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Chess
By Our Special Correspondent
World women's champion Zhu Chen (centre) of China discussing the controversy over the format of the Asian team chess championship, with Mr. Hamid Majid, secretary of the Malaysian Chess Federation (extreme right) late on Monday night. Also seen in the picture are Hoang Thang Tranh (Vietnam), Zhan Peng Xiang (China), Imanaliev (Kyrgyzstan) and Darmen Sadvakasov (Kazakhstan) during the Asian team chess championship at Jodhpur.
But first, the background. All appeared well when the captain/players' meeting ended at 8.40 p.m. on Monday with the participants agreeing for a round-robin format to be played over 11 rounds. However, minutes later, the women's World champion China's Zhu Chen arrived and confronted the Chief arbiter R.C. Chatterjee in the hotel lobby. She pointed out that by going ahead by the all-play-all format, Indian teams would meet in the last round, something the rules do not permit. Though Mr. Chatterjee agreed to ensure that two teams from the same federation, which in this case was India, would not meet either in the penultimate or the final round, he could do little as Zhu Chen dismissed the very idea of following the round-robin format. She further said since India entered three teams (two by virtue of being the host and a third one to make it an even-numbered field), the Swiss league, and not round-robin, should have been a fair format. She was obviously hinting at the possibilities of a one home team helping the other win, if necessary. It is interesting to note that when China hosted the previous edition of the championship in 1999, it had entered three teams. On that occasion, there was no protest on this count. For the uninitiated, unlike the round-robin format where the pre-decided pairings for each round are circulated before the start of the first round itself, the Swiss league format pairs teams with equal points in each round. Speaking to The Hindu late on Monday night, the Chinese champion, who did not attend the meeting where the playing conditions were discussed and adopted, admitted all the issues should have been settled in the players' meeting itself. ``I agree we missed our chance in the meeting. But that is past. Now, nearly 80 per cent of the teams here do not agree with what happened in the players' meeting. We now want a nine-round Swiss league,'' said Zhu Chen, who consulted representatives from Kazakhstan, Macau, Vietnam and Malaysia, among others, and drafted a letter, seeking the replacement of the round-robin format with a nine-round Swiss league. Zhu Chen, in fact, invited the support of K. Sasikiran and requested him to sign the letter. Sasikiran, who was summoned to the hotel lobby as the Zhu Chen-led protest turned more and more vocal. Sasikiran was at his diplomatic best and said he needed to consult his team members before arriving at a decision. The Secretary of the Malaysian Chess Federation, Mr. Hamid Majid, did not sign the letter but put it on record that since it was decided in the players' meeting to follow round-robin format, it would be better if the Indian teams played each other before the fifth round. Mr. Majid even asked Zhu Chen what would be her reaction if, in the Swiss league, too, the Indian teams get paired in the penultimate or final round. Zhu Chen replied if any Indian team was good enough to be in title-contention even after playing all overseas contenders before the last two rounds, the host deserved to win. ``After all, the best team should win,'' conceded Zhu Chen. Finally at 12.50 a.m., with most players fighting jet-lag and hoping to catch some sleep, Zhu Chen handed over the protest letter to the All India Chess Federation Vice-President Mr. S.L. Harsh, the man behind the event here. Mr. Harsh assured Zhu Chen that a meeting of the captains would be convened on Tuesday morning to discuss the issue. But the arrival of Iran's men and women teams this morning raised the number of entries to 13. It also meant that round-robin format was no longer the best choice. In other words, playing 12 rounds in nine days would have proved a bit too much for the players. Therefore in the meeting that followed, it was amicably decided to hold a nine-round competition on Swiss league. Uzbekistan, whose arrival plans are still unknown, has been provisionally included in the scheme of things. If Uzbekistan arrives before the second round, it will be allowed to take part with two points. If the Uzbeks make it before the third round, they would still start with only two points. If Uzbekistan, like Iran, had landed here before the meeting, then there was every possibility of the overseas teams challenging the inclusion of India `C' team in the fray. In such a scenario, with 12 teams, including two from India, in the field, the host would have found it very difficult to push its third team in. Mercifully, such a situation did not arise. Finally, the host was pleased with the settlement. On the other hand, Zhu Chen had reasons to be smile after getting precisely what she wanted.
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