National Under-25 starts today

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 21. The hurdles leading up to the staging of the National Under-25 chess tournament had been many, but thanks to the timely support of many well-wishers the meet is all set to start at the National Tuberculosis Institute here from Friday (Dec. 22) at noon. Dr Prabha Jagota, Director of the Institute who gave her unstinting support to the venture will inaugurate the tournament.

Internecine politics in the chess family at Karnataka has come to such a boil that players are in a quandary as to where their loyalties should lie. With the Varda Chess Academy willing to conduct the under-25 tournament, All India Chess Federation gave its blessings.

However, attempts were made to dissuade players from participating and only after AICF stepped in to strongly support the championship, units from various States sent their entries. With registration still under process about 50 participants from States like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir along with players from Lakshadweep, Indian Airlines and Railways have confirmed their entries. Affiliated units like Capa Chess Academy and Chromepet Chess Institute have also sent in entries.

The tournament has many FIDE rated players in the contest. Manish Joshi of the Railways will be in action along with Deepan Chakravarthy (who won the National Under-15 last week at Mumbai), Pankaj Joshi and Vishal Shah (both of Maharashtra), Pritam Shah and Poobesh Anand (TN), R. Sunil and B. S. Shivanand (Karnataka). So far only two girls - J. Megha and Priti Bisoi - have confirmed their entries.

The National championship has been affected by the tournaments at Ghaziabad and also with the Girls Under-19 tournament starting at Kozhikode also on Friday. Also with the postal strike on last week, communications were restricted to trunk calls and e-mail messages. These factors too have hampered the receipt of entries. Despite all this some 50 players will be in the thick of action.

The tournament has prize money for players up to the 20th position. The winner will receive Rs.10,000 and the runner- up Rs.6,000. There will also be prizes for the best under-12 player, the best under-14 and under-16 player along with the best woman player. The last edition of this tournament was held at Vijayawada and the winner D. K. Sharma has progressed from this age group.

The excellent atmosphere at the Tuberculosis Institute would certainly help the players of this cerebral game give off their best. The Commissioner for Youth Services and Sports too has helped in providing accommodation for some of the players.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Anand holds on to advantage
Next     : Double blow for Kunte