A compromise is reached

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 28. Less than 24 hours after NIIT announced its sponsorship of the World chess championship, the four-lettered abbreviation was dropped as prefix to the sport's biggest extravaganza.

It was an obvious result of the objection raised by the FIDE president Mr. Kirsan Ilyumjinov before Sunday's inauguration, and the meetings that took place between the All India Chess Federation officials and the representatives of the sponsors.

A `new' logo of the championship was hurriedly put together and unveiled before the start of the first round.

The mediapersons were given to believe that the damage-control exercise had indeed worked. Still, it is not clear whether the sponsor had agreed to pay the originally-promised sponsorship amount or not. But Mr. Sanjiv Kataria of NIIT expressed satisfaction over the latest arrangement.

Later, speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Ilyumjunov chose to play down Sunday night's controversy. A Buddhist, Mr. Ilyumjinov indicated that it was all peaceful now and ``everybody is happy now.''

However, media relations seems to be last subject on the agenda of those behind the event.

The live coverage of the all the games on the FIDE site could not be accessed even after four hours.

The promised close-circuit television sets were missing. Still worse, the pairing sheets of the first round was not available.

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Section  : Sport
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