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Grand Master Krishnan Sasikiran of
ONGC, Chennai will be the top seed in the 5th Asian Individual Chess Championship starting at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.
A total of 88 players from 18
countries are expected to take part in this nine round Swiss format event. The USD 32,500 prize money event is sponsored by the Sports Authority of Andhra
Pradesh.
Chief Minister Dr Y.S.Raja Sekhara Reddy will inaugurate the event at 10 a.m. on October 6 at the KVBR Indoor Stadium. Prof R.Anantharam of
Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu will be the chief arbiter.
The top ten players from this event will qualify for the next world championship. Asian Championship has been held from August 1998 at Teheran when Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan won it. From there he went on to win the FIDE world title in 2004.
The top players in the field include nine players with a rating of 2600 or more. This list includes: K.Sasikiran
(Ind), Dao Thien Hai (Vie), Zhang Zhong, Ni Hua, Ye Jiangchuan, Zhang Pengxiang (all China), Ghaem Maghami
(Iri), Darmen Sadvakasov and Murtas Kazhgakeyev (both Kaz). Those prominent missing the starting line up are V.Anand and Kasimdzhanov who are playing at San Luis and the reigning world junior champion
P.Harikrishna.
Notable among the players in the start list are former world junior champion Darmen Sadvakasov
(Kaz) and former world women's champion Xie Jun (Chn). It is well known that Xie Jun was a star visitor during the Anand v
Kamsky, World Championship Candidates Match held at Hyderabad in July-August 1994.
There are about 32 Indians in the fray. More than half that number is seeking for grand master norms. The upper crest is looking for medals and the title itself. The main rivals are the Chinese. Chinese players have both talent and experience. While Bu had become the youngest grandmaster a few years back, Ye is an old hand.
The organising secretary is Mr Kanna Reddy who is hoping to make an organisational mark very soon after taking over as Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Chess Association. The President of the
APCA, Mr Gangadhara Rao is expecting a lot from the Andhra players in this event. Koneru Humpy, the World No.3 ranked woman player hails from this state. Dronavalli Harika is also in the start list and their results will be watched with keen interest here.
India had opted for this event but it had to be postponed due to the Tsunami crisis. Mr D.V.Sundar who became Secretary of the All India Chess Federation also became Secretary of the Asian Chess Federation and is instrumental in this event happening in India.
Hyderabad had witnessed many fine chess battles. The Candidates Matches of July 1994 and February 1995 were the first and the World Cup of October 2002 was the next. This is the third most important contest happening in this large city in the heart of India.
The organisers have arranged for live coverage of this event on the Internet at
www.asianchessfed.com/hyd/index.htm
and www.asianchess2005.com
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