Chess in India taking a step forward

All India Chess Federation (AICF) General Secretary D V Sundar today announced that the Federation will conduct national schools chess championship annually from next year. Speaking to reporters at the venue of 46th National A Chess Championship here he said AICF has taken up the programme of coaching ten upcoming and promising children in the age groups 8 to 14 from every state and provide them higher level of coaching. It had already formed a 43 member coaching panel consisting of GMs, IMs and senior chess players. Caaching camps would be held for about eight to ten days. The Federation would meet the expenses for these camps. Already, three such camps had been held, one each in Goa, Rajasthan and West Bengal, he said. The camps would be held next in Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, North-Eastern states, Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh during the current year, he said. ''We also propose to hold a tournament for GMs in New Delhi in January next year. Twenty three GMs have already confirmed participation. This would be immediately followed by another international open tournament in Gurgaon in Haryana,'' he said. He said for the first time, AICF had organized chess test matches between India and Armenia this year. Encouraged by the success, the Federation proposed to hold similar friendly 'Test matches' with other strong chess playing countries. The Federation has bid for Asian Youth Championship, Asian Team Championship and Asian Zonal Championship in India during April to September next year, he said.