First of all thank you for your concern. Let me give you further details which you have sought from me.

It was from a section of the print media that I came to know that I was banned from representing India from official International events for one year with immediate effect (see stories above). However I have not yet received any communication regarding the decision of the AICF in this regard. As I understand, the charge against me was my non-participation in the Indian Championship held in Mangalore in December 2008.

I accepted the invitation from the organizers of the Carlos Torre Memorial tournament in Mexico on 21st July 2008.Accordingly they sent me an air-ticket Bombay-Paris, Paris-Mexico city, Mexico city-Merida and back. On the other hand the schedule of the Indian Championship was confirmed much later. Naturally, I wrote to the All India Chess Federation (AICF) expressing my inability to participate in the Indian Championship owing to my prior commitment in Carlos Torre Memorial tournament. Incidentally it’s to be noted that the schedule of both the tournaments clashed with each other. I had to honor my previous commitment and hence had to skip the Indian championship.

In February 2009, I was issued a show cause notice by the AICF for my non-participation in the Indian Championship and for my participation in the Mexican tournament. Further I was asked about my non-participation in some past events, namely the Canadian Open in July 2008 and the India-Armenia friendly match for youth, December 2008. In fact in all these cases I had expressed my inability to participate much before they took place, and it is disheartening that the All India Chess Federation brought back these issues and considered it a misconduct.

The decision of the All India Chess Federation to ban me for one year from the Indian team, if correct, is really shocking to me. In such a situation I am afraid, I may not be able to participate in the forthcoming Asian Individual Championship and the World Junior Championship. As regards the World Junior, it’s my last chance in the junior category.

I am thankful to the Chess Players Association of India (CPAI) and the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) for their concern.

Yours truly,
Gopal