This story is from September 22, 2019

E4 time for Mumbai’s first woman international arbiter

A few months ago, 42-year-old Preeti Deshmukh quietly followed a young girl to the restroom and pressed her ear to the door. She is not a detective and she even resented it a bit, but such breaches of privacy are well within the Borivli resident’s job description. As a chess arbiter, Deshmukh was merely trying to find out why the girl’s game seemed to improve dramatically after her bathroom break. Had the teen somehow sneaked in a mobile phone, that deceptive modern device which, like an analogue watch, is as good as contraband in a chess tournament?
E4 time for Mumbai’s first woman international arbiter
Preeti Deshmukh is waiting for the World Youth chess championship next month to make her debut as an international arbiter
MUMBAI: A few months ago, 42-year-old Preeti Deshmukh quietly followed a young girl to the restroom and pressed her ear to the door. She is not a detective and she even resented it a bit, but such breaches of privacy are well within the Borivli resident’s job description. As a chess arbiter, Deshmukh was merely trying to find out why the girl’s game seemed to improve dramatically after her bathroom break.
Had the teen somehow sneaked in a mobile phone, that deceptive modern device which, like an analogue watch, is as good as contraband in a chess tournament?
Soon, though, Deshmukh’s official black blazer may present her with far better problems, such as how to talk slowly so that a young German player can comprehend her or how to make that Russian teen miss her mother less. These are the questions that preoccupy the salwar-kameez-favouring Deshmukh right now as she mentally preps for October’s World Youth chess championship, the event in the city that might mark her debut both as an international arbiter (IA) and a wearer of pants.
Just last week, on September 16, FIDE — World Chess Federation — awarded Deshmukh the title of international arbiter, making the 42-year-old chess coach the first woman in the city, the second in the state and fifth in the country to hold the rare honour.
The role not only allows her to officiate in international chess championships but also promises Deshmukh, who had been drawing Rs 1,200 as a senior national arbiter so far, a per-match-day pay of Rs 1,500. “It feels like the baby’s finally out,” says Deshmukh, whose labour pains for the prestigious orange IA badge began over nine months ago.
Spanning Jaipur Cup in August 2018 to the 12th Mumbai Mayor’s Cup this June, her proverbial pregnancy term saw her not only officiating in three cities to complete the three norms (exams) that are needed for the title but also suffering silent ignominies as a woman in the arena..
It was to escape the inevitable boredom that engulfed her outside chess tournament venues while she waited long hours for her husband and her brother, both internationally rated players, that Deshmukh, who began playing chess in the seventh standard and went on to become a chess gold medallist in college, first considered donning the arbiter blazer.
“I didn’t like jabbering with the others or reading to evade small talk so I volunteered to go in and help out,” says Deshmukh, who would happily fetch medicines, write certificates and idolise arbiters such as one Ramanathan who once curtly told a chief guest to switch off his mobile phone. Soon, she went on to earn the national arbiter title in 1994, an honour that is now wiped out because of various political reasons.
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