The Chennai Open 2010, the prestigious international grandmaster chess tournament sponsored by LIC and ONGC, supported by Government of India and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and organized by Sports Promotion Foundation was inaugurated at the Multipurpose Indoor Stadium today. With 19 GMs and 27 IMs in the fray, the number of players in the tournament has crossed the magic figure of 400. In addition to the GMs and IMs, 13 FMs, three WGMs, 14 WIMs and 5 WFMs have confirmed their participation.
Eshan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, winner of the Parsvnath International Open tournament in Delhi, two days back, with an international rating of 2589 is the top seeded player, followed by Maxim Turov of Russia. The Indian challenge is spearheaded by grandmaster S. Arun Prasad and national champion B. Adhiban, both of whom were members of the Indian team which won the bronze medal in the recently concluded World Team Chess Championship at Turkey. Former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakkaravarthy, India’s second grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, former Commonwelath champion Abhijit Kunte, Sundarrajan Kidambi, former Brirish champion R.B. Ramesh and national Blitz champion R.R. Laxman complete the list of grandmasters. India’s first woman grandmaster S. Vijayalaksmi, winner of many medals in the Women Olympiad is playing after a long lay off for about two years.
The tournament will be played under Swiss system with a time control of 90 minutes to each player with an increment of 30 seconds for each move.
The tournament was inaugurated by Mr. Satyabrata Sahoo IAS, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and Mr. V.K. Sharma, Zonal Manager, LIC of India. Mr.P.R. Venketrama Raja, Managing Director, Ramco Industries and President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Mr. Manuel Aaron, first international master and nine times national champion offered felicitations to Sasikiran, Arun Prasad and Adhiban, players from Tamil Nadu who were members of the Indian team, which won the bronze medal in the World Team championship. Sasikiran replied to the felicitation on behalf of the trio. The first round starts tomorrow morning.
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