Maharashtra Chess Association to hold International Chess Tournaments in Pune
Pune, May 27, 2022: The Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) under the aegis of All India Chess Federation (AICF) has organized two international chess tournaments- 1st Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament (for Above 2000 rated players) and 1st Pune Open Chess Tournament (for Below 2000 Rated players) at Boxing Hall, Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Baner-Mahalunge Road, Mahalunge, Balewadi, Pune. The Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament will be held from May 31 to June 8, while Pune Open Chess Tournament will be held from June 1 to June 4. Contestants from about 13 countries and over 20 Indian states will participate in the tournaments.
The inauguration of the tournament on May 31 will be done in presence of Devendra Fadnavis, Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Leader of the Opposition and Shri Sunil Kedar, State Cabinet Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare. Grandmaster Nigel Short, VP, FIDE, members of MCA including Dr. Parinay Fuke, President, Siddharth Mayur, Working President, Grandmaster Abhiit Kunte, Senior VP, Aniruddha Deshpande, VP, Girish Chitale, VP and Bharat Singh Chauhan, Secretary, All India Chess Federation and Shri Ashok Jain, Former President and mentor of Maharashtra Chess Association will be present for the occasion.
The Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament will be open for players who have a Standard FIDE rating of 2000 and above in the current rating list and a total prize money Rs. 20,00,000/- will be presented to the winners. The tournament will be played under the FIDE Laws of Chess for a total of 11 rounds on a Swiss-League basis. The top seed for this tournament will be GM Farukh Amonatov whose ELO rating is 2622 and the highest rated Indian player is GM Lalith Babu M R whose ELO rating is 2563. Prominent women players like IM Bhakti Kulkarni, IM Soumya Swaminathan, WGM Mary Ann Gomes WGM Divya Deshmukh, WGM Priyanka Nutakki, etc. will be taking part in this tournament. Players from Tajikistan, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, USA, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are participating. There will be 20 Grandmasters, 27 International Masters, 5 Women Grandmasters and 7 Women International Masters who are going to take part in this tournament.
For Pune Open Chess Championship, the players who have not crossed the FIDE rating of 2000 in the past 36 months prior to the start of the event will be eligible to participate and a total prize money Rs. 10,00,000/- will be presented to the winners. Similarly, the tournament will be played under the FIDE Laws of Chess for a total of 10-rounds on a Swiss League basis.
GM Nigel Short will be giving playing a simultaneous game against approximately 25 young and upcoming players.
