Chennai: Grandmaster Predke Alexandr leads the challenge in the 11th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament, starting January 18. The 10-round event for the Sakthi Group Dr N Mahalingam Trophy will have young Russian Grandmaster Predke Alexandr (Elo 2620) as the top seed followed by fellow Russian GMs Rozum Ivan and Popov Ivan.
So far, Chennai Open has attracted 29 foreign players from 14 countries. The titled players include 21 Grandmasters and 28 International Masters, 2 Women Grandmasters and 5 Women International Masters. In all, 270 players will be seen in action in the tournament.
The Indian challenge will be led by Grandmasters Erigaisi Arjun, Deepan Chakkravarthy, MR Venkatesh, Sundararajan Kidambi, RR Laxman, Neelotpal Das, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury and Karthik Venkataraman.
The tournament will be held at Hotel Novotel (OMR, Sholinganallur) and Ibis Chennai. The event carries a total prize money of Rs.15 lakh, with 55 cash prizes. The winner gets the glittering Chennai Open 2019 trophy and a cash award of Rs three lakh, while the runner-up takes home Rs two lakh.
The Swiss-system tournament offers Grandmaster and International Master norm chances for title aspirants, along with an opportunity to improve their international rating.