A personal view of Australian and International Politics : February 2026

Saturday, 28 February 2026

Riverina community steps up to feed baby rhino after mum abandons him at birth.

Extract from ABC News

19 hours ago

A baby rhino rejected by its mother at birth has been embraced by local residents and businesses. (Supplied: Altina Wildlife Park)

In short:

A southern white rhino was recently born at the Altina Wildlife Park in western Riverina, but was abandoned by its mother at birth.

The community stepped up to help pay for the bags of specialised and expensive milk that CK needs to survive.

What's next?

The southern white rhino is a near-threatened species, and CK will be an important addition to breeding efforts across Australasia.

CK the baby rhino loves nothing more than to splash in puddles, scratch up against his roller toy and play with his best friend Willow, an Asian water buffalo.

A brown water buffalo stands over a pool of mud with a small brown baby rhino — CK shares a pen with Willow the Asian water buffalo. (Contributed: Altina Wildlife Park)

But this 93-kilogram southern white rhinoceros, born on January 7 at the Altina Wildlife Park in southern New South Wales, had a tough start to life.

His mum Tatu rejected him after a complicated birth.

"I think the trauma of having baby at her feet, wanting to drink from her — she's never done that before — and having all these after-birth complications, I think she just went, 'Nup, it's just a little bit too much,'" the park's animal and operations manager Rebecca Surian said.

A smiling young woman holds a wild dog while standing near a fence in a zoo. — Rebecca Surian is passionate about wildlife conservation. (Supplied: Rebecca Surian)

It was a sad but not uncommon situation, similar to the one that confronted viral video sensation "Punch" the monkey recently.

In this instance, giving birth to a 65-kilogram calf was just too much for a first-time mum.

A small brown rhino calf looks over his fencing to a pen with two larger adult rhinos — CK has to be raised in a separate pen after his mother Tatu abandoned him. (Contributed: Altina Wildlife Park)

"She had a retained placenta, and she did split a little bit giving birth to the big boy … so it was a bit of a shock for poor mum," Ms Surian said.

CK will form part of the Southern White Rhino Breeding program at Altina Park, which is part of an Australasian conservation program.

But with no other white rhino females able to help provide milk, the cost of feeding and raising CK has meant the team has had to rely partly on community donations.

"To begin with, he was drinking on average 8 to 10 litres a day," Ms Surian said.

"By the time he turned one month old, he had doubled that.

"When he is 200 kilos, which could only be in a couple of months' time, he could be drinking 40 litres of milk a day."

A brown baby rhino stands on dirt in the shade. — CK is two months old and is already 105 kilograms. (Contributed: Altina Wildlife Park)

The community was keen to help, with several residents and local businesses providing enough money to cover three months' worth of milk, at a cost of more than $200 a week.

"It's amazing to see that the locals love him as much as we do," Ms Surian said.

The bigger conservation picture

A brown baby rhino sleeps on a stack of yellow hay — CK is the first baby rhino to be born for the Southern White Rhino Program at Altina Wildlife Park in Darlington Point. (Supplied: Altina Wildlife Park)

The southern white rhino is classified as a near-threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

After a boom in the early 1900s, the species became a target for poachers between 2012 and 2021, which saw their numbers drop from more than 21,000 to an estimated 15,942, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

Ms Surian said CK's birth marked an important addition to rhino conservation efforts and breeding programs throughout Australasia.

"Tatu has never produced calves here in Australia — being from Germany, her genetics have never been represented in the country," she said.

"The fact that she's got a young little boy means that he would be compatible to breed with numerous other females in the country because he's not related to them.

"Even his father, Kai, from what I understand, only has one living relative left in the country as well."

Two large brown rhino's stand on grass looking at the camera. — CK's father Kei (front) and mother Tatu (back). (Supplied: Altina Wildlife Park)

It can take up to six or seven years for rhinos like CK to become ready to breed.

"He's very cute and worth it — we owe it to him and rhinos in Australasia and the world, so fingers crossed that this continues going as smoothly as it has been."

A brown rhino stands on grass looking away from the camera. — CK will be an important addition to the rhino conservation efforts and breeding program throughout Australasia. (Supplied: Altina Wildlife Park)

Temporary reprieve for Gaza healthcare system as Israel's attempt to block Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups is stopped.

