Barua gets top billing

MUMBAI, MAY 15. Barring ace Vishwanathan Anand, the other four Grand Masters would be seen in action in the 37th National men's chess championship, which is to be held at the Andheri Sports Complex here from May 17 after the draw of lots, scheduled for Tuesday.

GM Dibyendu Barua of Tisco, the 33-year-old Arjuna awardee with an Elo rating of 2555, heads the list of four GMs and 11 International Masters (IMS), who would take part in the Nationals which is also a selection trial for the September Chess Olympiad, it was announced here last night.

Jairaj Pathak, president of the Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA), which is organising the Rs. 85,000 prize money event that will conclude on June 6, told reporters that the top five finishers would gain automatic berth into the Olympiad along with Anand.

``In case, Anand does not take part in the Olympiad, then the sixth finisher in this 21-day championship would get a chance to play in it,'' Pathak added.

The millennium's first men's National has also attracted GMs K. Sasikiran (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Elo rating 2514), Arjuna awardee Pravin Thipsay (Union Bank, 2475) and Abhijit Kunte (IOC, 2487).

The following is the list of ims who have entered with their Elo ratings in brackets:

G.B. Prakash (2435), D.V. Prasad (Arjuna awardee, 2421), V. Saravanan (2412), Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2440), Neelotpal Das (2436), Sandipan Chanda (2424), K. Murugan (2382), P. Harikrishna (2354), Atanu Lahiri (2426), Ravi Hegde (2387) and Lanka Ravi (2391).

There are other chess players with higher ratings who have not earned IM title in the 20-player draw. They are: FIDE Master T.S. Ravi (Elo rating 2373), S. Kidambi (2433), Vishal Sareen (2351), Rahul Shetty (2307) and Sriram Jha (2356).

The tournament would be played over 19 rounds with the first seven rounds scheduled to be held from May 17-23. The 8-15 rounds would be conducted from May 25 to June 1, after the rest day on May 24, while the last four rounds would be held from June 3-6 after another rest day on June 2.

This is the first Nationals where the players have a chance to earn a GM norm with four GMS being in the fray.

A prize money of Rs. 84,700, would be up for grabs which includes the top prize of Rs. 24,200. The Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai, has also announced a cash award of Rs. 5,000 to the champions. The top 12 finishers would earn prize money, the MCA announced.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : FIDE's decision welcomed
Next     : Selection committee to meet earlier