The Hindu : Sport : Strongest and largest field

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Sunday, Jan 13, 2008
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Strongest and largest field

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: It is only fitting that the country’s richest open chess tournament attracts the strongest ever entrants. A rich mix of 15 Grandmasters and 26 International Masters are part of a never-before field of 398 players in the 6th Parsvnath International Open chess tournament that offers a whopping one million rupees as prize-money at the Modern School hall, Barakhamba Road, here.

The 10-round event beginning on Sunday could have well boasted of 17 GMs only if the paperwork aimed at confirming the titles of Abhijeet Gupta and Bangladesh’s Enamul Hossain was completed by the end of last month.

In a nation where there is a serious dearth of norm-making opportunities, the depth of the event provides a great chance for the norm-aspirants. Hopefully, the year’s first major open event is likely to set the tone for more such events during the next 12 months. In fact, Mumbai has already announced a Rs. 11-lakh event. Pune is contemplating holding an event on similar lines. Indeed, it is time more open events with bigger prize-money become a regular feature in the country.

India’s best bet

Iran’s number one Ehsan Ghaem Maghami heads the list of GMs from nine nations. Four-time National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, seeded two, will be India’s best bet. Asian bronze-medallist Abhijit Kunte, Commonwealth champion R.B. Ramesh and Pravin Thipsay are the other Indian GMs in the fray.

Elizbar Ubilava, the 57-year-old former trainer of Viswanathan Anand, will be among the contenders. A two-time coach of the Indian Olympiad team, Ubilava has been coaching many Indian youngsters in the past two years. Over the next week, the sixth seed from Spain is likely get a better idea of country’s growing chess strength. In fact, Ubilava, along with Ganguly, Kunte, Ramesh and Thipsay played simultaneously with 15 players each as a build-up to the event on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Yuri Solodovnichenko, Uzbekistan’s number three Marat Dzhumaev, who is regular in the country’s open events, Vietnam’s third strongest player Nguyen Anh Dung and Bangladesh’s GM in-waiting Enamul Hossain are among the leading aspirants for the top prize of Rs. 2.25 lakh.

The runner-up will be richer by Rs. 1.60 lakh. The third-placed player will receive Rs. one lakh. Even a player finishing 30th will receive Rs. 3,000.

Top-10 players: (Indians unless stated): 1. Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran, 2589), 2. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2579), 3. Igor Kurnosov (Rus, 2577), 4. Abhijit Kunte (2550), 5. Elizbar Ubilava (Esp, 2544), 6. Yuri Solodovnichenko (Ukr, 2541), 7. Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb, 2527), 8. Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb, 2526), 9. Nguyen Anh Dung (Vie, 2525), 10. Enamul Hossain (Ban, 2522).

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