KOCHI: Life in the time of Covid has been full of surprises for Malayalis — some of them sore, but many ended up touching our hearts. One such gesture came from the Czech Republic. Lending a helping hand to Kerala’s Covid vaccine challenge, a collective of Chess enthusiasts organised a charity chess exhibition with 20 participants on June 29. The initiative was led by Czech Grandmaster David Navara in Prague, and raised around 6,285 Euros. (Rs 5,57,000)
The collected amount was deposited to Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) on July 10.
It all started with a friendship beyond borders between two chess organisers. “I attended the ‘Chess Train’ event organised by Pavel Matocha, a chess enthusiast, in 2019 and liked the idea of playing chess ‘on wheels.’ With the support of like-minded people, we formed ‘Orient Chess Moves’ and hosted Chess Houseboat with Kerala Tourism Department in February 2020. Matocha flew in with his family to participate in the event and enjoy our hospitality. The pandemic derailed our plans to conduct similar events,” said Anil Kumar, founding member of Orient Chess Moves and president of ‘Chess Kerala’, an organisation of chess players in the state.
Ever since the inception of #VaccineChallenge, Chess Kerala has been organising international chess events to raise funds. “We have generated around Rs 3.46 lakh towards the cause. Two members from the Czech Republic also contributed. But the charity’s simultaneous chess exhibition was a surprise. Matocha sent me an email on June 24 informing me that they are going to organise a competition to support Kerala’s vaccination drive.
The mail also mentioned the participation of the ambassador of India to the Czech Republic, Hemant H Kotalwar and a few other celebrities,” he said.Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babiš himself turned up as one of the participants. “We never expected that the Prime Minister himself would participate. The ambassador called me up to know about our activities in Kerala and appreciated our efforts. Their former health minister Roman Prymula and a few other Parliament members also joined their PM,” added Anil.