Mr Bhisham Soondarsingh is at it again. This time the gentleman is threatening to sue DR for his recent column which reported, inter alia, on the success of WFM Javanna Smith who was chosen as First Citizens Sports Foundation's Female Chess Player of the Year.
To gain this accolade, Javanna outscored all other contenders including Mr Soondarsingh's daughter Aditi Soondarsingh. For whatever reason, Mr Soondarsingh became so upset over this simple factual report that he now threatens DR with a libel suit; in fact, he managed to have this threat announced openly at the annual general meeting of the T&T Chess Association on Sunday, April 19.
Before DR goes any further, it seems important to acquaint the chess community with the contents of Mr Soondarsingh's threat which, much to DR's amazement, was actually read out to the AGM by none other than the second vice president Trevor Flower.
The item stated: "This is in reference to an article which appeared in the Guardian newspaper on Thursday 25th February, 2015, under the headline "Let's restore fairplay to T&TCA." Pleased be advised that the process of legal action is being taken on the persons responsible for the contents and publication of the said article with respect to my daughter Ms Aditi Soondarsingh.
Also, be aware that any statement made by anyone with regard to Ms Soondarsingh, on the topic of the said article, can be used in the courts. Please be guided accordingly."
To begin with, DR is still wondering what place the announcement of such a threat has in proceedings of the Association's annual general meeting? What was the purpose of it? How did it advance the business of the AGM? DR repeatedly asked these questions at the meeting but failed to get a satisfactory answer. Mr Soondarsingh, of course, is perfectly free to sue DR for libel with respect to anything appearing in his columns. But what was the need for him to trumpet this gambit which, as a veteran chessplayer, he must know is never a good attacking strategy.
But if Mr Soondarsingh is intent on making a fool of himself then he is also perfectly free to do so.
Clearly the gentleman has little or no idea about what constitutes the offence of libel.
There is absolutely nothing in DR's column of Thursday February 25 that holds up his daughter Aditi Soondarsingh to any kind of abuse or ridicule, gratuitous or otherwise. Essentially, the column recounted the superlative performance of WFM Javanna Smith over the last year and argued that she also deserved to be chosen as the Association's Female Player of the Year.
In this "playoff" it appears to DR that Mr Soondarsingh suffers from a tragic misconception: that in mentioning the comparative performance of his daughter Aditi Soondarsingh, a former women's national chess champion, DR has committed a libellous attack upon her.
It seems sad that Mr Soondarsingh, after a lifetime in the game, is unable to appreciate that the characteristic nature of sport involves both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, and that his daughter, regardless of her past achievements and himself must be big enough to cope with both.
In any case, it is quite evasive of Mr Soondarsingh to make such a threat, to have it officially announced at the Association's AGM and not explain how and in what way he sees DR's report as libelling his daughter.
The column simply stated facts, all of which DR has checked and double checked to be true. And because these facts spoke for themselves, no further comment whatever, favourable or otherwise, on the performance of Aditi Soondarsingh seemed necessary.
DR also reported the observations of Russel Smith, Fide of Americas official and Javanna's father, in correcting wrong information given at the prize-giving about his daughter's performance.
Indeed, although the Association's faulty report was quite injurious to his daughter, Smith was quite satisfied with simply setting the record straight. No threats of libel from him.
But even if, for argument's sake, any result of Aditi Soondarsingh's games was incorrectly reported, that error, if pointed out, could easily have been corrected also and only a self-agitated individual would regard such a lapse as libellous.
So DR must now ask, what really is Mr Soondarsingh up to? Is his bogus libel threat, read out to the Association's AGM, an attempt to embarrass or intimidate this columnist? Maybe, but to DR Mr Soondarsingh's ill-considered gambit seems more the stuff of comedy than anything else.
Perhaps the most fitting riposte is for DR to threaten to counter-sue Mr Soondarsingh for defamation of character.