chess War in India?

Sunday, January 06, 2008 11:16:51 AM (IST) Mangalore: Chess Prodigy Denied Entry into National Chess Festival Daijiworld Media network – Mangalore (KD/NR) [I made some spelling corrections] Mangalore, Jan 6: Shabdik Verma of SDM school Ujire, a child chess prodigy has been denied entry once again to participate in the Asian School Chess festival by the All India Chess Federation (AICF). Shabdik studying in 4th standard at SDM school in Ujire, was fully prepared to go to Sri Lanka to take part in the chess competition for the Under-9 category. His father Rathna Verma Bunnu had made all the necessary arrangements to send his son to the competition. Bunnu had even purchased foreign currency worth Rs 1 lac for the forthcoming journey, as per the AICF notice. It is understood that he had even purchased a DD on November 29 and transferred it to AICF with the certification of South Canara Chess Association (SCCA). Therefore it came as a great shock to Shabdik and his family, as well as all his well-wishers when he was denied the opportunity to participate in the AICF. It is also said that he was practicing around 15 hours every day and was fully prepared to take part in the competition. According to the information given by organizers Shabdik was not selected for participation in the Sri Lankan tournament, as he had not played at the national-level chess festival in 2006. All said and done, depriving a talented youngster this opportunity to participate in the National-level chess festival 2007 is indeed a sad state of affairs. Many opine that the federation is not doing this for the first time. It has also done injustice to this child prodigy last year. Shabdik was to participate in the international tournament 2007 in Iran, even then he was denied an opportunity to participate. His father Bunnu being an advocate, has now by himself decided to raise his voice against the injustice done to his son and hence filed an appeal before the high court on the matter.