Rollback of cash incentives not ideal for chess parents: Arjun Erigaisi

Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi has expressed contrasting views on the Sports Ministry’s recent rollback of incentives for junior athletes, and in particular the revision that impacts chess players.

Erigaisi believes that stopping cash awards for players that attain Grandmaster and International Master norms would intensify the financial burden on the families of the players.

The revision

The matter is pertaining to the Sports Ministry’s recent announcement of a revision to the 'Scheme of Cash Awards to Medal Winners In International Sports Events and their Coaches'.

Per the revision, which came into effect on the 1st of February, there will no cash awards for athletes that win medals for India at junior international events.

Erigaisi’s observation is one that alludes to a rollback in cash awards to the tune of INR 4 lakhs and 1.5 lakhs that were previously handed to chess players for attaining the norms of International Grand Master (IGM), International Master (IM) and International Woman Master (IWM) respectively.

Incentives for major wins

The 21 year old Grandmaster, however, went on to add that the lack of cash incentives would not necessarily demotivate youngsters.

"If it is actually the case that it is stopped now, then it's definitely not something that would demotivate a lot of young children as they don't care about the money aspect," Erigaisi told PTI.

The new incentive scheme, will however, continue to reward chess players for victories, not at junior events, but for World Chess Championship (biennial), Chess Olympiad (biennial), FIDE Candidates (biennial, which may be treated at par with the World Championship) and Asian Continental Chess Championship.