Chess in Odisha is all set to experience a gala time with a home for the game, huge corporate sponsorship and a lucrative all-India open rating tournament coming its way at the same time. Officials of All Orissa Chess Association, Khordha District Chess Association and SR Chess Centre revealed all these encouraging developments at a media conference here today.
``Odisha Mining Corporation has agreed to give us Rs 40 lakhs per year for five years for development of chess in the state. The financial support will be utilised solely for staging of international and national rating tournaments, coaching camps, technical seminars and other developmental purposes,`` announced AOCA secretary Vivek Kumar Tibarewal.
``The corporate sponsorship will also be utilised to reimburse players` participation expenses in different National championships and provide cash awards to national and international medal winners of the state,`` added IM Sekhar Chandra Sahu, the AOCA president and vice-president of All India Chess Federation.
He also announced that the state body would host the Federation Cup Close Grandmaster Tournament for Women here at KIIT Campus in February 2013. ``Ten leading women players of the world, including four from India and one from Odisha are expected to take part in the tournament,`` Sahu stated.
Speaking on the home for the game, AOCA secretary Tibarewal disclosed that the State Sports Department has provided a place for chess activities here at Kalinga Stadium. ``AOCA will use the Chess Hall for practice, coaching and technical seminars,`` he indicated.
ALL-INDIA TOURNAMENT: KDCA in collaboration with SR Chess Centre is gearing up to organise the 1st Keshabananda Das Memorial All-India Open Fide Rating Chess Tournament here at Hotel Empires from August 18 to 23. Around 250 players, including two Grandmasters and 10 International Masters are expected to participate in the 10-round tournament, which offers a total cash prize of Rs 2.50 lakhs including Rs 50,000 for the champion and Rs 30,000 for the runner-up.
``Grandmasters Sriram Jha, Raja Ram Laxman and 10 IMs have already confirmed their participation. International Master and under-14 world champion Vidit Santosh Gujarathi of Nasik has been made the top seed,`` KDCA secretary Subhasis Patnaik said.
Other nine IMs in the fray include Praveen Kumar, D P Singh, P Karthikeyan, Atanu Lahiri, Suvrajit Saha, MS Thej Kumar, Rahul Sangma, Anup Deshmukh, Swayams Mishra, Debashis Das. ``The tournament is being organised to pay tribute to Keshababanda Das for his outstanding contribution for the promotion of chess in Odisha. We have planned to felicitate all the past and current state champions (1959 to 2012) during this tournament,`` said SRCC director Satya Ranjan Patnaik.