When the Iran Chess Federation lost electricity for two hours in round 2 of the Asian Continental Hybrid Chess Championship, the story appeared in most major newspapers in Iran. Actually, electrical power is rationed in Tehran and two hour blackouts are scheduled daily.
The news shocked readers in Iran. They learned that their national players had to continue playing worried that their laptops or mobile hotspot would run out of battery power. Top seed GM Parham Maghsoodloo suffered an upset loss. GM Aryan Gholami, Orini Mahdi Gholami and FM Abtin Atakhan lost their round 2 games and the distraction and stress in losing electrical power was blamed.
Aran Energy Systems, a private company in Iran, came to the rescue and donated a $10,000 generator to the Iran Chess Federation. In photo are, from left, Engineer Hassanpour, Pahlevanzadeh and Madani.
