Will organisers wake up to fulfil media requirements?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 29. Any chess lover, young or old, planning to come all the way to the Capital's Hyatt Regency to watch some of the finest players in action, better stay away. Imagine if the media covering the event is struggling to have a look at the games, one can well imagine the plight of the unsuspecting spectator. In short, it is a mess.

To begin with, the problem arose because of the small playing hall which can just about accommodate the boards meant for the first round matches in both the men and women's sections. So there is a very narrow aisle, about three metres in width, that can accommodate only a handful of onlookers. Worse, the players, whose boards are closest to the aisle often get disturbed.

Until the eve of the championship, it was planned not to allow spectators for the first round. Somehow on the first day, it was decided to let the spectators in. But even those who made it on the opening day, would not like to come anywhere close to the venue.

The live coverage of the event on the net is made possible with the help of sensor-sensitive boards. Many players agree that mistakes are bound to happen if the moves are not done manually. If a player adjusts two pieces in succession, it is recorded as a move made. Hence the mistakes.

The mediapersons covering the event seem to get no respite. After assurances given by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) President, Mr. Dhruv Sawhney, on the opening day, things are yet to become smoother at the Media Centre.

It is a common practice in any worthy event to have a camp office for the media. Communication facilities, including telephones and fax machines, are made available to the media at Government rates, thanks to the Telecom Department.

But here, initially no effort was made to set up a camp office. A small media room, which also doubles up as an analysis room, which gets crowded in no time, does not have even a single telephone for the exclusive use of the mediapersons. Instead one has to go through a common extension meant for everyone, to request the operator to get one line cleared, and make a local call for a subsidised sum of Rs. 10 for every three minutes. Those who wish to avail of the internet services, a flat charge of Rs. 100 for a 30-minute slab is applied.

It is not the question of payment but the number of telephones or other communication facility available at the disposal of the media. Better facilities would have been there even for any National-level event in any sport. And this is a World championship with a prize money of 3.5 million dollars.

Mr. Sawhney had assured the mediapersons that the hotel authorities had finally agreed to allow two MTNL lines into the media room, but nothing seems to have happened in more than 24 hours. One wonders why the AICF thought about these problems only after the event got underway.

In one of the press conference in the run up to the championship, which had looked like a non-starter till a very late stage, the media was assured that at least 150-200 headphones would be provided for media/spectators so that they can watch the games on the screen and listen to the commentary by the likes of GM Valery Salov and Damir Levacic. So far, these promises have remained just that; just promises. Perhaps, another technical problem here. It must be said that but for the analysis provided by Salov and Levacic, the mediapersons would have remained in the middle of nowhere.

A day before the inauguration, the AICF Secretary, Mr. P. T. Ummer Koya, had cleared setting up of 15 computers with internet facility plus three printers. Today, out of nine computers only two have internet facility. Firstly, staying connected to the FIDE's World Championship site is not easy. Secondly, it is exorbitantly expensive. With another 17 days still to go, it remains to be seen when the organisers will wake up to the requirements of the media.

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Section  : Sport
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