Nihal Sarin to lead the Indian charge at 8th Sunway Sitges Open starting today

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/12/2021

Sunway Sitges Chess Festival is one of the most anticipated events in Spain in the month of December. Apart from fantastic organization, beautiful location, plethora of events for everyone and huge prize fund of €27155, a strong line-up attracts players from all over the world, making it a must-play event for all. A total of 281 players including 35 GMs, 50 IMs, 8 WGMs and 13 WIMs are slated to take part from a staggering 45 countries across the world in Group A. Group B is slated to witness the participation of 113 players from 17 countries for players rated below 2000. ChessBase India Hindi head, FI Niklesh Jain will be present at the venue who will bring you beautiful photos. Photo: Lennart Ootes

India will be the biggest contingent in Group A

The eighth edition of Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival starts tonight from 9 p.m. IST. A total of 70 Indian players are supposed to take part in the Group A which makes it almost 25% of players from India in the same group. The second-highest contingent is the host country Spain, 47. There are 12 players who are rated above 2600, 31 players rated above 2500. The average rating of Group A is 2204.

Nihal Sarin is the highest rated Indian at the event | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Karthikeyan Murali would definitely like to continue his momentum from 2nd elllobregat Open 2021 | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Arjun Erigaisi has had a great 2021, he would certainly like to end the year on a high note | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6th Sunway Sitges Open 2019 winner - GM Anton Korobov (UKR) is the top seed of this year's 8th edition

Last year's winner, Ivan Cheparinov (BUL) will be the second seed | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Sunway Chess Open

IM Vaishali R will be the highest rated Indian woman in the field | Photo: Amruta Mokal

WGM Mary Ann Gomes would like to have another great event at Sitges after a historic Silver medal at the World Women's Team Championship in October | Photo: Niki Riga/FIDE

WGM Nandhidhaa P V who created history by becoming the first woman in 47 years to make a podium finish in 47th La Roda Open, will be seen in action | Photo: La Roda Open

ChessBase India Hindi head, FI Niklesh Kumar Jain will play and bring you beautiful photos from the venue. He is travelling there with his wife WIM Angela Franco Valencia and baby boy Shresth.

Indian players list

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	RtgN	Club/City	Name
3	GM	Nihal Sarin	25092340	IND	2662	0		Group A
7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	5074452	IND	2630	0		Group A
8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	35009192	IND	2629	0		Group A
11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	5021596	IND	2613	0		Group A
12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	5061245	IND	2604	0		Group A
17	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	25002767	IND	2555	0		Group A
22	GM	Arjun Kalyan	35018701	IND	2537	0	Chess Gurukul	Group A
28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	25006479	IND	2506	0		Group A
29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	5097010	IND	2504	0		Group A
32	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	5078776	IND	2489	0	RACE chess club	Group A
36	IM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	46634827	IND	2479	0	Chess Gurukul	Group A
47	IM	Aditya Mittal	35042025	IND	2459	0	All India Chess Federation	Group A
50	IM	Pranesh M	35028600	IND	2437	0	Chess Gurukul	Group A
51	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	5053196	IND	2429	0		Group A
58	IM	Pranav Anand	46626786	IND	2416	0	All India Chess Federation	Group A
62	GM	Neelotpal Das	5003512	IND	2410	0		Group A
66	IM	Vaishali R	5091756	IND	2401	0		Group A
77	CM	Prraneeth Vuppala	46622373	IND	2377	0	RACE chess club	Group A
78		Bhambure Shantanu	5025931	IND	2377	0		Group A
80	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	25064967	IND	2368	0		Group A
83	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	5028698	IND	2360	0		Group A
84	FM	Manu David Suthandram R	35019562	IND	2360	0	Mastermind Chess Academy	Group A
88	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	5013623	IND	2354	0		Group A
90	IM	Soumya Swaminathan	5016193	IND	2351	0		Group A
95	IM	Padmini Rout	5029295	IND	2345	0		Group A
96	IM	Chakravarthi Reddy M	25009532	IND	2342	0		Group A
97	IM	Srijit Paul	5094798	IND	2340	0		Group A
99	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	25095927	IND	2336	0	All India Chess Federation	Group A
105	IM	Mullick Raahil	35080350	IND	2323	0	ChessBase India	Group A
107	FM	Samant Aditya S	35080580	IND	2318	0		Group A

Complete list

Players list

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	RtgN	sex	Club/City
1	GM	Korobov Anton	14105730	UKR	2699	0		Beskydská Šachová Škola
2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2905540	BUL	2664	0		Club de Ajedrez Magic
3	GM	Nihal Sarin	25092340	IND	2662	0
4	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2093596	USA	2645	0
5	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	12521213	IRI	2643	0
6	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	14204118	UZB	2633	0
7	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	5074452	IND	2630	0
8	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	35009192	IND	2629	0
9	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	12909572	GER	2622	0
10	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	813192	ITA	2621	0		C.E. Mollet
11	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	5021596	IND	2613	0
12	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	5061245	IND	2604	0
13	GM	Cornette Matthieu	620084	FRA	2583	0		Asnières - Le Grand Echiquier
14	GM	Safarli Eltaj	13402129	AZE	2579	0
15	GM	Fier Alexandr	2107139	BRA	2572	0
16	GM	Kadric Denis	14403803	BIH	2572	0
17	GM	Iniyan Panneerselvam	25002767	IND	2555	0
18	GM	Megaranto Susanto	7101384	INA	2548	0
19	IM	Livaic Leon	14531534	CRO	2547	0
20	GM	Kelires Andreas	5900727	GRE	2543	0		O.F.I Chess Club
21	GM	Maze Sebastien	613762	FRA	2541	0		Cercle d'Echecs de Bischwiller
22	GM	Arjun Kalyan	35018701	IND	2537	0		Chess Gurukul
23	GM	Suleymanli Aydin	13413937	AZE	2537	0
24	GM	Dardha Daniel	240990	BEL	2533	0		SK Moretus Hoboken
25	GM	Van Foreest Lucas	1039792	NED	2530	0
26	GM	Kulaots Kaido	4500261	EST	2519	0		Kaido Külaotsa Malekool
27	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2201500	ESP	2519	0		C.E. Ateneu Colon
28	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	25006479	IND	2506	0
29	IM	Sankalp Gupta	5097010	IND	2504	0
30	IM	Muradli Mahammad	13409301	AZE	2503	0

Complete list

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

13th - 22nd December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

23rd December - 1:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

Tournament rules

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