1. A player has been decimated on the board against a strong opponent. He is being hammered again and again. He looks to his coach, I look to his coach, but the coach tells me that his players are never allowed to resign. I wonder what is happening to the player's self esteem?
2. A player wins her game but she is surrounded by 5 of her school teachers and forced to accept a draw. The teachers are backing a different horse. This player had a good chance to be State Champ that year and had set her heart on it. Will she ever set another goal in her life with conviction? Isn't it proven to her that no matter how hard she tries her dreams can be taken away by another?
3. A player is sent off in the midst of a crucial game to change his trousers causing him to lose 40 mins and the game.
4. A player wins his age group category and his name is missed out when announcing the winner.
5. A player wins 6 rounds and loses his 7th in a 7 round tournament and drops out of prize contention. And there is no cross tables.
6. A State player gets ejected from a tournament because she had a disagreement with the officials daughter in school.
7. A young boy fresh to his first National tournament and loses his first game is forced to suffer the humiliation of staying at his table till the tournament ends.
8. 2 State players are sick with high fever and throwing up. I ask them to go to a room to rest before the next game and an official calls them down to do post mortem and sit downstairs for 2 hours before the next game.
And then we tell them to fight their hearts out. We ask, why no GM? We wonder where have the good players gone? Why are they not playing chess any more? Or if they do, why no more oomph?
These are true cases.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Are you sure it is this bad? If this is true, don't see any point playing chess at all.
ReplyDeleteIt is not all bad. There are many good officials as well. I have highlighted certain incidences to make a point. Another good thing is the growth of the blogs. In the past these incidences were buried. Now we will make sure that this cannot be done anymore. If you look at it positively, its just another form of adversity. As they say, if it doesnt kill you, it can only make you stronger, eventually. :)Chess is a beautiful game. We just need to reclaim it from people that seek to destroy it for their own selfish reasons. And I think its happening now. Look around you, chess is growing and more and more people are speaking out.
ReplyDeleteI am in Perak. Thanks for the warning. I will rather join other activities and not chess.
ReplyDelete