Adhiban gets top billing in MPL 58th National Senior Chess Championship

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/02/2022

MPL 58th National Senior Chess Championship will be the first National championship to take place since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted regular schedule in early 2020. The most coveted National championship will take place at Ganges Club, Kanpur from 25th February to 3rd March 2022. The total prize fund has been increased by 50% since the last over-the-board National Senior championship which took place in December 2019. B Adhiban is the top seed of the tournament, Tata Steel 2022 Challenger winner Arjun Erigaisi will be the second and five-times Commonwealth Gold medalist Abhijeet Gupta will be the third seed. Round 1 starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Amruta Mokal

The biggest National Senior championship starts tomorrow

Top seed - GM B Adhiban (2648) | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Kanpur (24 February 2022) - Former champion Grandmaster B Adhiban of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board has been handed the top billing in a strong field which included young sensation Arjun Erigaisi in the 58th edition of Senior National Chess Championship sponsored by MPL Sports Foundation starting on Friday here.

Tata Steel Chess 2022 Challengers winner - GM Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022

184 players from across the country including 23 Grandmasters and 30 International Masters, will be seen in action in the one-week-long tournament, formerly known as National Premier Chess Championship.

Mr.Commonwealth - Abhijeet Gupta | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta, former national champions Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman S P, Lalith Babu M R, defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram, young talents D Gukesh, Abhimanyu Puranik and Aryan Chopra are the other top players taking part in the event to be held at Ganges Club, Kanpur.

The championship will be conducted under Swiss System with 11 rounds with a time control of 90 minutes with 30 second increment from move 1. After roping in MPL Sports Foundation as official sponsor for all the national championships, AICF increased the prize fund of all nationals substantially and top ten players in the event will be awarded with cash prizes amounting to thirty lakh rupees out of which six lakh is reserved for the winner as well as the winner will get a bonus of 25 points while deciding the Indian team for the World Chess Olympiad and Asian Games which are scheduled later this year.

A K Raizada and Bharat Singh Chauhan | Photo: AICF Press Release

All India Chess Federation National Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan while addressing the press conference at the Ganges Club, the venue of the National Championship said that the way we have developed and taken steps to reach at the district and state level competitions, we are trying to make chess even more popular throughout the country. The All India Chess Federation is searching for talent in Chess through the 'Chess in Schools' program. AICF is confident that promising players will come forward and bring laurels to the country. In other sports Kanpur is remembered and referred, then why not in the chess field the mind game. Such competitions in cities will bring out players living in oblivion. Mr. Bharat Singh said that it is not the players' reach out to the Federation, but the Federation will reach to the players from cities, towns and villages and give them better opportunities. These same players will bring laurels to the country in the world of chess. We are interested and keen efforts are on to add the Federation's Chess in Schools scheme to the curriculum.

Secretary of UP Chess Sports Association, Mr. A K Raizada stated that for the first time 23 Grand Masters, 30 International Masters are taking part in this event as well as increased prize fund are the main highlights of this edition.

Source: AICF Press Release

Players list

No.		Name	ID	FideID	FED	RtgI	sex	Club/City
1	GM	Adhiban B.	26982021	5018471	IND	2648		PSPB
2	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	27142021	35009192	IND	2633		TEL
3	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	41562021	5010608	IND	2628		PSPB
4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	57832021	5074452	IND	2622		PSPB
5	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	410772013	5021596	IND	2619		PSPB
6	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	24312021	5061245	IND	2618		MAH
7	GM	Gukesh D	33752021	46616543	IND	2614		TN
8	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	7062021	5072786	IND	2611		TN
9	GM	Aryan Chopra	89332021	5084423	IND	2585		DEL
10	GM	Lalith Babu M R	1181442022	5024595	IND	2563		PSPB
11	GM	Sankalp Gupta	943732021	5097010	IND	2536		MAH
12	GM	Sengupta Deep	463782019	5008352	IND	2528		PSPB
13	GM	Visakh N R	47552021	25012223	IND	2522		Rlys
14	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	998152021	5011132	IND	2520		Rlys
15	GM	Iniyan P	16222021	25002767	IND	2516		TN
16	GM	Mitrabha Guha	3722021	5057000	IND	2510		WB
17	GM	Arjun Kalyan	30462021	35018701	IND	2506		TN
18	GM	Harsha Bharathakoti	21602021	5078776	IND	2499		TEL
19	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	24262021	5019184	IND	2495		Rlys
20	IM	Aditya Mittal	404892013	35042025	IND	2487		MAH
21	IM	Pranav V	489242013	25060783	IND	2486		TN
22	IM	Aronyak Ghosh	879982021	25072846	IND	2482		WB
23	IM	Raahul V S	21122021	25035525	IND	2478		TN
24	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	76252021	5030692	IND	2476		TN
25	IM	Ravi Teja S.	71242021	5017220	IND	2469		Rlys

Details

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