IIFL Wealth is pleased to present to the people of Mumbai and India the IIFL Wealth 1st Mumbai International Chess Tournament 2016, a twin tournament with the Open and Junior categories that kicks off at the Mount Litera International School, Bandra from 28th Jan, 2016. The tournaments has a total prize-fund of Rs. 15 lakhs. Mumbai has had a rich chess tradition and IIFL Wealth’s venture into the game is a vital boost chess culture in this city, and consequently, India.
Mumbai chess players (left to right) Anaya Gupta, Shardul Gagare, Kush Bhagat, Rahil Mullick, Aditya Mittal and Pranali Dharia are seen along with Mr. Karan Bhagat, Managing Director and CEO of IIFL Wealth
The nine-day chess festival’s Open category will carry a 7.5 lakhs prize fund in total with the winner’s purse being Rs. 1.5 lakhs. International Master and Grandmaster in waiting Shardul Gagare of Maharashtra is the top-seed, that will have other renowned players as GM Sriram Jha of Delhi, GM-Elect Swapnil Dhopade of also of Maharashtra, IM G.A. Stany of Karnataka among others.
The chief attraction of the event will be the IIFL Wealth 1st Mumbai Junior FIDE Rating chess tournament for chess players aged below 13 years, with a separate prize fund of Rs. 7.5 lakhs, making it the highest prize money junior tournament in the world in chess history! This event’s other FIRST’s are – the first exclusive International Junior tournament in the country, the first ever LIVE coverage & commentary in an International Junior tournament in India.
The IIFL Wealth International Junior Champion will go home richer by Rs. 1.5 lakhs and some of the best talents will be competing to win this high stakes tournament. Starting as the top seed of the Junior tournament is FIDE Master Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Bangladesh, who made waves with series of good performances across the border. For the Indian challenge we have Sadhwani Raunak, Aditya Mittal, Sankalp Gupta, D Gukesh, Leon Luke Mendonca to name a few.
10 year old Nagpur boy Sadhwani Raunak, is a former national under 9 champion. He tied for third place and missed out on bronze medal on tie-break in the World Youth Chess 2015 at Greece. Another Nagpur Junior Sankalp Gupta stunned Grandmaster Alberto David of Italy in the first round of the recently concluded Delhi Open GM tournament.
9 year old Candidate Master Leon Luke Mendonca from Goa won the bronze medal in Under 8 open section in the World Youth Chess 2014 at Durban, South Africa & is a fighter on board. Maharashtra boy Aditya Mittal is a former National Under 7 champion, has many strong scalps to his credit. On his day, Aditya can be handful for any strong player.
Tamil Nadu’s D Gukesh is a dark-horse that could have a go at the title. He tied for the bronze in Under 8 open section at World Youth Chess 2014 at Durban, South Africa. Add up Woman International Master Tanishka Kotia to this talent pack, you have an exciting fare in store.
The tournaments are scheduled for nine rounds under Swiss System. Tomorrow, 28th January, the Open event takes off at 9.30 AM, while the Junior tournament starts at 4.30 PM. The participants in the Open tournament include a Grandmaster and 11 International Masters among others. The Junior International has participants from five countries viz., Bangladesh, England, Nepal, USA and India. Five Candidate Masters, along with a FIDE Master and Woman FIDE Master complete the line-up. The total number of entries have crossed 250 and is coming in still.
The IIFL Wealth 1st Mumbai Junior FIDE Rating chess tournament will be broadcast LIVE on the web. On chair of the LIVE broadcast will be, renowned chess expert International Master Vishal Sareen. A total of 25 boards will be shown LIVE, supported by LIVE commentary.
We also place on record the role played by the media in taking this game to the masses by regular and elaborate coverage of the matches over a period of time. The press has done a valuable service by promoting this game to the nook and corner of our country. Therefore, we request you to kindly give good coverage to this inaugural edition, so that it will help the game grow and also show case the latent talent of our chess players.