Himalayan Grand Masters International Chess Tournament
GM Chess from Sept 8
Added At: 2010-08-06 10:56 PM
Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU: The Himalayan Chess Club are organising the first Himalayan Grand Masters International Chess Tournament here from September 8-14.
The tournament will see at least five Grand Masters (GM) and 10 International Masters (IM) competing with the Nepali players. In all 40 players from India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and hosts Nepal will compete in the tournament to be played under Swiss League Format for nine rounds.
Indian GMs Dibyendu Barua and Shree Ram Jha and Bangladeshi GMs Inamul Hossain and Niaz Murshid have already confirmed their participation in the event. The IMs from India – Saptarshi Roy, Saptarshi Roy Chaudhary, Attanu Lahiri, Somak Talit are also featuring in the tournament along with FMs Akshyat Khamapariya. Roy was the winner of the recently held first Lalitpur Cup Open International Rating Chess Tournament.
From Nepal, 20 players will be on the fray including Fide Master Manish Hamal, Nepal Champion Badri Lal Nepali, Bimal Lal Shrestha, Prachanda Man Malakar, Keshav Shrestha and Uttamraj Thapa. The latter five players are also set to compete in the 39th Chess Olympiad slated for September in Russia.
According to the organisers, players with more than 2,200 rating points from Singapore and Thailand are also taking part in the tournament which is claimed to be Nepal’s biggest ever cash prize chess event. The winner will bag Rs 75,000 while the runner up will receive Rs 52,500 and the third place finisher will bag a purse of Rs 37,500. The fourth and the fifth place finishers will take home Rs 22,500 and 15,000 respectively. Likewise, the sixth and seventh finishers will take in Rs 11,250 each, while eight to 10th closers get Rs 7,500 each.
The top performer from Nepal will pocket Rs 7,500, while second and third will bag Rs 3,750 each. The invited GMs will be provided with Rs 22,500 as match money, while the IMs will be given Rs 7,500 each.
Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com
Chess growth thanks to Ilyumzhinov.