GM Sandipan Chanda to lead Indian challenge
Indian GM Sandipan Chanda will lead the Indian challenge as over 300 leading chess players, representing 17 countries, will pit their cerebral skills against each other in the Rs 20 lakh prize money 2nd IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Chess Tournament, to be played at the Mount Litera School International at BKC Bandra from December 26 to January 3, 2017.
The children who will be participating in the Rs 20 lakh prize money 2nd IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Chess Tournament, to be played at the Mount Litera School International at BKC Bandra from December 26 to January 3, 2017.
This tournament incorporates a Grandmaster’s event and a junior event for Under-13 children. One round is scheduled to be played daily over the 9 days.
Grand Master Viswanathan Anand is the brand ambassador for this prestigious tournament and the winners will get an opportunity to meet and greet him on January 3, 2017.
This was announced by Mr. Karan Bhagat Founder, MD & CEO of IIFL Wealth and Asset Management at a press conference on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Karan Bhagat said: “It gives us immense pride to be associated with a game like chess, which at a young age itself teaches a child strategy; discipline; hard work and gives enormous exposure. We at IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, as a part of our CSR activities, would like to take up three sports in a wholesome way to promote budding talent at a young age. This would include all kinds of support from coaches; financial aid as well as meaningful exposure to kids who show special ability in either of these three sports. We have decided to make our first move with the game of chess.”
The countries being represented in the IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Chess Tournament are Armenia; Bangladesh; Belgium; Egypt; England; France; Hungary; India; Italy; Malaysia; Philippines; Poland; Russia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The tournament will see 16 Grandmasters, 4 Women Grandmasters and 11 International Masters vying for a purse of Rs.12 lakhs, while the Under-13 event, which has a prize fund of Rs.8 lakhs is billed as the ‘World’s Richest Event for U-13 Kids’ to make it one of the biggest event in India. Besides cash prizes, players will have an opportunity to earn GM/IM norm and title.
The top billing for the event goes to Grandmaster Sandipan Chanda of India – with a rating of 2593. This former training team member of Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand is one of the favorites for the title. The grandmasters following him are GM Diptayan Ghosh (India), GM David Alberto (Italy), GM Bernadskiy Vitaliy, GM Sivuk Vitaly, GM Tukhaev Adam, GM Neverrov Valerriy (all from Ukraine), GM Movsziszian Karen (Armenia), GM Malakhatko Vadim (Belgium), GM Horvath Adam, GM Czebe Attila (both Hungary), GM Deviatkin Andrei (Russia), GM Stopa Jacek (Poland), GM Ankit Rajpara (India), GM Hesham Abdelrahman (Egypt) and GM S Roy Chowdhury (India).
The women’s titled players will be led by WGM Toma Katarzyna (Poland), while WGM Bhakti Kulkarni and WGM Nisha Mohota will spearhead India’s challenge.
The favorite for the Junior U-13 title is Candidate Master D. Gukesh of India and he will be challenged by FIDE Master Mohammed Rahman of Bangladesh. The other titled players in action are Candidate Master Aditya Mittal, FIDE Master Nouri Alekhine of Philippines and Women Candidate Master Nilomi Desai of England.
Being a norm event with GM/IM norms at stake, countries like Bangladesh is sending a big contingent of 8-players to give exposure to their players and similarly we see a big group of Indian International Masters who would be vying for GM norm and title.
This event, an initiative by IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, is being organized by Indian Chess School under the aegis of World Chess Federation (FIDE), Sports Authority of India, All India Chess Federation, Maharashtra Chess Association & Mumbai Suburban District Chess Association.