A participant makes a move at the Ranchi district chess championship. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, May 2: Mughal emperor Wajid Ali Shah’s addiction to chess was so strong that he remained glued to the chess board and lost his empire.

But in Jharkhand, it seems that chess, one of the oldest games in the world, is the one that is losing out.

The recent district chess championship organised jointly by the district chess association and the Young Men’s Christian Association drew a very poor response.

A total of 54 players, including 12 juniors, participated in the tournament. “That is a poor turnout, particularly in the junior section,” Jai Kumar Sinha, secretary of the Ranchi District Chess Association (RDCA) said.

The district chess association was founded in 1983. It has been struggling both financially and in terms of turnouts for tournaments.

“Such poor response makes things difficult for the organisers of championships. Low turnout makes it heavier on the pocket of the organisers,” he said.

District association president Kunal Bose shared the financial burden and space for the championship while YMCA provided other necessary assistance.

Bose and the association members are now looking for funds to send four position holders in the senior section to participate in the state-level championship to be held at Jamshedpur next month.

Even at the college and university-level, few chess players are available. Usually, four to five colleges participate in the university’s inter-college chess tournament.

“But despite such poor response, the university managed to reach 15th position out of more than 100 teams that participated in the last all-India inter-university chess championship,” Sinha said.

An overview of the state indicates that chess is mainly concentrated in Jamshedpur and Chakradharpur.

Jamshedpur has Tata Chess Academy, where selected players are trained and given a stipend. And there is a chess academy in Chakradharpur managed by A.K. Meda.

“He spends his own money to train youngsters and sustain his academy,” Sinha said.