::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Time Out

Chess League Chess

We need more professional players in the country, for that is the only way to have many strong players. The difference between India and Bangladesh is that hundreds of players have taken the game as their profession in India, while we are still playing amateur chess. That is true about most of our players.

The only tournament that offers financial support to the players of almost all categories is the Metropolis Chess League. It was introduced in 1977, and has emerged as an important team event. The response from the big clubs was not bad in the initial years, though players were not getting enough money. The problem with chess is that it is not a spectators' game and, as such, it will never become popular like the main outdoor sports. The chess league has, however, attracted some leading clubs and organisations.

For many years Bangladesh Biman was the team without a real challenger. But things changed with the appearance of the Leonine Chess Club. The Chess Federation allows participation of foreign players and that now makes it possible for any club to organise a good team with championship potential. The rules were further relaxed this year when the Federation allowed participation of three foreign players (in a four-board match). Now a team can rope in one strong player from the locals and rely on three foreigners for the championship. The newcomers, Muktijoddah Sangsad, brought in three foreign masters and so did Leonine Chess Club. Leonine had two grandmasters from Vietnam and one from Uzbekistan. They actually played better than Mukti's foreign recruits did, and that made the difference. Leonine won the title.

Now the idea of allowing three foreign players in a team might have been viewed with a little suspicion by the local players. It seems the chess organisers are convinced that the presence of so many foreign players will add glamour to the tournament and allow any club to have a team capable of winning the championship.

Meanwhile, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, the West Bengal lad , has again won the Indian national championship . Here is an attacking game he played in the same event four years back.

White- Surya Shekhar Ganguly
Black-Kidambi Sundararajan [B12]
IND-ch, Mumbai 2000
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.a3 Ne7 6.Be2 Nc8 7.0–0 Be7 8.Nbd2 0–0 9.h3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.b4 Be7 12.c4 d4 13.Re1 a5 14.b5 Nb6 15.Bf1 d3 16.Ne4 Nxc4 17.Bxd3 Nb6 18.Nd6 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Bxd6 20.Ng5 g6 21.exd6 N8d7 22.Ne4 e5 23.Bg5 f6 24.Bh6 Rf7 25.Rac1 Rc8 26.Qb3 Nf8 27.Rxc8 Nxc8 28.Rc1 Nxd6 29.Rd1 1–0

Position after 18.Nd6

-PATZER