India to bid for World championship

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE, MAY 10. India is bidding for this year's World chess championship. The AICF secretary and FIDE (the world chess governing body) vice-president P. T. Ummer Koya told TheHindu here on Wednesday 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.

If India is allotted the championship, it would be the biggest chess event in country's history. Having successfully organised two World junior chess championships - both at Kozhikode in 1993 and 1998 - and many Asian and Commonwealth championships, as well as quite a few 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 India's achievements and the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is also happy with the progress we have made in the organisational and development activities,'' Ummer Koya said.

India would bid for the first stage of the championship, as Iran, a country which is keen to improve its chess besides making the best movies in Asia, has already presented a bid for the final. 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 does get to organise the championship, the country will see some of the world's best talent in chess together. ``I feel the World championship will make the game even more popular in the country,'' Ummer 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. This World championship would become easily feasible if a few Chief Ministers show interest in it,'' he added.

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 an amazing prospect, 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 two in their quest for the Grandmaster titles.Mumbai, 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,'' 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. As Russia's Alexander Khalifman did last year, the champion will have to soldier through a most gruelling competition to reach on top. In last year's final, Khalifman had beaten Vladimir Akopian of Armenia to become only the 14th world champion in chess.

Asian zonal in Colombo

This year's Asian zonal championship will be held in Colombo in September. Ummer Koya, who had met S. B. Dissanayake, the Sri Lankan Minister for Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports, said last week in Colombo 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,'' he said.

Last year a host of Indian youngsters had benefited hugely from a couple of coaching stints from Russian coach Alexander Lyssenko. This year, a renowned Grandmaster coach - most likely E. Vladimirov - will train the Wipro players, Harikrishna and Aarthie, will get training from the Grandmaster at Bangalore this month.

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