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Chess arbiter award, a fitting tribute to Kameswaran
Venkatachalam Kameswaran could finally make it to Baku to receive the FIDE (world chess federation) award for International Arbiters. Kameswaran, the first International Arbiter from India, was invited by the world federation to the Azerbaijan capital during the recently-concluded Chess Olympiad to receive the award but the only hitch was that he had to fend for himself to make the trip.
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Chennai
The 72-year-old Kameswaran, based in Chennai, was one of the nine invitees globally in the FIDE Arbiters Award. Neither FIDE nor the All India Chess Federation was in a position to help him with the expenses for travel, boarding and lodging for the award at Baku where the 2016 Baku FIDE Congress general assembly is being held.
“The cost was over Rs one lakh to go to Baku to receive the award which I could not afford,” said Kameswaran.
Kameswaran could finally make it after some sponsors pooled in the money required to reach Baku.
This was the first time the world body was honouring an Indian arbiter. The International Arbiter is the equivalent of a cricket umpire officiating in ICC matches (Tests, ODIs and T20s) and the grading starts from the state and then to the National arbiters. Kameswaran became an International Arbiter in 1980.
Kameswaran runs an academy (Kameswaran Chess Academy) and his house in Mambalam is busy with children learning the basics of chess. He has a huge collection of books and he also uses modern computers and latest software in his programme.
Kameswaran was a chess player first and represented Income-Tax in national events. Then he moved into administration and was instrumental in forming the Madras District Chess Association.
As a player his best result was a win over his friend and India’s first International Master Manuel Aaron. That game from the district championship in 1972 appeared in the Chess Informant, the gospel of world chess, collecting all important games from all the rated events across the globe.
Kameswaran had seen both Viswanathan Anand and Krishnan Sasikiran grow into world class players. He had even covered a World championship match featuring Anand in the 1990s for a newspaper.
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