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Commonwealth Chess Championships 2017 begins today!

by Jitendra Choudhary - 03/07/2017

GM Abhijeet Gupta will be the top seed at the Commonwealth Chess Championships 2017 which are being held from the 3rd to 11th of July 2017 in Delhi. The Open event witnesses the participation of 15 GMs and 14 IMs. There are 15 different categories ranging from under-8 to under 20 in both open and girls section. Players from 15 countries have come to participate in the different events. Youth affairs and sports minister Vijay Goel attended the inauguration of this event and we have pictures and the video footage of his speech.

Abhijeet Gupta starts as top seed and the defending champion

Abhijeet will be vying for a hat-trick of titles when he takes his chair in the first round of the Commonwealth Chess Championship beginning on Monday at the Leela Ambience and Convention centre.

Shri. Vijay Goel, Hon'ble Minister for Youth Affairs and Sport inaugurated the event in presence of Shri. DV Sundar, Vice President FIDE; Gp Capt J Rajendra VSM, Jt Judge Advocate General Indian Air Force; Shri. Madhup Tiwari, CP Delhi Police; Shri. Bharat Singh, President Commonwealth Chess Association&Secretary AICF and Shri. AK Verma, Secretary Delhi Chess Association.

Vijay Goel speaks at the inauguration

The championship has over 550 registered players in various categories spanning from under-8 to open. At the last count, there are 16 grandmasters and 13 International Masters in the fray apart from five woman grandmasters.


The open section will be really strong this time with over 50 titled players out of around 120 participants. The event will provide ample opportunities for the norm seekers from the host country.

Just back from World Team Championships Padmini Rout (left) and Tania Sachdev (right) will be locked in the fight to become the Commonwealth women's champion!

Players from 15 countries including some from South Africa and Kenya have registered for the nine-day long events that will decide the medalists of this year’s championship.

This is the first time ever that the championships will be played in 15 different categories. While the Indian players are likely to dominate, there is stiff challenge coming from Bangladesh in the open section wherein they have fielded as many as four Grandmasters.


The ride for Abhijeet Gupta will not be easier than the last time when the Indian had annexed the crown in Sri Lanka. The local challenge from Delhi will also come from Vaibhav Suri and Sahaj Grover who are both young grandmasters. The championships carry a total prize fund of Rs. 10 Lacs.

The player's meet before the start of the event

Newly elected AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chuahan is organising this championship in Delhi and every time the event has seen an unprecedented uplift when organised in the national capital. This is the first time ever in India that the championships are being held in a certified five star deluxe hotel.


The championships will be played for a maximum of nine rounds. Alongside the championships the first ever media tournament in Delhi will also be organised.

Starting rank

No.   Name FideID FED Rtg
1 GM Gupta Abhijeet 5010608 IND 2625
2 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 5072786 IND 2593
3 GM Vaibhav Suri 5045185 IND 2558
4 GM Rahman Ziaur 10200037 BAN 2527
5 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 5019184 IND 2517
6 GM Kunte Abhijit 5002265 IND 2504
7 IM Thejkumar M. S. 5009154 IND 2491
8 GM Grover Sahaj 5021103 IND 2484
9 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. 5011132 IND 2482
10 GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib 10200444 BAN 2480
11 GM Ankit R. Rajpara 5023335 IND 2474
12 GM Gagare Shardul 5037883 IND 2472
13 GM Hossain Enamul 10200649 BAN 2455
14 IM Shyaamnikhil P 5024218 IND 2450
15 GM Bakre Tejas 5004195 IND 2449
16 GM Thipsay Praveen M 5000033 IND 2419
17 IM Tania Sachdev 5007844 IND 2404
18 GM Murshed Niaz 10200010 BAN 2399
19 IM Krishna C R G 5018625 IND 2399
20 IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh 5053196 IND 2392

Complete list

Round 1 on 2017/07/03 at 15.00 hours

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 59 WFM Divya Deshmukh 2045 0   0 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2625 1
2 2 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2593 0   0   Bhatt Jalpan 2028 60
3 61   Dassanayake D M G S 2015 0   0 GM Vaibhav Suri 2558 3
4 4 GM Rahman Ziaur 2527 0   0   Kumar Gaurav 2014 62
5 63 WFM Sultana Sharmin Shirin 1996 0   0 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2517 5
6 6 GM Kunte Abhijit 2504 0   0 WIM Hamid Rani 1994 64
7 65   Bala Kannamma P 1977 0   0 IM Thejkumar M. S. 2491 7
8 8 GM Grover Sahaj 2484 0   0   Mehta Naitik R 1972 66
9 67   Utsab Chatterjee 1965 0   0 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. 2482 9
10 10 GM Mollah Abdullah Al Rakib 2480 0   0   Sumit Grover 1963 68

Complete pairing list

 

About the author

Jitendra Choudhary is a chess trainer in Delhi. He is from Madhya Pradesh, but shifted to Delhi to pursue his passion related to chess. He currently teaches students, works as an arbiter and would like to dedicate more time to being a chess journalist.