The Chess Carnival which has grown into a popular international event over the last 12 years will not be held this year.
This is the sad news which Edison Raphael, president of the T&T Chess Foundation, announced in his address to the Rhand Scholastic Chess Challenge in Tobago on Saturday.
"We have come to this painful decision," he said, "as a result of action taken by the National Chess Association resulting in the reduction in sponsorship support for the event."
This made it impossible for the T&TCF to stage the Chess Carnival this year, he added.
As far as DR is concerned, this abrupt shutdown of the Carnival and the reason given by the Foundation for it seems both inexplicable and depressing. The idea that the national chess body, responsible for propagating the celebrated mind game in our country, can be so oblivious of its raison detre that it would undermine, deliberately or not, the progressive thrust of the foundation is really not easy to digest.
Hopefully, the loss of the Chess Carnival will only be temporary. As the only annual event attracting to our shores chess players from across the region and beyond, it became a unique asset demonstrating, somewhat like cricket, the unifying influence of the royal game.
It was even more valuable as an opportunity for our players to measure their skills against the best of the region and to improve their ILO rating without the expense of having to travel to overseas tournaments.
Let us hope that the Foundation would regain the level of sponsorship required to rescue the Chess Carnival from oblivion and so retain its great value to the development of the sport.
But the tragedy does not end there.
"Sad to say," Raphael continues, "this is not the first time we have experienced this type of action by our national body. This has also happened in the past, bringing to an abrupt end two other major chess events organised by the foundation, namely the Junior Chess Grand Prix and the Open section of the Chess Carnival. Unfortunately, these two tournaments have never been replaced.
"We will not be surprised if this apparent determination to undermine our efforts would now be directed to our expanding efforts to promote chess in Tobago.
"The concept that chess now represents an important developmental tool, particularly in the field of education, is now well recognised and, as a result, it seems seriously lacking in vision for the Chess Association to seek to retard the efforts of the Chess Foundation."
Raphael told his young listeners that it was not his intention to burden them with this sad display of chess politics. "But," he added, "if chess teaches us about life, there are vital lessons for you to learn from our experience. And the lesson for you is this, whatever you do in life, whatever are your dreams, your purpose and ambition, never give up, keep striving to achieve your goals as, indeed, we will!"
The charges which the Foundation has levelled against the national chess body are quite serious. They come from an organisation whose contribution to the sport has been long, obvious, wide-ranging and commendably selfless.
It is a contribution that should be admired and supported and DR must now wonder why the Association, even if it lacks the foundation for praise, should seek in any way to curtail the Foundation's obvious success in advancing the sport, especially among our young people.
Sponsorship is the life blood of every sporting organisation in the country. In this regard, the association itself benefits from a fairly generous annual subvention from the government plus various forms of assistance from FIDE, the world chess body. By comparison, the foundation, a non-profit organisation, must solicit its operational funds entirely from the country's corporate sector.
Why then should the T&TCA seek to poach upon the Foundation's sponsorship to the extent of seriously affecting the progress of this valuable sport?