Agencies

Agartala-based Nirmal Das has so far organised 69 international contests across four formats.

Nirmal Das had on March 28 launched an online chess tournament out of sheer boredom induced by the coronavirus-related lockdown.

The intention of this 39-year-old civil engineer in Tripura’s Public Works Department was to connect with dozen-odd players of the board game in his hometown and State capital Agartala.

In 44 days, the fee-free tournament, played across four formats, has 975 participants from across the globe and counting.

“Chess has been my passion, though not of the digital kind. Boredom because of staying indoors during the initial days of lockdown made me log on to lichess.org, a chess portal. The idea of an online tournament on this platform struck me and I decided to give it a try,” Mr .Das told.