Chess champion, but casually

“Chess in Pakistan had no status until two years ago,” informs M Hussein, joint secretary of Chess Fedration of Pakistan, who has accompanied Zohaib to the event. Dwelling further on the game in Pakistan, Hussein, who is also general secretary of the North-West Province Chess Association, says: “It was just confined to households and to a few tournaments. In fact, the nation boasts of only two International Masters, Mehmood Ahmed Lodhi from Lahore and Shehzad Mirza from Karachi. Apart from this Pakistan has four FIDE Masters.

“Then, two years ago, one of the biggest sports sponsors in Pakistan — a tobacco firm — decided to promote the game in a big way. And they changed the entire scenario.” The two IMs and four FMs were the products of the change.

However, the second year B Com student of the Punjab College of Commerce, Zohaib has a sound background. He father Ali Hassan is a builder and an ardent lover of the game. On weekends, Zohaib’s father use to invite his friends to play at his home and Zohaib’s job was to serve them tea and other snacks. He picked up the game from there. Later he bought Chess Masters 2000 programme and started practicing with it. He still finds it a tough opponent.

But he has no aim and doesn’t see himself getting among greats. He is a great fan of none other than Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan and plans to see òf40óHamara Dil Aap Ke Pas Hai at an early opportunity.

Hussein was unsure of getting NOC from government to visit India because India had announced its withdrawal from Sahara Cup cricket tournament held annually in Toronto. But he was surprised when he got NOC immediately.

Hussein says that despite no political will and Kargil, Pakistani òf40óAwam (people) has a great respect for Indians. “Insaallah we will have better understanding and co-operation”.