Indian Chess players robbed in Spain during Chess tournament

Indian Grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik won the 10th Chessable Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival 2023 but the tournament is in the news for an unfortunate incident where multiple Indian Chess players were robbed.

The Indian players suffered a nightmarish experience as they were robbed of their valuables, cash, and passports from the apartments they were residing in.

Multiple Indian players including Grandmaster Sankalp Gupta, International Master Dushyant Sharma, Women International Master Mounika Akshaya, and Arpita Mukherjee were among the victims.

Sharing his experience with Chessbase India, GM Sankalp Gupta said, "On 19th December there was a break-in at my Sunway Apollo Apartment. My laptop and AirPods were stolen as my roommate’s laptop, passport, bag, and other items were. We got to know about this after we returned from our game at 9 pm. Later on 22nd December, there was a similar break-in in my friend Mounika’s apartment at Sunway San Jorge."

"Later in the night, the worst so far- another break-in at Sunway Arizona while my friends (Arpita and Vishwa) were sleeping. Their laptops and mobile phones were stolen," he said further.

Later Mounika Akshaya, Vishwa Shah, and Arpita Mukherjee confirmed the same in their respective tweets.

"During the night, between 2-6 am, a robbery occurred in our apartment. The perpetrators took Arpita's laptop and Vishwa's phone from the room where we were sleeping. Additionally, they moved our sling bags to the hall, emptied their contents, and stole money from our bags," Arpita and Vishwa said in a joint statement.

The official statement from tournament organizers mentions the local staff assisting Indian players but there has been no concrete result in the investigation done by local authorities.