Councillor at the FIDE Fair Play Commission
Ratings Officer – India
Sports administrator – Government of India Ministry of Defense
FIDE International Arbiter (Category A)
FIDE Instructor
Gopakumar is ‘A’ Classified International Arbiter, FIDE Lecturer and FIDE Instructor. Currently he is employed with the Government of India Ministry of Defense as a sports administrator. He is a postgraduate in social sciences and he studied law.
He has been a Chief Arbiter/Deputy Chief Arbiter/Arbiter officiated in Olympiads, many FIDE and Continental events. Recently officiated as Deputy Chief Arbiter for the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai 2022. Even though he is not a member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Gopakumar has actively contributed to the formulation of the last four editions of the FIDE Arbiters’ Manual.
Fair Play –
Gopakumar has been an active member in different Fair Play Panels for many cases and events, having an active role in creating the fair play regulations. He was Fair Play Officer/Anti Cheating Arbiter for World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Poland 2021, FIDE Online Chess Olympiad 2021, World Youth Chess Championship in Mumbai 2019, at the Chess Olympiads at Baku 2016 and Batumi 2018 and also many International Norm tournaments.
Fair Play Vision –
“Fair Play is the basic ethics of any sports discipline and in chess it plays a pivotal role. After the pandemic, the world is more aware about the possibilities and challenges involved for Fair Play in Chess. The cheating incidents and accusations bring a lot of disrepute to the game which will negatively impact the growth. The collective effort of all the stakeholders is the need of the hour to eradicate the menace.”
Contact:
legal.fpl@fide.com
gopakumarchess@gmail.com