Extract from ABC News

By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran, Sami Sockol and ABC staff in Gaza

Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War

2 hours ago

A man with a solemn expression sits inside a large but dishevelled tent. — Gazan man Jibril Najjar says the work of Doctors Without Borders saved his leg from a gunshot wound. (ABC News)

In short:

Almost 40 aid agencies — including Doctors Without Borders — were to be banned from operating in Gaza this weekend for not complying with an Israeli government requirement to hand over detailed staff information.

On Friday, Israel's Supreme Court temporarily halted the ban, while it considers a legal challenge from the some of the humanitarian agencies.

Doctors Without Borders, which has 1,200 staff across Gaza, fears the measures will put patients at risk and leave a gap in the healthcare system that cannot be filled.

From his tent perched on top of the rubble of a former building in southern Gaza, Jibril Najjar cautiously navigated a path down from the shelter to the street.

He was propped up by a single crutch, with his left leg pinned together by painful and almost industrial looking scaffolding.

Jibril had been shot in the leg, and his injury required surgery to insert a metal plate.

Despite that treatment, he is now making a sobering and shocking prediction about the state of healthcare available in Gaza, exacerbated by the departure of some international humanitarian organisations.

"If Médecins Sans Frontières shuts down, I swear to God … I will die. I will lose my leg," he told the ABC.

"Where shall I go? To whom?"

A man sits on a low concrete blog inside a tent, one of his legs held by metal scaffolding. — Jibril Najjar believes he would have lost his leg if it wasn't for Doctors Without Borders. (ABC News)

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known as Doctors Without Borders in English, is among almost 40 international agencies the Israeli government had been trying to ban from operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank from the beginning of March.

It was the culmination of months of pressure from Israeli authorities for organisations to hand over detailed staffing lists and personal data about employees, following an Israeli government decision in December 2024.

A group of humanitarian organisations this week petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to suspend the measures, arguing it would cause "irreparable harm" to civilians, and on Friday the court agreed to temporarily delay the ban while it considered their case.

It is not yet clear how that injunction will change the situation on the ground, particularly given the fact some of the organisations had already withdrawn foreign staff from the enclave.

"The demand to transfer personal data raises acute security and legal risks," aid group Oxfam, which is also getting kicked out, said in a statement prior to the court's ruling.

"It exposes national staff to potential retaliation and undermines established data protection and confidentiality safeguards."

Human Rights Watch was among the organisations to argue the demands "violate the humanitarian principles of neutrality and independence", listing agencies such as the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children as also being kicked out.

In late January, MSF said it had agreed to hand over a "defined list" of staffing details to avoid being kicked out of the Palestinian territories.

But days later, it walked that back following concerns from staff that such a move put their safety at risk.

MSF head of emergencies in Gaza, Claire Nicolet, said the organisation was trying to work with Israeli authorities but did not feel comfortable handing over a list of its staff without discussion.

"We have no understanding of how this list will be used, to who it will be shared or anything like this — because up to now, we couldn't manage to have an open dialogue with the Israeli authorities," she said.

Claire Nicolet says MSF has been trying to answer the Israeli authorities' requests. (ABC News)

In early February, Israeli government minister Amichai Chikli, accused MSF of refusing to be transparent and claimed it employed "individuals active in terrorist organisations".

MSF labelled that a "smear campaign" designed to "distract attention away from the humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza, adding it "would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity".

Man spends eight days in hospital after gunshot wound

Jibril Najjar is among the Palestinians in Gaza who have been relying on organisations like MSF for care.

When he was shot, he said he lay waiting for treatment in the Al-Shifa Hospital for eight days.

"No-one even looked at me over there," he told the ABC.

"When I was taken to MSF they did the operation on the next day, and brought me medication and everything."

Concerns about the state of Gaza's health system have been present during much of Israel's bombardment of the Strip, following Hamas' deadly attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel has been repeatedly accused of targeting health facilities in its attacks and not adhering to the protections afforded to such institutions under international law.

But Israel has frequently rejected such allegations, insisting Hamas has used places like hospitals as command centres, weapons stockpiles and shelters — and arguing those buildings have lost their protected status.

