Avari’s achievement

Chess has finally made its moves to arrive at the Asian Games. It is among the 33 disciplines scheduled for the Asiad in Doha, Qatar in December 2006 — the first time the Middle East will host an Asian Games, states a report of April 16 by Dharmendra Jore in The Indian Express. It was the persistent efforts of FIDE (world chess body) and Asian chess playing nations which resulted in the inclusion, the paper adds.

At the Variegated International Chess Championship held at Hastings in England in early 2003, world champion and FIDE chess master Viraf Avari won three prizes, writes Prof S. M. Ambani, ex-principal, Arts College, Valsad. The different classes in the tournament saw a record 570 entries from 28 countries. It was Avari’s eighth consecutive year of participation at chess championships in the UK, the solitary Parsi to do so, Ambani notes.