The East Singhbhum District Chess Association is set to conduct two online district-level events on December 29 and 30.

While the women’s championship will be held on Tuesday,the district open event is scheduled for Thursday.

District association general secretary Narendra Kumar Tiwary said trophies and certificates will be handed over to the top 10 finishers in each of the two championships.

“We are organising the events online because of the pandemic where social distancing has to be maintained,” Tiwary said.

Entry fee for each event has been fixed at Rs 150. Players from East Singhbhum are only eligible to participate in the championships.

Participants can send their entries to Chandan Kumar Prasad, chief arbiter for the women’s event and Vishal Kumar Minz, chief arbiter for the open category championship.

Giving details about the mode and system of the tournaments, Prasad, a FIDE-accredited arbiter, said each contestant would be given 15 minutes and five seconds (Li- Chess System and Chess.com).

“We had adopted this mode and system in earlier district tournaments for different age categories,” he added.

Prasad said that the tournament will go on from 1 pm to 6 pm, adding that the events would provide ample opportunity to participants to showcase their skill.

“The best way to keep our chess enthusiasts engaged is by conducting online events,” he said.

In November, the association had conducted online chess events for under seven and under nine age groups.

East Singhbhum has several promising chess players who have won medals in state and national level championship.

The steel city has a full- fledged training centre run by Tata Steel sports win at JRD Tata Sports Complex. Some former players and arbiters also run private coaching classes across Jamshedpur.