Dr Sanjay Kapoor, All-India Chess Federation president, announced that the first Punjab International Grandmasters tournament will be held in Jalandhar later this year, with the aim to popularize the game in the country.
“Chess lovers need to see top players in action so that the game becomes a true phenomenon in the country, and we aim to have ace players for this tournament,” the president said while unveiling a slew of new initiatives to promote chess, especially in states where has not been so popular.
The Senior National Chess Championship will be held in Kanpur from April 13 to 20 in the ‘grandest style possible.’
To make the sport universal, Dr. Kapoor, who was felicitated by the Punjab State Chess Association for becoming the youngest AICF president, reiterated that for the development of chess at the grassroots level, the federation would be selecting and training at least three organisers from each district of India, and the process will be starting next month.
“We aim to create close to 1,500 trained organisers in the country soon so that we can have multiple tournaments all through the year,” he said. He further added that under the Training for Trainer program, 1,500 trainers were currently being trained by 14 Grandmasters and 14 International masters.
“We aim to create employment for thousands of chess coaches, who will, in turn, teach and develop lacs of players. We are looking at creating an intellectual force in Modern India, the kind of which has never been seen before anywhere,” he declared.
As for Punjab, Dr. Kapoor revealed that they were already in an advanced stage of talks with the Punjab Government for implementing his ambitious Chess in School programme in the state.
“We want every child in India to play chess for at least 3 to 4 years in their lives. Hundreds of chess teachers will be going to schools all over the country. We will also create the biggest digital platform so that lakhs can learn and play chess online,” he said.