Chess for freedom: Pune jail inmates square off with FIDE players

Pune, June 20 (PTI) A gold medalist team of the Yerwada Central Prison here on Thursday played chess with players and officials of FIDE as part of the second `Chess for Freedom’ conference.

The three-day event, organised in collaboration with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and IndianOil, got underway inside the jail on June 19.

Officials and chess players from FIDE and IndianOil interacted with the prison’s chess team and played with them, said an official of the Maharashtra prisons department.

In October 2023, the Yerawada Central Prison team won the gold medal at the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners by defeating a team from El Salvador.

The objective of the conference is to provide chess training to inmates of various prisons worldwide and organize competitions for them.

“The idea is to build confidence among inmates, showing them that they possess valuable skills that can help them live with dignity in society after their release from prison,” said the official.

Amitabh Gupta, additional director general (prisons), said similar chess teams would be formed in every prison in Maharashtra, and the inmates, including women, would be encouraged to participate.

Special remission was granted to the members of the gold medalist team of the Yerwada prison as an encouragement, he noted.

Chess was introduced at the prison as an experiment last year, Gupta said.

“Within a year, it led to the organization of this international conference,” he said.

Now, some 200 male and female inmates are learning chess as part of IndianOil’s Parivartan program. The prison houses more than 6,500 inmates.

Mikhail Korenman, social commission councilor, FIDE, appreciated the effort.

“We are privileged to start our conference by meeting the winning team,” he said.