The first-ever Chess Olympiad torch relay reached Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi on Thursday.
Jharkhand sports minister Hafizul Hassan received the torch at Khelgaon Sports Complex in Ranchi. Calcutta-based Grandmaster Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury took the torch forward in Ranchi in presence of eminent dignitaries.
A brief cultural programme was presented by a group in which “Paika” folk dance was performed. The torch was handed over to Neeraj Kumar Mishra to carry it forward to next destination Calcutta.
“It was a long-awaited moment to cherish for the chess fraternity when the sacred torch dedicated to the Chess Olympiad reached Ranchi. We have great hope from this torch relay that it will provide the necessary push for this sport in the state of Jharkhand. We also have high hopes that now the Jharkhand government would also provide us support for taking this sport to the school level,” said Neeraj Kumar Mishra, the secretary of All Jharkhand Chess Association (AJCA). Mishra is the lone international master from Jharkhand and Bihar.
Mishra recalled that the state had produced a Grandmaster in the form of Deep Sengupta, a native of Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum. He is now employed with ONGC and based in Calcutta.
“The sports, which is yet to be included in the Olympics, lost its sheen and pull among the youths due to lack of corporate support and patronage of the government. We hope that the torch relay will reignite the wave for chess. We have nearly 25 chess trainers who had been trained by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) during the Covid-induced lockdown and have plans to send these trainers at least in each of the 24 districts to promote it at the district level initially,” said Mishra.
AJCA officials also plan to hold dialogues with the sports department to host more frequent competitions at district level.
The Chess Olympiad will be held in Mahabalipuram near Chennai from July 28 to August 10.
Earlier on Wednesday, the torch had travelled to Gaya, Rajgir, and Patna in Bihar.
Other cities that have been covered so far include Leh, Jammu, Srinagar, Dharamshala, Shimla, Chandigarh, Patiala, Amritsar, Panipat, Gurugram, Kurukshetra, Dehradun, Haridwar, Meerut, Kanpur, Kevadia, Ahmedabad, Dandi, Surat, Jaipur, Daman, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Panaji, Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jhansi.
The torch relay was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 19 from Delhi.
The torch will travel to 75 cities for 40 days before it culminates at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. Over 200 countries are participating in the Chess Olympiad. Chess grandmasters will receive the torch at various identified venues.
This year, for the very first time, the International Chess Body, FIDE, instituted the Chess Olympiad torch which is part of the Olympic tradition but was never done in the Chess Olympiad. India is the first-ever country to have the Chess Olympiad torch relay.
A felicitation was arranged for the top six players who got selected from a tournament conducted for under-15 school children last month. These players will be in Mahabalipuram to witness the great players in action.
