5 from Erode not allowed to write chess arbiter exam in TN

On the International Women’s Day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over

his social media accounts to seven women, the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA) and its affiliate Erode District Chess Circle (EDCC) denied a mother and daughter the opportunity to write the chess arbiter’s examination.

“I had been preparing for the arbiter exam for 15 days. I didn’t expect the EDCC Secretary to not accept the exam application and forward that to TNSCA,” T Kanmane, a former Erode district chess player, said. Kanmane is a qualified teacher for mentally retarded children.

As per the arbiter exam procedure, an aspirant should route his/her application through the district chess association. The Secretary of the district chess association

has to give his nod/recommendation in the exam form so that a candidate can write

the exam. 

According to Kanmane, an email was sent to TNSCA saying that the EDCC Secretary

did not accept and forward the exam application, but of no avail.

Not only Kanmane, even the exam applications of her mother T Intherane and her father N Thirugnanasampandam were not accepted by EDCC. “For the past several years, we have been organising chess tournaments in Erode. This time, we thought of writing the arbiter’s exam and get ourselves qualified,” said Thirugnanasampandam.

For all the five persons, former Secretary of the then Erode District Chess Association

R Nachimuthu acted as the coordinator on the exam matter. “The five persons, who are all members of Erode Mavatta Chaduranga Kazhagam, had asked me to submit the application forms to EDCC,” said Nachimuthu, Executive Committee Member of the Kazhagam.

He added the EDCC Secretary S Ramesh did not accept the exam applications and was not reachable on phone. Nachimuthu said as the exam date was nearing, he had sent the applications directly to TNSCA, but neither he nor the applicants have received any reply from the state chess body.

When contacted for his comments, EDCC Secretary Ramesh said: “These people had never lent a helping hand for the events organised by the official body. They also hold their own events. Will you allow a non-journalist into your journalist association?” TNSCA Secretary P Stephen Balasamy was not available for comments.