"Unfortunately, the Gaza health system is on its knees, it's completely destroyed — not even half of the hospitals are still operating, and they are just partially operating," Ms Nicolet said.

MSF was supporting one in five hospital beds in Gaza, and in 2025 had supported the delivery of one in three babies.

Ms Nicolet said in 2025 alone, MSF saw more than 800,000 patients in Gaza.

Fears aid from Doctors Without Borders 'will not be replaceable'

The fear is that blocking organisations such as MSF, which has 1,200 staff across Gaza, will leave too large a hole in the healthcare system for other organisations to step up.

"We don't know how this will be replaced, by who and how, because the gap that they will let, it will not be replaceable," Ms Nicolet said.

People walk through the rubble of a building — The Kamal Adwan hospital, pictured in December 2023, was among those bombed during the war. (Reuters: Fadi Alwhidifa)

On Thursday the Israel defence agency coordinating aid in Gaza, COGAT, condemned organisations such as MSF for not complying with the disclosure rules.

"This is a basic and transparent requirement intended to prevent the exploitation of the aid mechanism by Hamas," it said on social media platform X.

COGAT insisted the deregistration would not impact the amount of aid entering Gaza, but its comments did not specifically address service delivery on the ground.

"The scope of aid is not dependent on organisations that chose not to complete the registration process, and their contribution in the past accounted for only one per cent of the total aid entering the Strip," COGAT claimed.

"Accordingly, there is no harm to the humanitarian effort and no change in the volume of aid entering Gaza.

"Moreover, Israel continues to allow and facilitate the entry of hundreds of international humanitarian workers into Gaza on behalf of the UN, the Red Cross, and approved international organisations."

Gazans looking abroad for treatment in MSF's absence

Gazans are worried about the potential departure of MSF, given their reliance on the organisation.

Among them was Ammar Asaliyeh, 37, who was living in southern Gaza and unable to return home to Jabalia in the north of the Strip.

He lost a leg during the war and has used a wheelchair since.

A man sitting outdoors in front of a dishevelled camp, one leg amputated below the knee. — Ammar Asaliyeh, 37, receives treatment from Doctors Without Borders three days a week. (ABC News)

"I go three days a week to MSF — I get painkillers from them, and physiotherapy," he told the ABC.

"I wish MSF stays and we can continue treatment with them, and I wish I could also get a prosthetic limb.

"I made a request for treatment abroad and I am now waiting."

A man wearing black clothing with a grey beard standing in front of a dishevelled UNICEF tent — Musa Aliyah has been receiving subsidised medicines through Doctors Without Borders. (ABC News)

MSF had also been subsidising medications for locals, including for 62-year-old Musa Aliyah.

"I take various kinds of medication. If I had to buy them from my own money it would be 200 Shekels, but I have no more than 20 Shekels," he said.

"I am 62 years old, where will I bring the money from? There is no work or anything."

These Australians are saving and restoring native grasslands.

Extract from ABC News

by Tim Lee

2 hours ago

A close up of a mans face grinning in front of grass stems. — Drew Gailey with a thistle-like native called blue devil, at Patho Plains grassland in Northern Victoria. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

When Kath Raulings set out to write a book about native grasses, she quickly discovered it was difficult to source good photographs.

So she planted a patch of native grassland in her suburban Melbourne backyard.

The 27 varieties of grasses and forbs (flowering plants with soft stems) became the still life subjects for the illustrations in her book.

"I'd sit here, measure them, and draw them as accurately as I could," Ms Raulings said.

"I just wanted to use the skills that I had in the hope that it may help people to identify them."

Illustrating what's left of vanishing native grass species

Ms Raulings's delicate pencil drawings are a feature of her book, Endangered Grasslands — Rescuing the Native Grasslands of South-Eastern Australia.

An older woman at a desk inspecting a grass stem. — Kath Raulings grew her own specimens to inform the illustrations in her book. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

The book is a testament to her decades-long passion to save these endangered ecosystems.

"In western Victoria's volcanic plains there's 0.5 per cent [of native grasslands] left,"

the 82-year-old said.

The picture across much of southern Australia is almost as bleak.

