Parents forego comfort, sit on floor during tourney at PU

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, July 16

During the ongoing National Chess U-17 Championships many parents of participants were seen sitting on the floor, even grabbing some space on the staircase for hours inside the building of the Directorate of Sports, Panjab University.

While participants were playing inside the venue, their parents were waiting outside with big hopes of watching their wards win. If space was a constraint, many grabbed a corner on the staircase or opted to wait outside the venue just to ensure that they are there when their wards call.

“My 15-year-old daughter is playing inside. Since it will take at least 30 minutes for her match, I decided to rest on the floor. We arrived here on July 14 and still not able to get proper rest. We left the hotel around 9 am in the morning. She will play another round after 1 pm,” said Madhureema from Maharashtra. “This is the (name) calling area. The pressure inside the venue is intense. And I am just sitting here to watch my son come out of that (entrance) door with a winning smile,” added Prabhu Chandra, a parent from Telangana.

Interestingly, the spectators’ stand inside the venue was almost empty. “Many parents have superstitions of not watching their wards play. The spectators stand has a huge capacity here, but unlike any other sport, there has to be pin-drop silence in chess matches. This is another reason that people avoid sitting inside the venue. Outside, they can use their mobile phones or talk to fellow parents and even watch the board game online. One has limited view from the spectator stand here,” said Anant P Kamra, a former chess player.

As per records, a total of 216 boys and 109 girls are participating in this nine-day event.