AICF hikes prize-money of all Chess Nationals by Rs. 76 lakh
With MPL Sports signing a Rs. 1 crore deal with the All India Chess Federation for the title-sponsorship of all Nationals, the players from under-8 to the seniors stand to gain heavily.
Published : Dec 04, 2021 18:32 IST
Come 2022, the National chess championships across the board will see a massive hike of Rs. 76 lakh in prize-money. With MPL Sports signing a Rs. 1 crore deal with the All India Chess Federation for the title-sponsorship of all its Nationals, the players from under-8 to the seniors stand to gain heavily. The National championships, both open and for women will see a prize-fund hike of Rs. 10 lakh each. Significantly, the National juniors get the second biggest raise of Rs. 7.50 lakh, followed by National sub-juniors, by Rs. 6.50 lakh. Kanpur will host the Rs. 30-lakh National championship while Bheemavaram, in Andhra Pradesh, hosts the Rs. 25-lakh National women championship, from February 9.
READ: In addition, two round robin events for women, offering Rs. 10 lakh each, will take place from June 30-July 8 in Tamil Nadu and from August 12-20 in Goa. In another welcome step, 13 International Opens are proposed across the country. Though the minimum prize-money for these is fixed at Rs. 15 lakh each, the aggregate prize-fund is likely to run into a few crores. “Our endeavour to raise the profile of chess continues,” said the AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan and pointed out, “therefore we have decided to help the financial health of host associations of the Nationals to keep 75 per cent of the entry-free collection and the rest will come to the AICF. Earlier, it was shared equally."
ALSO READ: “Further, the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD), submitted by all host associations to AICF, is now refundable. Earlier, this deposit was non-refundable.” He said, “since the AICF could not hold the over-the-board National championships last year due to the pandemic, 2022 will see two sets of Nationals, one in each half. The first one will be played the even-numbered age-range to select India's representatives for the World and Asian championship in all age-groups. The second set of Nationals (for 2022) will see the age-groups returning to the odd-numbered years.”
AICF 2022 Calendar
| No | Event | Dates | Place | Total | Hiked by |
| 1 | National Junior (U-20) | 09-15 January 2022 | Delhi | 10,00,000 | 7,50,000 |
| 2 | National School | 17-21 January 2022 | Bhubaneswar | 5,00,000 | 4,00,000 |
| 3 | National Sub Junior (U-16) | 23-31 January 2022 | Visakhapattanam | 9,00,000 | 6,50,000 |
| 4 | National Amateur | 02-07 February 2022 | Rajasthan | 3,00,000 | 2,00,000 |
| 5 | National Women | 09-17 February 2022 | Bheemavaram | 25,00,000 | 10,00,000 |
| 6 | National Senior | 09-21 February 2022 | Kanpur | 30,00,000 | 10,00,000 |
| 7 | Ahmedabad IO | 23 February- 02 March 2022 | Ahmedabad | To be decided | |
| 8 | Pune IO | 04-11 March 2022 | Pune | To be decided | |
| 9 | Guwahati IO | 13-20 March 2022 | Guwahati | To be decided | |
| 10 | Delhi IO | 22-29 March 2022 | Delhi | To be decided | |
| 11 | National U-10 | 01-07 April 2022 | Jammu | 5,00,000 | 3,00,000 |
| 12 | National Rapid | 02-04 April 2022 | Maharashtra | 4,00,000 | 2,25,000 |
| 13 | National Blitz | 05 April 2022 | Maharashtra | 2,50,000 | 1,75,000 |
| 14 | National U-8 | 09-16 April 2022 | Gurgaon | 5,00,000 | 3,00,000 |
| 15 | National Team Women | 09-16 April 2022 | Maharashtra | 5,00,000 | 4,25,000 |
| 16 | National Team Open | 09-16 April 2022 | Maharashtra | 5,00,000 | 3,75,000 |
| 17 | National U-18 | 18-25 April 2022 | Coimbatore | 9,00,000 | 6,50,000 |
| 18 | National U-12 | 02-09 May 2022 | Mandya | 8,00,000 | 5,75,000 |
| 19 | National U-14 | 11-18 May 2022 | Ahmedabad | 8,00,000 | 5,75,000 |
| 20 | Kolkata IO | 21-29 May 2022 | Kolkata | To be decided | |
| 21 | Odisha IO | 31 May -08 June 2022 | Odisha | To be decided | |
| 22 | Visag IO | 10-18 June 2022 | Visakhapatnam | To be decided | |
| 23 | Bengaluru IO | 20-28 June 2022 | Bengaluru | To be decided | |
| 24 | Women round-robin | 30 June - 08 July 2022 | Tamilnadu | 10,00,000 | 2,50,000 |
| 25 | Women round-robin | 12-20 August 2022 | Goa | 10,00,000 | 2,50,000 |
| 26 | Punjab IO | 22-30 August 2022 | Punjab | To be decided | |
| 27 | Bikaner IO | 01-09 September 2022 | Bikaner | To be decided | |
| 28 | MP IO | 11-19 September 2022 | Indore | To be decided | |
| 29 | Chhattisgarh IO | 21-29 September 2022 | Chhattisgarh | To be decided | |
| 30 | UP IO | 01-09 October 2022 | Uttar Pradesh | To be decided |