S. Vishnu Sharma
CESSA showcased plans to make India a Global Chess Powerhouse using technology-driven tools.
They are aimed at enhancing fan engagement, provide solutions for federations to flag cheating and chess training programs to further grow the sports at the grassroots level.
CESSA
CESSA stands for Center of Excellence in Sports Science and Analytics, it is located at IIT Madras.
The Institute made these announcements today (13th July 2024) 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, say sources from CESSA.
Beginning
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.’ He further said We will be very 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, he said.
Director of IIT Madras
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.
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IIT Madras is very keen to develop such platforms with an objective to make Bharat a global chess powerhouse, he said.
Courses
IIT Madras CESSA also plans to offer courses for upgrading skills and undertake specific steps to train various players in the sports value chain in India as part of its sports education initiative.
These initiatives will cover sportspersons, PE instructors, coaches, referees, analysts, physiologists, nutritionists, umpires, sports presenters and management personnel. As part of this IIT Madras CESSA plans to launch five new courses in sports on NPTEL in the coming months.
Vision
Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, and Head of CESSA, IIT Madras spoke about IIT Madras vision for sports education aided by technology.
Today, IIT Madras launches innovative technology-driven initiatives in sports, also aiming to revolutionize sports education, empower chess federations with anti-cheating solutions, and pioneer grassroots training programs, said Prof Mahesh, head of CESSA.
This underscores our commitment to advancing sports education, nurturing talent across all levels of the sports ecosystem and using technology to further elevate India’s place in the chess world, he said.
Consideration
Also under consideration are courses in AI/ML and Data Science Certificate Courses for students with sports examples integrated into it, say sources from CESSA.
IIT M also plans to launch Bachelor of Sports Science Course and a Bachelors and Masters in Sports Management in the future. IITM CESSA also.
Industry connect
All the sports courses that IITM CESSA launches will have strong industry connects as well as linkages with various initiatives of IITM CESSA in Sports Science and product development for the athletes and sports federations.
Some of these courses will be developed in partnership with leading players in the specific vertical, say sources from CESSA.
The students will also have exposure to developing analytics for media platforms and exposure to various sports tech startups incubated as part of some of these courses, say sources from CESSA.
Digital destination
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.
Unique technology
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
Other initiatives include
Ø Grassroots level popularization of chess by undertaking various technology initiatives
Ø Plans on involving local chess players as the above structure is built to ensure financial benefits for everyone in the ecosystem
Panel discussions
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,’ say sources from CESSA.
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.