Since European settlement, intensive grazing, agricultural practices and urbanisation have all conspired to obliterate native grasslands.

Close up of native grass species with fluffy balls on the top of stem. — This native grass is called pink mulla mulla or lamb's tail Ptilotus exaltatus. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

Though now protected by environmental laws, conservationists say remnant grasslands are still being destroyed.

Many exist only because they occur in reserves, such as cemeteries and railway sidings.

Native grasslands surviving in the margins

One remarkable example is at Altona, about 20 kilometres from Melbourne's CBD.

Amid smokestacks and industrial warehouses, somehow this remnant native grassland, now a gazetted reserve, has escaped destruction.

Its multitude of delicate grasses and forbs provides a fascinating glimpse into what this landscape looked like prior to European settlement.

A field of grass next to industrial buildings. — A remnant native grassland at Altona in Melbourne’s west survives beside industrial warehouses. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

At Patho Plains in northern Victoria, farmer Drew Gailey wants to see greater public awareness about the inestimable value of native grasslands.

He showed Landline a 16-hectare reserve, a small island of grass in an ocean of wheat fields, that he described as 'magical.'

"Because there's about 60 different species, the diversity of plants, the way it has been managed — it's just perfect," Mr Gailey said.

"There's stuff here that you wouldn't expect."

That includes evidence of the plains wanderer, a near-flightless bird that is critically endangered.

Built for Australia's climate

Natives are all more drought-tolerant and resilient than exotic species, requiring no inputs such as fertilisers, and some have high nutrient value for livestock.

"The old dairy farmers used to say four mouthfuls of grass on the irrigation country is only worth one mouthful of grass out here because it's just got such a diversity of plants and species," Mr Gailey said.

Until recently, the push to re-establish native grasslands has been focused on restoring or building native landscapes along roadsides and in public spaces.

But native grasses are gaining popularity across a range of agricultural systems.

Native Seeds's Darren Vincent said they could be used in a variety of ways.

"As inter-row for vineyards to bring in beneficial insects and agriculture [and] as that native perennial base for a grazing system or a cropping system," he said, as examples.

A man wearing a hat crouching down with grass in his hand. — Darren Vincent sits in a field of weeping grass, which is now used in domestic lawns. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

Based at Eurobin in north-east Victoria, and the largest enterprise of its kind in Australia, Native Seeds has 40 hectares under cultivation.

"Having long-lived perennials holding the soil and keeping the soil rich and alive improves any enterprise,"

Mr Vincent said.

The company is now propagating 50 different grasses and some wildflowers, and Mr Vincent said it was working hard to supply the growing demand.

Harvesting the hardest seeds

Native grasses are notoriously fickle to grow and harvest, so the company has built and adapted bespoke harvesting machinery, capable of collecting the tiny, delicate seeds of some species.

Two hands holding seeds in the palms. — Native Seeds can produce many kilos of seed from just one handful. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

"The demand has always been there for conservation and environmental needs but supply has been really difficult because of the intricacies of the native species," Mr Vincent said.

"Understanding how they work and trying to get them into commercial-sized scale has always been an issue, so we set out 20 to 25 years ago to try and unlock some of the secrets."

The company has supplied seed to major landscape projects, including Warralilly, near Geelong in Victoria, where eight hectares of restored grassland include species of wallaby grass, spear grass and the weeping grass Microlaena stipoides.

This formerly weed-infested reserve is now a haven for wildlife and a popular outdoor space for people.

The re-establishment of native grasses alongside roadsides has also come under discussion of late, following last month's disastrous Victorian bushfires, several of which started along road verges.

Natives are usually far less flammable than exotic species.

A man throwing seeds into a machine. — Winnowing, a process by which chaff is separated from grass seeds, often needs to be done by hand. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)

Mr Vincent said natives could play a major role in suburban areas as well.

He joked that his dream was to see every lawn replaced with drought and shade-tolerant weeping grass.

"We've got a saying: 'It's from this land, it's for this land,'" he said.

"It's suited to our soils, it's low fertility … low growing and slow growing.

"You can almost put the mower away."

Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.

Friday, 27 February 2026

Palaeontologists hope ancient whale fossil found on Victorian coast will be a window to evolution.

