Chess gets lukewarm response in Hyderabad

Hyderabad:

The creme de la creme of Asian Chess is in Hyderabad for 11 days for the Fifth Asian Individual Chess Championship. But Hyderabad has not lived up to its reputation of being a sport-loving city. "We have to market the game as an intelligent game or a high profile game, so that even corporates can come into the picture, as it will be helpful to build chess as a brand for the company also," said Abhijit Kunte, chess player. "They should promote chess with the help of the stars. That is the only way they can improve," said P Harikrishna, World Junior Champion. Financial constraints The lack of corporate interest has been like adding salt to injury. Two of India's best known players, Koneru Humpy and Dornavalli Harika have seen their sponsors deserting them this year. "These days, I am not playing all the events I wanted to play. I am just skipping some of the events due to financial conditions," said Koneru Humpy, chess player. "It will be very difficult to play any sport without sponsor. Again we should think if we should play or not, because it is very difficullt," added Harika Dronavalli, chess player. India today has more than 5000 chess players competing in the world of Queens, Knights and Bishops, which is a pointer to the popularity of the sport, despite the fact that more than 50 per cent of the young players drop out because of the lack of financial support.