MAM
AICF, SportzPR to hold biggest Asian chess tourney in December
MUMBAI: The All India Chess Frederation (AICF) and sports communication consultancy, SportzPR has announced that it will organise A Category 20 Super Grandmaster World Invitation chess tournament.
The nearly three-week event with 13 rounds is scheduled to take place in December 2003 in Mumbai. Top players like Gary Kasparov, V Kramnik, Anand, Judit Polgar will participate. A Category 20 is a Super Grandmaster tournament where the average international rating of the players is above 2700 ELO. India’s second Super Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran will also be seen in action.
Currently, the two companies are talking with various sponsors. SportzPR president and CMCG India MD Samir Kale said that besides Doordarshan, other private broadcasters have expressed interest in covering the tournament.
According to Kale: ” This tournament is not going to be difficult to sell as there are celebrities involved. It is not just brilliant minds that we are talking about here. In addition there has been a viewership shift this year from just cricket to other sports where Indians have excelled in the international arena such as hockey, football and chess. We are trying to finalise an arrangement wherein the last 45 minutes of a chess game can be shown live. The event will also be broadcast on the web. In addition we will be putting up on giant screens in different locations of the country.”
The tournament is being organised by Venus Chess Academy. Maharastra Chess Association president Raghunandan Gokhale said, ” The reason we are holding the tournament towards the end of the year is because the players have a hectic schedule. Therefore they have to be contracted well in advance. Also in December children have time on their hands.”
“We will be organising attractions leading up to the event. These will kick off three to four days before the start of the tournament. You will see a Super Grandmaster play blindfold exhibition matches. There will also be five-minute Blitz chess duels. We will organise a series of lectures, which will be conducted by the GMs and coaches so that people interested in learning more about the game can benefit,” he said
“We will also be taking the lecture and training sessions to other parts of the country as well. The total prize money on offer for the tournament will be Rs 30,00,000. Our goal is to make this an annual event. In December we expect around 5000 people to be in attendance and therefore we are still in the process of finalising arrangements for the venue,” he added.
In addition Venus Chess Academy will also organise the Commonwealth Chess Championship in February 2004. This will be done on behalf of the Commonwealth Chess Association. The AICF is hoping to host this event annually as well if the other commonwealth nations do not express interest.
MAM
Sleepwell unveils nationwide sleep study on World Sleep Day
79 per cent use screens before bed, 36 per cent of 18–25-year-olds sleep ≤5 hours.
MUMBAI: Sleepwell just dropped the pillow truth bomb because when India’s sleeping less and scrolling more, even the mattress wants to stage an intervention. On World Sleep Day 2026, Sleepwell released its nationwide Sleep Study, painting a stark picture of India’s escalating sleep crisis. The findings show that 79% of Indians use screens right before bed, fuelling restless nights and drowsy days. Alarmingly, 36% of young adults aged 18–25 sleep five hours or less making them the country’s most sleep-deprived group.
The study also busts the myth of “catch-up sleep”, 65% of respondents actually sleep even later on weekends, pointing to increasingly irregular patterns that spill fatigue into the working week. Mattress discomfort emerged as a frequently overlooked culprit behind late-night wake-ups and constant leak-anxiety checks.
To drive the message home, Sleepwell’s CMO Puneet Gulati appeared on Zee Business, stressing that quality sleep isn’t a luxury, it’s foundational health. He highlighted how the right mattress can transform restless nights into restorative ones.
The brand doubled down with clever late-night activations, partnering with a quick-commerce platform to serve contextual ads between 11 pm and 3 am, gently nudging bleary-eyed scrollers to consider mattress discomfort as the reason they’re still awake and pointing them to the nearest Sleepwell store. Digital influencers and creators also shared relatable stories of how poor sleep fuels impulsive late-night behaviour.
In a nation that celebrates hustle but quietly pays for it in lost rest, Sleepwell isn’t just selling mattresses, it’s selling the radical idea that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is close your eyes and actually sleep well.
