Chennai, Jan 30 (.) In a rap on the knuckles of the Thoothukudi District Chess Association (TDCA) and the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA), the district court has declared the action of TDCA restraining a chess player from playing, conducting chess tournaments, and acting as a chess arbiter as null and void.
“A permanent injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants (secretary, TNSCA, president, and secretary of TDCA) from unlawfully interfering with the plaintiff’s playing of chess, organizing of chess tournaments, and acting as an arbiter, in accordance with the bye-laws and resolutions passed by the Thoothukudi District Chess Association,” the court ordered.
The court threw out the resolution dated 25.09.2018, passed in the Extraordinary General Body Meeting of TDCA, restraining the two plaintiffs, viz. G. Premkumar and Murugesapandiyan from playing chess, conducting chess tournaments, and acting as an arbiter.
The two were suspended for two years.
All is not well in Tamil Nadu’s chess scenario, with district chess associations banning school students and others from chess in an illegal manner.
The TDCA took disciplinary action against Premkumar, an office-bearer, and Murugesadandiyan for conducting a friendly tournament between the Taluks in the Thoothukudi District to promote chess.
The main charge is that they conducted the friendly tournament without seeking formal permission from TDCA.
“I got the oral permission from India’s first International Master (IM), Manuel Aaron, who was then vice president of TDCA. And in my official capacity as the joint secretary of TDCA, I can hold chess tournaments,” Premkumar said.
But what is interesting to note is the second fiddle played by the TNSCA to the illegal action of the district chess body done on 25.09.2019.
Just a month earlier, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had held that the All India Chess Federation (AICF) cannot abuse its dominant position and restrict chess players from participating in private tournaments and deny market access to organisers of chess tournaments.
In other words, there is no need to get the permission of the district/state/national chess body to organise an unrated private chess tournament in India.
The CCI order was well publicised by the media across the country, and TNSCA cannot feign ignorance. Nevertheless, the TNSCA washed its hands of it when the matter was brought before it.
Not only that, the TNSCA secretary, P. Stephen Balaswamy, on 04.10.2018, circulated an email to all chess associations in Tamil Nadu informing them about the suspension of the plaintiffs for two years.
“A TNSCA official asked me to submit an apology letter so that the illegal disciplinary action could be revoked. I refused to give any such apology letter as I didn’t do anything illegal,” Premkumar, who is a general manager in an automobile dealership in Chennai, said.
The ban not only affected Premkumar but also his daughter, a budding chess player, 14-year-old P. Remilda Dipsha.
“She was upset to hear about the order banning me. For several years, she refused to play chess. Only now she started playing chess,” Premkumar said.
Dipsha has a decent FIDE rating of 1,579 in the standard segment and 1,524 in the rapid category.
Chess Grandmasters and IMs in India come despite the chess associations being formed to promote chess.
Premkumar plans to file a suit claiming compensation for damaging his reputation by the illegal ban order.
. VJ VAN PRS