The Centre of Excellence in Sports Science and Analytics (CESSA) of IIT Madras plans to provide chess training programs, solutions for federations to flag cheating and enhance fan engagement to make India a global chess powerhouse.
The Institute made these announcements at Day Two of the ‘Sports Tech Start Up Conclave’ being organized in New Delhi by IIT Madras CESSA. The conclave is sponsored by Dream Sports, Vedanta and SFA Play.
Addressing the Conclave, Sandip Pradhan, Director-General, Sports Authority of India (SAI), said, “This is just a beginning. We have started working with IIT Madras and there is scope to do a lot of collaboration. We would like to strength our collaboration further. To all the entrepreneurs, we are looking to support start-ups. We are looking for opportunities to work with the start-ups. If you have products that you think can be applied in sports bodies, we will work with you. The Government will support not only Research but also products.”
“To all the entrepreneurs, we are looking to support start-ups. We are looking for opportunities to work with the start-ups. If you have products that you think can be applied in sports bodies, we will work with you. The Government will support not only Research but also products.”
Sandip Pradhan, Director-General, Sports Authority of India (SAI)
Pradhan added that they would be happy to collaborate through IIT Madras CESSA to support products that can be integrated into sports bodies. “We would like to be shown the path to support various stakeholders in the sports ecosystem through this forum. The entire country is proud of IIT Madras, especially the way you have developed various technologies and I am sure you will do the same in sports sector as well.”
Sending a message reaffirming the Institutes’ commitment to Sports education, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “Chess is a very interesting and thought-provoking sport that involves lot of pattern-matching and strategies. High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence can play a very crucial role that can aid chess players during the training phase by enumerating several scenarios and the best possible game plans for those. IIT Madras is very keen to develop such platforms with an objective to make Bharat a global chess powerhouse.”
“High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence can play a very crucial role that can aid chess players during the training phase by enumerating several scenarios and the best possible game plans for those.”
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras
IIT M CESSA as part of the push to develop chess further also plans to build a compelling digital destination for chess (content, training) from India.
CESSA will also develop unique technology offerings to ensure that the chess game play is fair by developing technology tools to aid in anti-cheating measure and develop various tools to make online chess more compelling and further increase fan engagement.
Other initiatives include grassroots level popularization of chess by undertaking various technology initiatives. Plans on involving local chess players as the above structure is built to ensure financial benefits for everyone in the ecosystem.
The conclave also featured high powered panel discussions by industry leaders on the topic of ‘Growing Other Sports in India supported by technology and innovation’. Various innovative recommendations were discussed and ways for sports federations, technology players, media platforms and R & D to collaborate to make the game coverage more innovative and engaging.