Chess Board Set, Odd Moves Played! Organizers Deliver ‘Checkmate’ to Fairness in Kurundwad Tournament.!
Kurundwad :
People around the world have always believed that chess is played with strategic moves of the King, Queen, Rook, and Knight. However, witnessing the unprecedented ‘tricks’ pulled off by organizers at a recent taluka-level chess tournament held in an English-medium school in Kurundwad, even Viswanathan Anand would have held his head in disbelief! Setting aside the actual pieces on the board, the blatant manipulation to push forward their favorite players leaves one questioning whether this was a genuine chess competition or a factory for placing favored puppets!
The organizers set a baffling record in the under-19 girls’ category by conducting the exact same tournament twice! Perhaps, because their favored players lost in the first round, they decided to implement a custom ‘try again’ scheme. While the rest of the world relies on the standard Swiss-system software, these geniuses resurrected their own flawed, outdated methods. They generated mismatched pairings, offered evasive answers when questioned by concerned parents, and when caught in a corner, magically wiped out the computer records altogether! In this era of Digital India, such a mysterious disappearing act of digital evidence is truly a sight to behold.
When young players—who have poured their sweat and tears into playing at state and national levels for the past six to seven years—presented the official rulebook, the organizers and referees responded with outright threats, showcasing their true colors. Whether these officials at a government-sanctioned event were licensed referees or merely key-wound dummies with zero understanding of the rules remains a subject for investigation. Did the individuals steering this tournament even understand the basics of the Swiss system, or was the entire show orchestrated solely to pin medals on their favored candidates?
Exasperated by this mismanagement, frustrated parents have directly approached the District Sports Officer, the chess association, and the Sports Minister, demanding the immediate cancellation of this sham tournament and calling for a fresh competition to be conducted. For now, the wooden horses on the board remain silent, but it will be thoroughly entertaining to see how these organizational ‘horses’ dance when called to account in the court of the Sports Department!
