One Crore prize fund for the first time in the country
29 Grandmasters compete in premier group ‘A’
Local star Vaibhav Suri starts as the highest ranked Indian in the biggest ever Indian open that kickstarts in the National capital on Wednesday.
With 29 Grandmasters in the fray in a field of over 300 participants, the premier event promises all the excitement for the chess buffs. Making it an open event for everyone this year means that the tiny tots will also get a chance to match their wits against much accomplished names.
However, it is not the premier event alone that is generating most of the buzz. The excitement also lies in the B and C group that has a rating cap for below 1899 and 1499 players. With list is growing with over 900 participants in the B group while over 1200 players have already registered for the “C” group that starts after four days.
This means that the Delhi open is actually set to breach the 3000 entry mark and might be referred to as the biggest open festival of the world. There is no other tournament across the globe where so many competitors participate.
The total prize pool that exceeds a 100000 Rupees over the One Crore mark is the biggest attraction this year and clearly the think tank lead by Delhi Chess Association President Bharat Singh Chauhan who also doubles up as the Secretary of Indian Chess Federation have made it the biggest extravaganza of 2019.
Grandmaster Farrukh Amonatov of Turkmenistan, a former winner here, starts as the top seed and rating favourite in the premier section but surely he will face stiff competition from the likes of Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia, Alexandre Predke from Russia and another Indian star Abhijeet Gupta.
There will be host of opportunities for the players seeking their International norms and talented youngster like D Gukesh can hope to become the next Grandmaster from India.
Apart from the main chess tournaments the organisers have planned many extra activities not only for the participants but also for visiting parents and accompanying persons with several players.
There will be sessions on parenting done by some of the best in business and a training camp for wannabe chess coaches is also planned. The lectures on parenting and making your child ready for the future will be done by, among others, Paarth Ashok Narang, a life coach.
The training for coaches will be imparted by super coach R B Ramesh along with FI Praful Zaveri and Vishal Sareen.
The icing on the cake will be of course the simultaneous displays in which the young players will get a chance to compete with India’s youngest ever Grandmaster R Praggnandhaa and former Asian queen Tania Sachdev. In another simul, GM K Priyadharshan will also give an opportunity for the young kids to have a go at him!
“We believe in creating opportunities and that’s what we are trying to do here. I had dreamt of a One Crore Prize Fund Chess festival about 30 Years back and here we are living the dream of every chess player in the country. Hopefully we will see many such events in the future in the country”, said Bharat Singh Chauhan on the eve of the beginning of the mega event.
