Strongest ever in Asia - Kolkata Grandmaster Open attracts record Grandmasters   -   by Soumen Majumder

KOLKATA OPEN 
GRANDMASTER CHESS TOURNAMENT

Dedicated to 
The Year of India in Russia

THE ORGANISERS

The Championship is being organised by Alekhine Chess Club.

It is a premier institution in the country, having organised around
25 international tournaments in its 33-year old history.

A total of 124 players from 18 countries have confirmed their entries. These include  
35 Grandmasters, 30 International Masters, 2 WGM’s , 3 WIM’s and 12 FMS . The tournament is  therefore the strongest ever open in Asia (see table below) by the number of Grandmaster participants and also by the average rating of the participants (around 2250). There are a total of  33 foreign players. 82 of the players are titled. It is for the first time in Asia that three 2700+ players have been assembled for an open tournament. Even the strongest open in the World the Aeroflot Open had only one player above 2700. We could not find any instance of 3 2700+ players in an open tournament (classical time controls) so this could also be the first time it is happening in world chess. As many as 15 of the Grandmasters are Super Grandmasters (above 2600 elo)

COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING

Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia,  Uzbekistan, Vietnam, & India.

List of GMs  ( INCLUDING 15 SUPER GRANDMASTERS)

WHY THE STRONGEST IN ASIA?     Check the Statistics!

BRIEF DETAILS OF THE THREE ELITE GRANDMASTERS (2700+)

1. SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV(2721)-(AZERBAIJAN)

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was born on the 12th of April 1985 in Sumgait, Azerbaijan

(the land of Kasparov). In 2002 he  set a record by winning the European under-18 Championship with 10 points out of 11. Greater successes were soon to come, including the 2003 World Junior  Championship and the 6th Dubai Open (2004). In 2005 he reclaimed his title as World Junior Champion, raising his rating past the coveted 2700-mark in the process. Further competitive successes, including joint first places at both the Aeroflot Open (2006) and the Essent      Tournament (2006) Crown Group, saw his rating climb higher still, until Mamedyarov      eventually reached fourth place on the FIDE World Ranking list in January of 2007. On the January 2008 FIDE rating list he reached an Elo rating of 2760.He recently won the Orditz   open rapid chess tournament with a record 10 points out of 11. He is also the only player ever to have won two World Junior titles.

He comes from a competitive family – his dad, who taught him the game of chess, was a national weight lifting champion, his two sisters are accomplished titled chess players – both WGM’s. He is a very dangerous tactician with a welcome combination of a youngster’s bravado, tremendous fighting spirit and great talent. He is currently ranked 19^th in the world. 

2.NIGEL SHORT(2705)-(ENGLAND)

Nigel David Short was a bona fide chess prodigy. He defeated Korchnoi in a simul at the age of 10. In 1977 at the age of 12 he became by far the youngest ever participant in the British Chess Championship. When Nigel was 14, he tied for 1st place in the British Championship. He rose to dominate English chess in the late 80's, following in the wake of Anthony Miles. He defeated Anatoli Karpov and Jan Timman in Candidates' matches to earn the right to play Garry Kasparov in the Kasparov-Short World Championship Match (1993). The match was played under the auspices of the PCA (Professional Chess Association), outside of FIDE's jurisdiction. He lost to Kasparov 7.5 to 12.5. In recent years, Short has taken first place in several major chess events, including the Hunguest Hotels Super Chess Tournament (2003), the Gibraltar Masters (2004), the Politiken Cup (2006), the European Union Individual Championships (2006), and the Bazna King's Tournament (2008). He is in a rich vein of form having won the strong Sigeman & Co and Staunton Memorial tournaments recently. He is currently residing in Greece. 

3.NI HUA(2701)-(CHINA)

The 26-year-old star from China has made a strong impression in the past few years. He first drew attention when scoring heavily against Dmitry Schneider and Hikaru Nakamura in the 2001 China-USA match. He won the 2006 Chinese national championship ahead of four other 2600+ players. He made it a hat-trick by winning the Chinese National Championships in 2007 and 2008.He has won Gold medals for the Chinese team in the Asian Indoor Games.Apart from winning many strong opens he won the Reggio Emilia Tournament in 2009.  He reached his highest rating of 2724 in the April 2009 FIDE list. He is currently ranked 33^rd in the world.  

OBJECTIVE :

The objective of this International Open is to offer players from India and neighbouring countries the opportunity to achieve grandmaster, international master and other norms and also to increase their ratings.

PRIZES -Total Cash Prizes: Rs. 10,00,000/-  ( $ 20,000) with the winner taking Rs.3 lakhs and the Runner up Rs.2 lakhs.