Extract from ABC News

Topic:Fossils

11 hours ago

Two men wearing high-vis inspect what looks like part of a whale spine on a beach — The whale fossil was found at Ocean Grove. (Supplied: Robert French/Museums Victoria)

In short:

A 21-million-year-old fossil has been safely removed from the beach at Ocean Grove, east of Geelong, in what has been described as one of the largest and most complicated excavations in Victorian history.

The fossil is of a toothed whale but the species is yet to be confirmed.

What's next?

Palaeontologists at Museums Victoria will now study the fossil in the hope of discovering more about the evolution of whales and oceans.

An "extremely rare" 21-million-year-old whale fossil found along Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula could hold some answers about the evolutionary history of the species.

Senior palaeontologist at Museums Victoria Research Institute Eric Fitzgerald said he first travelled to Ocean Grove in December last year after a member of the public sent an email saying they thought they had found something.

"We got out in the field, the weather was great and the fossil was monumental," Dr Fitzgerald said.

"It's very rare to find fossils where you still have the bones of the skeleton connected together."

Two men washing what looks like whale spine bones on a dug out part of beach while people look on — The extraction of the fossil has been described as the most complicated operation to be carried out in Victoria. (Supplied: Robert French/Museums Victoria)

Months of meticulous planning followed to safely extract the fossil from the sand.

"This fossil was in an extremely challenging circumstance," Dr Fitzgerald said.

"It was buried under about half a metre of sand in the middle of a very large beach, which is heavily accessed, easily accessible, and the real question was, how on earth are we going to find this fossil again when it's covered up in sand?"

His team developed what he called a "creative system" using GPS, markers and memory to pinpoint its location before seeking relevant approvals from the traditional owners and Barwon Coast to extract the fossil.

Dawn mission to extract fossil

Earlier this week, a team of about 20 people gathered on the beach before dawn to perform the delicate operation of removing the fossil.

"They look pretty solid but it's essentially bone turned to stone," Dr Fitzgerald said.

"They can be quite brittle so we had to use as much care as possible."

Man in high vis standing on beach in front of a digger cooping up sand. — Erich Fitzgerald says it was a race against the tide to extract the fossil. (Supplied: Robert French/Museums Victoria)

He said it took some time to locate the fossil under the sand and extract it before the tide returned.

"There were some real hairy moments," he said.

"I was looking at my clock, I was looking at the worried faces of the excavator operators, I thought it's now or never."

The group tried to use power tools to chisel the block from the ground but failed, before an excavator was brought in.

Dr Fitzgerald praised the operator as "an absolute legend".

"He shifted it as though it was a newborn child, the delicacy with which he operated that heavy machinery and a 1-tonne block of sandstone … was one of the most marvellous things I've ever seen in my life," he said.

Eventually, it was brought to safety and loaded into a truck to travel to the museum.

Dr Fitzgerald said it was the most logistically demanding, complicated and large-scale palaeontological field work of its kind ever undertaken in the state of Victoria.

A brown coloured fossil of a bone attached to block of sandy rock. — The whale fossil is now at the Museums Victoria Research Institute. (ABC News)

A 'portal back in time'

Dr Fitzgerald said investigations would now turn to identifying the species of the whale, how old it was when it died, and what the 21-million-year-old fossil could reveal about the history of whales and the earth's oceans.

"That's from a really important but poorly known episode in the evolutionary history of whales on earth," he said.

"At that time, we know that the modern groups of whale and dolphins were just starting to emerge at a really tumultuous time in Earth's climatic and ocean history.

"Fossils from that time are extremely rare worldwide and Ocean Grove is amazingly one of the very few portals back in time to that episode in Earth's history where we get the chance to see what the whales were like, how they were hanging as Earth's climate was changing."

A dark haired man in a maroon shirt and dark pants leans over a fossil of a bone attached to a sand rock. — Erich Fitzgerald says the fossil could provide answers about the evolution of whales. (ABC News)

Dr Fitzgerald said at that time, Victoria's coastline was much further south.

"Australia, as it is today, is still drifting north due to plate tectonics and the southern coast of Australia was sitting at a latitude that today is further south than the southern tip of New Zealand," he said.

