Rotary honors Chess Olympiad tournament director & medal winners
The Rotary Club of Velachery, Chennai along with chess players and parents fraternity honored Tournament Director Bharat Singh Chauhan for the excellent organization of the 44th Olympiad Chess Championship held recently at Mamallapuram. The glittering function was held at Hotel Rain Tree, Teynampet, Chennai on Saturday 8th October, 2022. Who were the guests involved in this star-studded function? Read the full article to find out. Photo: Rotary Club of Velachery, Chennai.
Honoring the heroes of Indian Chess
Bharat Singh wears several hats in the chess administration, apart from being an International Organizer. He organized the hugely successful 44th Chess Olympiad which had the participation of 180 plus countries. He was elected as the first Chairman of FIDE Advisory Committee recently and is also the Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation. Bharat Singh Chauhan is the Chairman of the Commonwealth Chess Association and has been organizing the Delhi International Open for two decades now. With 3000 plus players, Delhi Open is one of the biggest Open events in the world.
Felicitating Bharat Singh, Olympiad medalists and the achievers of Tamil Nadu were Shri S Kailasanathan, MD, Microsense, Smt Chitra Prasad, Correspondent, NSN Group of Schools, Dr Sujit Singh Chandranath, CEO, Microsense and Rtn S.Muthu Palaniappan, Chairman and Managing Director, Chettinad Housing. Technology giant Microsense, a pioneer in supporting chess in India, is honoring dozens of players in this function for achieving various milestones.
Honored in the function were Olympiad heroes viz., Bharat Singh Chauhan (Tournament Director) GM Adhiban Baskaran (player), GM R B Ramesh (coach), GM Shyam Sundar (coach), GM Arjun Kalyan (seconds), GM Praggnanandhaa (player) and IM Vaishali (player). Mr. Ramesh Babu, father of Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali received the award on behalf of his children who are away playing in Norway.
Tamil Nadu stars honored were L.R.Srihari for achieving the international Master title, R.Ilamparthi for winning World Under 14 Chess championship, Rakshitta Ravi for winning the National Junior Chess Championship, V. Rindhiya for winning Western Asian Youth Chess Championship, M Pranesh for winning the National sub junior title, Savitha Shri who crossed Rating of Elo 2400 recently and Pooja Shree for winning Asian gold medal in Under 8 category.
Speaking on the occasion, chess patron and MD, Microsense S Kailasanathan offered his continued support for the growth of chess in India and to the rising talents. Thanks to his continued patronage, more than a dozen chess players have flowered into Grandmasters. Notably, his camps with Vladmir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand have helped Indian talents maximize their potential.
Replying to the felicitations, Bharat Singh Chauhan said, "It was a total team effort. When we decided to go ahead hosting the Chess Olympiad, the Government sponsorship was yet to land. But thanks to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, it was made possible. Add to the financial support the Government spared us a many Ministers, a dozen IAS officers, scores of Policemen and Health staff. The Central Government offered us three Ministers throughout and saw to it that the Olympiad was the most successful one in the history of chess. We are now ready to host ten such Olympiads."
About the Author
S.C. Subramanian has dedicated his life to chess! He was a strong chess player and had a highest FIDE rating of 2260. During his chess career, Subramanian got a job in Railways. He later took voluntary retirement and pursued his passion by becoming a full time coach. He went on to train two extremely strong GMs - Adhiban Baskaran and Shyam Sundar Mohanraj. At some point he had shared a room with the great Vishy Anand! Check out our interview with the man himself here.