Student of Delhi University to take up road trip to promote chess

In a bid to promote “chess” throughout the country, Delhi University’s student Yogesh Gautam, an international chess player, is all set to create a Guinness World Record by undertaking a road trip from Kashmir to Kanyakumari for the same.

A SRCC graduate, Yogesh has represented India in more than 40 international tournaments including commonwealth chess championship and won the 1st prize at the Annual World Open Chess Championship. However, as a part of crowd funding campaign, the 21-year-old player is seeking supporters through the crowd funding online platform, DesiredWings, which promotes students to raise money from the crowd.

“The objective of the trip is promoting chess in the interiors of the country and highlighting the support needed for the game at the grassroots level. Through this crowd funding campaign, we wish to raise money for the expenditure involved in travelling and we are happy that DesiredWings has extended their support in bringing back the glory of chess in the country,” Mr Gautam said.

The SRCC’s chess champion, along with his friend, will be creating the record by travelling a distance of about 50,000 km by car. He will stop over at pre-selected schools and other identified locations to give free chess lessons to the kids.

The campaign is backed by the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). “I am supporting Yogesh and his team for their passion towards teaching the underprivileged the game of chess across the remote areas of the country which would uniquely promote chess at the national level,” said ACF deputy president Bharat Singh.

“We are equally excited at Yogesh’s confidence and passion to promote chess. His aim is to introduce thousands of students to this sport, which can go a long way in producing chess champions at a later stage, and make Indian chess a global force to reckon with,” said DesiredWings co-founder, Mohammed Sirajuddin.