Chennai Open Chess begins on Monday

PTI, 24 January 2010, 09:19pm IST

CHENNAI: Grandmaster Ghaem Ehsan Maghami of Iran, top seed with an ELO of 2589, will start as favourite for the title in the Chennai Open 2010 International Grand Chess Masters Tournament beginning on Monday.

The 11-round Swiss format tournament, launched formally, ends on February 3.

Maghami, fresh from his triumph in the recently concluded 8th Parsvnath International Grandmasters Tournament in Delhi, has replaced Russian GM Maxin Turov (2584) as top seed on better ELO rating.

But Maghami will face stiff challenge from second seeded Turov, a joint winner at the Parasvnath International event with him, and third seed GM Dmitry Krayakvin also of Russia.

The Indian challenge in the event is headed by Grandmasters Arunprasad and Sundararajan Kidambi. GM Arunprasad, who played a stellar role in India’s bronze medal winning performance at the World Team Championship recently, missed out the title race in Delhi as he was handicapped by his absence in the first two rounds. He will be raring to have a go at the title this time around.

The prestigious event has attracted 390 entries from 14 nations in Asia and Europe, including 19 Grandmasters, 27 International Masters, three Woman Grandmasters and three Woman International Masters.

The tournament provides a very good opportunity for Indian players to gain GM and IM norms from this event.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar January 25, 2010 General News 3 Comments
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