CHENNAI: Three Indian chess players, who are in the Philippines for the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships, were reportedly attacked outside their team hotel on Sunday night. The trio — Vidit Gujrathi (in pic), Abhijit Kunte and MR Lalith Babu — escaped unhurt and the incident came to light after Vidit posted it on his Facebook wall. “Me and my colleagues Abhijit Kunte and Lalith Babu went outside to buy water, but then the most unexpected incident happened,” Vidit wrote. “We were attacked by local goons who possessed weapons. We were cornered and then attacked. We tried to flee but we were chased and finally marginally escaped. We are still trying to recover from this horrible incident.”
All India Chess Federation president secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan revealed that he had been in touch with the players following the incident and that the federation was doing all it could to help them. “I spoke to the players and they are all safe,” Chauhan said. “We spoke to the embassy and to the Asian Chess Federation. Someone from the embassy would have got in touch with the players today. The local police there are also investigating the incident. The organisers have promised me that things will improve.”
Despite the incident, the trio took their place at the board on the opening day of the tournament with largely positive results. Lalith Babu started off with a win against Edsel Montoya of the Philippines and Kunte downed Rogelio Orio of Guam. Vidit though was held by IM Haridas Pascua of the Philippines. Other Indians in the fray — B Adhiban, SP Sethuraman, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Abhimanyu Puranik and Shardul Gagare — all began with wins at the event which is being funded by former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
Vidit also had complaints about the residential facilities. “I had to pay $150 for a room which costs 35-50 as per the hotel and other websites. After paying $150, there is no internet in the room. Food provided is awful. There is even no drinking water in the room,” he wrote on Facebook.