Five-time world champion Anand was in Germany to take part in the Bundesliga chess tournament and before he could return, the travel restrictions came calling in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
British chess legend and FIDE (world chess federation) vice-president Nigel Short, who participated, said he was glad to be of help in the fight against COVID-19.
Secretary and convenor of the five-member panel Naresh Sharma took strong objections to Despande's recent statement against the decisions taken by the AICF general body meeting held online recently.
The 50-year-old reflected on sports in time of worldwide lockdowns and said chess seems to have coped well so far.
A total of 17 Grandmasters and over 180 chess players participated came together to take part in an online blitz event to raise over Rs 2.39 lakh towards the PM CARES Fund for COVID-19 relief.
Some young chess players from across the country hosted an online tournament and raised Rs 1.05 lakh while noted coach R B Ramesh collected funds through his 'Chess Gurukul' with GM P Harikrishna contributing Rs 2 lakh and Karthikeyan Murali donating Rs 25,000.
Indian teen chess players are taking it to online tournaments.
A former national Under-12 chess champion, India cricketer Chahal has the distinction of having represented the country at the World Youth Chess Championships, and is listed on the World Chess Federation (FIDE) website.
The AICF also asked the state associations to avoid any state-level events till April 15.
FIDE had recently recognised a new set of office-bearers of AICF after they were declared elected unopposed by the returning officer for the election.
If proven guilty, they may have to face imprisonment for two years for defaming the current Secretary of the BCA, who is also a member of the Education Commission of FIDE.
Indian chess grandmaster Konero Humpy won the Cairns Cup tournament to reclaim the world no. 2 rank.
Ajay Patel has been elected as president, Bharat Singh Chauhan as secretary, Naresh Sharma as treasurer, M Arun Singh as joint secretary and Vipnesh Bharadwaj as vice-president.
World Rapid Champion Koneru Humphy and Harika Dronavalli are ranked as world number three and nine respectively in the women's section.
The polls will be held to elect the president, six vice presidents, one honorary secretary, six joint secretaries and one treasurer.
Prithu Gupta, who picked up the sport as a nine-year-old, has achieved the sensational feat at the age of 15 years, 4 months and 10 days.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly met in Bangkok on March 3 and its president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad Al-Sabah officially confirmed the development to World Chess Federation (WCF) president Arkady Dvorkovich.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has removed the restrictive undertaking that players had to give while registering themselves with the body, which sought to comply with the Competition Commission of India's order.
Anand, the reigning world rapid chess champion, also said the constant zigzagging of the three formats was unhelpful.
The Indian women came almost close to beating sole leaders United States but eventually had to settle for a draw.
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