Sport | Chess |
---|---|
Abbreviation | AICF |
Founded | 1951 |
Affiliation | FIDE |
Regional affiliation | Asian Chess Federation |
President | Nitin Narang [1] [2] |
Official website | |
www |
The All India Chess Federation is the administrative body for the game of chess in India. Founded in 1951, the association is affiliated to International Chess Federation, the world body for chess. Indian chess has players like Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, Vidit Gujrathi, Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh, Harika Dronavalli, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and Vaishali Rameshbabu, among others. The organisation is in charge of managing both open and women's chess. [3] AICF's current headquarter is in New Delhi. [4]
The All India Chess Federation was registered in 12 December 1958 and was registered as a Society under the Societies Registration act of 1860. [5]
A new administration was formed, via an election of office bearers, on 10th March, 2024 where Mr. Nitin Narang was elected as the president of the AICF. [6]
In August 2022, AICF hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, which was the first Chess Olympiad ever to take place in the country. [7] [8] The event was organised by AICF in association with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Tamil Nadu Government. Sanjay Kapoor, ex-AICF president, was the President of the Organising Committee for the 44th Chess Olympiad, and ex-AICF Secretary, Bharat Singh Chauhan was the Tournament Director. [9]
AICF has been repeatedly accused of bureaucratic interference. In October 2009, chess Grandmaster Humpy Koneru (then female world No. 2) accused the AICF secretary DV Sundar of preventing her from participating in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. [10] [11] The same year the AICF was accused of arbitrarily banning grandmaster G N Gopal [12] for not playing in a match (the ban was subsequently revoked). [13]
In 2012 the AICF president N Srinivasan was criticised for not supporting Viswanathan Anand in World Chess Championship 2010, by not trying to host the match in India. [14]
However, things appear to be changing for better since the present management took over on January 04, 2021. [15] The new AICF President, Sanjay Kapoor, and Secretary, Bharat Singh Chauhan have taken a slew of measures to ensure that the Federation actively focuses on promoting Chess sport in the country and works towards empowering the players. [16]
Till date the federation has more than 30 affiliated state associations and 10 special members [3] Here is a list of them: [3] [17] [18]
AICF has also played host to a number of major world events in India. Some of them are: [3]
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and 2021, with a rapid time control that affected players' online ratings.
Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess grandmaster. She's a runner-up of the World Championship and the winner of the World Rapid Championship 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster aged 15 years, 1 month, 27 days. Humpy is a gold medalist at the Olympiad, Asian Games, and Asian Championship. She is also the first Indian female grandmaster.
The 37th Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between May 20 and June 4, 2006, in Turin, Italy. There were 148 teams in the open event and 103 in the women's event. In total, 1307 players were registered.
The All India Carrom Federation (AICF) is India's national sport federation for the indigenous game of carrom, sanctioning six to seven national-level tournaments per year. It is India's representative body in the International Carrom Federation. The AICF has 15 regional and 28 state subnational affiliate institutions, the largest of which is the Maharashtra Carrom Association, further subdivided into local organisations.
Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Harika was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.
Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich is a Russian politician and economist, currently serving as the president of the International Chess Federation, FIDE. He was Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet from 21 May 2012 until 7 May 2018. He was previously an Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation from May 2008 to May 2012. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
The 41st Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Tromsø, Norway, between 1–14 August 2014. The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 AS on behalf of FIDE.
Chess has risen in popularity in India in the last few decades primarily due to chess Grandmaster and former 5-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi is an Indian chess grandmaster. He attained the title of grandmaster in January 2013, becoming the 30th player from India to do so. He is the fourth Indian player to have crossed the Elo rating threshold of 2700. He became the third Indian ever to qualify for a FIDE Candidates tournament by winning the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023.
Vaishali Rameshbabu is an Indian chess grandmaster. Vaishali and Praggnanandhaa are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
The Women's World Chess Championship 2017 was a 64-player knock-out tournament, to decide the women's world chess champion. The final was won by Tan Zhongyi over Anna Muzychuk in the rapid tie-breaks.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 2 September 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked 12th in the world by the International Chess Federation. Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.
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The 44th Chess Olympiad was an international team chess event organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Chennai, India, from 28 July to 10 August 2022. It consisted of Open and Women's tournaments, as well as several events to promote chess. The Olympiad was initially supposed to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the host of the Chess World Cup 2019, in August 2020, but it was later moved to Moscow. However, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then relocated to Chennai following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This was the first Chess Olympiad to take place in India.
Pallathur Venkatachalam Nandhidhaa is an Indian chess player from the state of Tamilnadu, who holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and Woman International Master (WIM). She is the 17th Woman Grandmaster of India. Her peak FIDE ELO rating is 2380 and she is holding 8 International Master norms as on April 2024. She was part of the 30 member Indian Chess Olympiad team which participated in 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, India from 28 July to 9 August 2022. Nandhidhaa had won an individual Gold in Asian Chess Championship held at New Delhi on 3 November 2022, making her only the 9th Indian Women to clinch the Asian Gold. She scored an unbeaten and impressive 7.5/9 to clinch the title, thereby also qualifying for the Women's Chess World Cup 2023. She has won 7 medals each in Commonwealth Chess Championship and Asian level Chess Championship tournaments in different age categories. She also won 5 National level Chess Championship Gold medals in different age categories.
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