STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council (JKSC), Nuzhat Gul on Tuesday formally inaugurated the 34th MPL National U-10 Chess (boys and girls) Championship at Kangra Fort in the city outskirts, here.
The visiting guest interacted with the young chess players from different parts of the country and appreciated their zeal and spirit for the game of Chess. She was all praise for the organising committee for providing the best facilities of the city to the competitors.
Secretary was surprised to see most of the participants, being so young, were accompanied by the parents, especially mothers all the way from South Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Nuzhat was told by the chairman of the organising committee and president of AJKCA, Atul Kumar Gupta that around 500 persons, including 245 players, coaches, managers, arbiters, live game operators and other officials from 26 states are part of this mega event being organised by All J&K Chess Association (AJKCA).
The event carries a total prize fund of Rs 5 lakh which will be distributed among top 15 players from each category with first prize being Rs. 70,000 in each category. The event is a direct selection for world, Asian and commonwealth events.
Divisional Sports Officer of the JKSC, Ashok Singh, All India Chess Federation (AICF) Vice President, Dr Vipnesh Bhardwaj, Punjab State Association President, Muneesh Thapar were among those special guests.
Dr AS Bhatia, HOD Bio sciences GMC Jammu, Raj Kumar, Chief Prosecution Officer, Baldev Raj, Vice President AJKCA, Ajit Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Arvindu districts association members, Advocate Himani Kohli were also present.
The event is being organised by Crown Trust under the banner of All J&K Chess Association with the support of J&K Sports Council.
Later, Atul Gupta, on behalf of the organising committee, thanked chief guest, Secretary Sports Council and Divisional Sports Officer for their cooperation and support. He also thanked Digvijay Singh Samkaria, owner of Kangra Fort for personally monitoring the arrangements.
Top 10 games of the event are being telecast live worldwide with the support of DGT Boards which are being used first time in J&K. Top expert K Moorthy from Tamil Nadu has been invited for Live games coverage. Chess Base India cameraman, Aditya has also been made part of the event for World Wide coverage during the six day championship.
Chandigarh based International Arbiter, Dr. Vipnesh Bhardwaj acting as Chief Arbiter and Deputy Chief Arbiteer, Salim Beig are being supported by 10 other Arbiters and 25 support staff.