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Abhijeet Gupta had won the Odisha Open Chess Tournament earlier this year but he has not received its prize money yet. Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet has expressed disappointment over this and appealed for help from the government. Abhijeet tweeted on social media platform ‘X’ on Saturday (May 9) and urged the Sports Ministry to intervene in this matter.

 
After Abhijeet’s tweet, All India Chess Federation (AICF) has assured that the matter will be resolved soon. AICF has said that necessary steps are being taken to pay his prize money. According to sources of news agency PTI, there is internal discord going on in the Odisha Chess Federation and its bank account has been frozen, due to which the organizers are not able to pay the dues.

Prize money was to be received within a month

Abhijeet wrote on It’s not just a matter of prize money. This is also a matter to the dignity and confidence of every chess player in India.

Abhijeet won the competition in January and claims he owes the organizers Rs 5.5 lakh. He told PTI, ‘I won the Odisha Open title in January this year. The organizers had assured me that the prize money would be paid within a month but it did not happen. After this, when I questioned him about this, he stopped answering.

Abhijeet further said, ‘Victory and defeat are part of a player’s journey but it hurts when you win and still do not get what you deserve.’

Chaos going on in Odisha Chess Federation

An AICF source said Odisha Open organizers are unable to pay Abhijeet as his bank account was frozen due to the ongoing internal feud within the state federation. The source said, ‘There is infighting within the state federation, rival factions are embroiled in disputes among themselves, due to which accounts have been frozen and players are not getting their dues.’