"Antarctica had become isolated. It had started refrigerating and freezing at that time and, in the oceans, there was this explosion of productivity — plankton, squid, fishes and the evolution of whales, dolphins, penguins were responding to that."

He said 3D scans would be carried out, then scientists would chip into the sandstone grain by grain to separate the bones.

"It feels very important to be part of this really groundbreaking discovery because research into fossilised whales in Australia is really in its infancy," he said.

Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand believes Australia ready to become chess country.

Extract from ABC News

By Michael Doyle

Topic:Chess

16 hours ago

Smiling Anand at a chess ceremony, wearing a suit and scarf, background dark. — Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand says the sport is poised to grow in Australia. (Getty Images: Hindustan Times/Samir Jana)

In short:

Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand says he believes Australia could be on the verge of becoming a proud chess nation.

The Indian grandmaster visited Sydney this week and said he was "amazed" by the engagement school children had in the sport.

Anand, who is vice president of FIDE, believes Australia could also be a future host of the franchise-based Global Chess League.

With a thriving scene in schools and a wealth of stunning locations to host events, one of the greatest chess players to ever grace the chequered board believes the sport is poised to explode in Australia.

That is the hope of Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand, who believes Australia has the right foundations to become a prominent chess nation in the near future.

And the five-time Chess World Champion believes one of Sydney's most famous venues could be a future host of the sport's newest franchise league.

Speaking to ABC Sport while in Australia, Anand, 56, said he was "amazed" to see the high engagement in chess, especially among younger players.

"We had the Netflix, Queen's Gambit and pandemic boom, and there is another boom happening in Australia, which is chess in schools," Anand said.

"I was kind of prepared for the fact that more people would be following chess on their phones, but I was amazed to see the chess in schools scene that is happening here.

"Generally, Australia hasn't been a chess country, but I think that's about to change."

More than 2,000 grandmaster titles have been awarded by the sport's governing body, FIDE, since 1950.

Just 10 of those grandmasters were Australian (excluding Walter S Browne, who was born in Australia but identified as American), with Ian Rogers the first to achieve the title in 1985.

But after seeing a blooming chess community during his Sydney tour, Anand believes Australia is poised to add more grandmasters to its list of 10.

"There are very, very passionate communities. Youngsters are doing it, and getting their elders to follow the game a bit," he said.

"I think this could be a very promising moment for Australian chess."

A new venture that Anand believes could help chess reach new heights, not just in Australia, is the sport's maiden franchise league — Global Chess League.

Launched in 2023, the competition has had three seasons with many of the world's top players participating in the six-team competition.

Team-based chess has traditionally been limited to representing your country in tournaments like the Chess Olympiad.

But the Global Chess League, a joint venture between FIDE and Indian multinational company Tech Mahindra, is taking plenty of inspiration from cricket's Indian Premier League.

Anand has been the lead player for the Ganges Grandmasters in all three seasons, and is also the current deputy president of FIDE.

Buoyed by the success of GCL's three seasons so far, Anand believes the tournament has the ability to continue to grow into new markets and reach a wider audience, especially in Australia.

"They right away started with the idea, just like IPL, they should focus on making it entertainment and focus on attracting new audiences," he said.

"Everything has been redesigned to make it packageable for television.

"Chess has done well on the internet, but the key is to reach out to new audiences that don't naturally encounter chess.

"I would say both in India and Australia, there is a culture of being open to these new formats and presentations."

The GCL is played in one location across two weeks.

A general view of the members stand of the Sydney Cricket Ground at dusk. — Viswanathan Anand believes the Sydney Cricket Ground would be a great location for chess. (Getty Images: AFL Photos/Matt King)

So far, Dubai, London and Mumbai have hosted the franchise league.

After visiting the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, Anand believes Sydney could be an ideal spot to bring the booming chess competition in the future.

"Most venues want to host multiple different games, to show they are not restricted to one sport," Anand said.

"We have the pleasure of visiting the Sydney Cricket Ground … we are hopeful we can find some area of collaboration there."

Also speaking with ABC Sport, Tech Mahindra's Harshvendra Soin was upbeat about the future of Australian chess, and the prospect of a historic venue like the SCG hosting chess tournaments.

"I already have an imagination. In the middle of the SCG, you have the finals of the Global Chess League."