India’s leading business group Tata Steel is all set to bring India’s first international chess tournament to Kolkata in November this year. Tata Steel Chess India, which will be hosted in Kolkata from November 9-14, 2018, will witness the participation of the world’s current top Grandmasters.
Five-time former world champion Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will be the star attraction in the upcoming Tata Steel Chess India rapid and blitz tournament in Kolkata.
It was an emotional moment for Anand when the Indian ace revealed he would return to Kolkata to play in a GM competition after a gap of 32 years. “I remember playing my first GM tournament in Kolkata in 1986 – that was also a Tata Steel event here. I was an International Master then,” Anand said during the announcement.
India’s very own Vishwanathan Anand, who has not played in a tournament of this scale in India for over two decades.
Anand was also the first recipient of Rajib Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India’s highest sporting honour. In 2007, he was awarded India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan making him the first sportsperson to receive the award in 2007. Before that, he got Fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri by Government of India in 1987 and the Third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan awarded by Indian Government in 2000.
A total of 11 top-ranked players will take part in the tournament, which will be played in Rapid and Blitz formats. The venue of the tournament is Indian Council for Cultural Relations, one of the cultural hubs located in the heart of the city.
Jeroen van den Berg, Director of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament held at Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, will be the Director of Tata Steel Chess India as well. The tournament will comprise Rapid as well as Blitz competitions. The participants will play a single round-robin (all play all) Rapid Tournament on November 9th, 10th, and 11th followed by a double round-robin Blitz tournament on November 13th and 14th. Tata Steel Chess India will be part of the FIDE (International Chess Federation) calendar.
The total prize money in the two events is US$ 40,000 with first prizes of US$, 10,000 and US$ 7,500 in the Rapid and Blitz games, respectively. The USD 40,000 prize money tournament will feature three top players in the 2800-plus Elo rating, it was announced.
The top players include Azerbaijan GM and world number three Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Armenian GM and world number six Levon Aronian, USA’s GM Wesley So who is world number 9, Japanese-American GM and four-time United States champion Hikaru Nakamura who is world number 14 and Russian GM Sergey Karjakin (world number 15).
The tournament has been conceptualised and will be conducted by Gameplan Sports Pvt Ltd, a 20-year-old sports marketing company that has been involved with several top sports tournaments in India over the last two decades.
Chess.com, one of the leading broadcasters of global chess tournaments on the Internet, will broadcast the tournament live.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President (Corporate Services), Tata Steel, said: “Tata Steel has a long-standing association with chess, having been the main sponsor of the famous chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, which is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. Tata Steel intends to make Tata Steel Chess India a world-class and most sought-after event in professional chess in the years to come. Kolkata has been the nerve centre of chess and it is in the fitness of things that the city hosts the biggest chess tournament that the country has seen.”
Tournament Director Jeroen van den Berg said he was happy with the new challenge of helming a world-class tournament in India: “It is always good for chess when there are new initiatives. For me personally, it is a challenge to make the new initiative in India successful, which can hopefully lead to a new and long tradition. It is a very nice and strong field. Most of the participants have already shown their Rapid and Blitz skills in other events. I hope that many people from Kolkata will come and see the tournament.”
Mr Jeet Banerjee, Managing Director, Gameplan Sports Pvt Ltd, said: “Tata Steel Chess India will signal a proud moment for the sport in India as it brings in some of the most respected and decorated international chess players to India. It is also a rare honour to organise the first tournament in more than 15 years where Vishwanathan Anand will be participating. At Gameplan, we are honoured to be handling this tournament and look forward to welcoming the players to Kolkata, a city where chess is a passion in local clubs, family drawing rooms and even under flyovers and on roadsides.”
“We are very excited to see a new super-tournament in India with both local and international top grandmasters,” Chess.com Chief Chess Officer Danny Rensch said, adding that “we are very pleased to bring this event to one of our largest, most loyal member bases in a country where the history of chess is rich and the future of chess is bright.”
“There’s a lot of excitement to play here. Hope it revitalises the chess in the region,” the 48-year-old Anand who is currently ranked 10 in the world said.
Anand regained some form at the Sinquefield Cup that ended in August in St Louis, US, after a run of uninspiring performances since May. The first Indian to become a chess GM, Anand went undefeated in the tournament, though he did not manage any wins either, and finished sixth out of 10 participants.
Anand is part of the Indian contingent for the Chess Olympiad later this month. It will be his first appearance in the tournament since 2006.
Apart from the Indian chess wizard, the Indian GMs include P Harikrishna, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Vidit Gujarati, Nihal Sarin, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa as a total of 11 top-ranked players will compete in the meet at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
>Pratyusha Mukherjee
