Begging for the Sake of Chess

From The Telegraph (Calcutta, India) August 13, 2009 Begging for the sake of chess JAYESH THAKER Jamshedpur, Aug. 12: Organisers of a national-level chess championship are on the road with begging bowls to foot the bill for the nine-day meet in October. Facing government apathy for years, the cash-strapped Chakradharpur Chess Association (CCA) has already ordered printing of donation slips of Rs 100 and Rs 500 denominations. CCA officials have also requested shopkeepers and sports lovers to help them collect donations for the national under-17 chess championship. It is not possible for officials to re-approach some local and outstation suppliers for help as they already owe the CCA over Rs 3 lakh for conducting the 2nd International Fide Rating Chess Championship last October. Repeated requests to the state government for releasing funds have also fallen on deaf ears. The national Under-17 chess meet is scheduled at the Railway Mandap in Chakradharpur from October 6-14. About 100 boys and girls from across the country would take part in the championship being organised jointly by the CCA and the South Eastern Railway Sports Association (Sersa Chakradharpur). Though the railways are providing infrastructure, the rest of the expenses has to be met by the association. According to CCA secretary Umapad Battabyal, they expect to raise about Rs 2 lakh through donations. “If not that amount, we can at least raise Rs 50,000 from people. We will soon hand over donation slips to shopkeepers and sports lovers to help us out,” he added. Battabyal told The Telegraph from Chakradharpur that they had been forced to prune their budget (for the chess meet) from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. “Initially, the budget was on the higher side, but we have now omitted fireworks and cultural programmes to curtail expenses. We will manage to raise Rs 3 lakh from industry, MPs, MLAs from the region, souvenir, entry money and catering. But we still need rest of the amount to host the championship,” he said. State sports department officials, on condition of anonymity, said that they were now busy funding the National Games to be organised in November-December. Chess, being not part of the Games, does not get priority for now. “We are already feeling the heat. Organising a national chess meet in a small town like Chakradharpur is itself a big thing. However, the government is yet to respond positively to our requests,” Battabyal added.