Gangtok hosts 5th North East Fide Rating Chess Tournament

The 5th North East Fide Rating Chess Tournament saw an enthusiastic participation of young players in the five daylong event, which concluded in Gangtok on Thursday.

Chess, which is not so popular in the region, is slowly catching up in Sikkim as score of aged and young players passionately participated in the event.

Majority of the participants in the tournament were from the Sikkim and Manipur states. Players from Sikkim however, were not able to make it to the top twenty positions, regardless of their impressive performance.

"For Sikkim it is a historic event because prior to this no tournament took place and our establishment took place two years ago. But in such a short span only Sikkim chess association had done several great works," said General Secretary, Sikkim Chess Association, Mahendra Dhakal.

Political secretary to Chief Minister of Sikkim, K N Rai awarded the winners.

FIDE is a French acronym for Federation Internationale des Echecs or World Chess Federation it is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition.

The event was organised by the 'Sikkim Chess Association'. (ANI)