4-day chess c’ship begins at varsity

Tribune News Service 

Jalandhar, May 25

A four day National Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2019 was inaugurated by joint secretary of All India Chess Federation (AICF) Naresh Sharma today on the campus of Lovely Professional University (LPU). 

Jalandhar Chess Association has been organising the four-day championship under the aegis of Punjab State Chess Association and All India Chess Federation.

A total of 112  players from 23 states are participating in the event. The list of players includes seven grand masters; three woman grand masters; 11 international masters ; one woman international master; six FIDE masters.In both Rapid and Blitz competitions of the event, 11 rounds for each will be played.

Welcoming the guests and participants, LPU Additional Director Aman Mittal quoted chess as a “fantabulous” game. 

J&K Chess Association president, Atul Kumar; secretary, Punjab State Chess Association, Muneesh Thapar; and senior vice- president of Jalandhar Chess Association, Rajinder Jee were present.

According to Chief Arbiter from Pune, Shidore Rajendra I A, the participating seven grand masters are Sengupta Deep with rating of 2,487, Arvindh Chithambram (2,478), Laxman R R (2,429), Sri Ram Jha (2,401), Thipsay Praveen (2,325), Neelotpal Das (2,312), Visakh N R (2,268). Three woman grand masters are Kulkarni Bhakti (2,318), Swati Ghate (2,227) and Meenakshi Subbaraman (2,093).

One of the players from Jalandhar, Amaira (7) with rating of 1,087 said: “She is  happy that such a high-ranked chess championship is being held locally, adding that playing along with grandmasters has bestowed a great confidence in me, and this participation means much to me.”