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Dr Ishari Ganesh, Chairman of the Vels Group of Colleges inaugurates the event by making 1.e4 in the presence of IM Manuel Aaron (left)
and International Arbiter K.Muralimohan, chief arbiter for the event. |
The National Under-9 (previously called Under-10) Championship which was first held in 1988 at IIT Madras returns to Chennai for the third time. Through the fruitful conduct of this event since 1988, the All India Chess Federation has helped groom top grandmasters from the bottom of the age group cycle.
In the past, the boys titles had been won by Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Pentyala Harikrishna and Sandipan Chanda. They have gone on to become grandmasters today. Harikrishna is notably the world junior champion. Similarly, on the girls side, Koneru Humpy, Vijayalakshmi and Meenakshi Subbaraman and Dronavalli Harika have become woman grandmasters and more.
The present champions can be expected to become an international master by the humblest and modest of predictions and world champions at most. In his days, Viswanathan Anand had the Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior titles to play for and he excelled in them by winning all.
To announce the 19th Indian Bank-Vels National Under-9 Championship to be held at Chennai from June 4-13, the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association had called for a press conference at the air-conditioned office of the AICF in Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The organisers confirmed 108 boys and 62 girls as entry received so far. Although officially entries have been closed the officials said some exceptions have been made in case of Andhra Pradesh and more entries are expected. International Arbiter K.Muralimohan is the chief arbiter.
The main sponsor Indian Bank had conducted big open chess events from 1979 to 1993 and are not new to chess. Indian Bank, with its head quarters at Chennai also helped organise the Anand versus Dreev, Candidates Match in 1991 at Madras which the Indian won. They have also sponsored players like Vijayalakshmi, Meenakshi and Aarthie when they were in school and before they shot into fame.
The other sponsor, Vel's Group headed by their dynamic sponsor Dr Ishari Ganesh have been the sponsors for chess before when they hosted the National Under-7 Championship near Chennai a few years ago. Dr Ganesh's daughter will be one of the competitors in the meet this time.
The competitor's list is tough and they will play eleven rounds to decide who will represent India in the World Under-10 Championship at Russia in 2006. India had dominated the Asian Under-8 Championship at Singapore last December. The 1-2-3 podium finishers from India have fielded their names to play and this list is: A.Abhilash Reddy (AP), Shiven Khosla (Mah), G.Vijay Sai Krishna (AP). "The next Asian Championship venue is not decided and it may be held in India," said
Sundar.
Asked if this event will open the door to many Tamil Nadu players, Manuel Aaron said we are fielding about 40 players including local donor entrants. Andhra Pradesh is likely to match Tamil Nadu in size, he said. At present it was not known since the Andhra Selections will be completed in Gudur on June 3. Only after the selections Andhra size will be known as to who will be official entry and who will be donor players.
Looking at history, Tamil Nadu has dominated the girls event in the past and Andhra Pradesh has taken over control more recently. Tamil Nadu and AP players have won the title six times each. In boys, the fight is widespread with Tamil Nadu and West Bengal players winning the titles four times each.
Anyone born after 1-1-1996 can compete in the National Under-9 Championship and girls born after that date can participate in the National U-9 Girls Championship. Over two hundred players are expected to make the first move on June 5. A rush of parents, coaches, managers and arbiters will provide an interesting ambience.
"Overaged players complaints will be strictly dealth with and will be referred to medical examination at the Stanley Government Hospital," said D.V.Sundar, Secretary of the AICF. The player will be allowed to play until the test results prove otherwise, said Manuel Aaron, Secretary of TNCA. If the test results take longer, the player in question will be even allowed to play until the end said
Sundar.
For those needing to visit the venue, it is Vels College of Arts & Science, Velan
Nagar, East Pallavaram, Chennai 600 043. The games start at 9 30 am each day from June 5-13 and the free day is June 9. On June 6, 8 and 10 there is a round in the afternoon as well at 3 30 p.m. For online results check this website
www.indianchessfed.org
or www.tamilchess.com
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