Richest prize-money national chess attracts 23 GMs, 30 IMs
The presence of 23 Grandmasters and 30 International Masters lends depth to the strongest field seen in 58 editions of this marquee event.
Published : Feb 24, 2022 20:03 IST
After nearly two years, on-board classical chess returns with a bang in India. The National chess championship, offering a high of Rs 30 lakh as prize-money, is set to commence at Kanpur’s Ganges Club on Friday.
The presence of 23 Grandmasters and 30 International Masters lends depth to the strongest field seen in 58 editions of this marquee event. In spite of the challenges posed by Covid, 184 players are in the fray.
Originally, the championship was to be played over 13 rounds from February 9. But owing to the electioneering in the state and polling in the city, the event was reduced to 11 rounds packed in seven days.
As a result, the richest National championship will also be the shortest.
In spite of the testing schedule - four double-round days in a week - the depth and quality of the field promises many exciting games, with 42 players rated 2400 and above.
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Though B. Adhiban heads the field where he is one of the six winners of the title, second seed Arjun Erigaisi is the ‘unofficial’ favourite. The youngster is set to overtake Adhiban in the rating list on March 1, having caught the eye with exceptional displays in the 2021 Tata Steel rapid and blitz event in Kolkata and by winning the Challengers’ section of the 2022 Tata Steel tournament in Wijk Ann Zee.
Aravindh Chithambaram is eying a hat-trick of titles without undermining the abilities of his sparring partner, two-time champion Murali Karthikeyan, the experience of Abhijeet Gupta, the unpredictable S. P. Sethuraman and the all-conquering form of M. R. Lalith Babu.
The field also has D. Gukesh, country's youngest Grandmaster. The seventh seed will be watched with added interest following his impressive results in the shorter time formats.
Among the International Masters, Aditya Mittal (Maharashtra), Aronyak Ghosh (Bengal), V. Pranav and V. S. Raahul (both Tamil Nadu) have in them to spoil a few reputations.
On the organisational front, it is a great opportunity for the Uttar Pradesh Chess Association to redeem itself after the messy hosting of the 2016 edition. In keeping with the Covid protocols, antigen tests will be carried out at the venue.
Top-10 seeds:
1. B. Adhiban (2648), 2. Arjun Erigaisi (2633), 3. Abhijeet Gupta (2628), 4. Murali Karthikeyan (2622), 5. S. P. Sethuraman (2619), 6. Abhimanyu Puranik (2618), 7. D. Gukesh (2614), 8. Aravindh Chithambaram (2611), 9. Aryan Chopra (2585), 10. M. R. Lalith Babu (2563).