CHENNAI, Jun 22: Four Indian players, including Vidit Gujrathi and D Gukesh, will take part in the Asian Rapid online chess tournament to be held from June 26 to July 4.
The 16-player tournament will feature world No.1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Wesley So of the USA, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Ding Liren of China among others.
Apart from Gujrathi and Gukesh, the event, which is part of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, will also see Indian Grandmasters B Adhiban and Arjun Erigaisi match their wits against some of the world’s top players, a press release said.
While GM Gujrathi received a wildcard, Gukesh, the second youngest Grandmaster, qualified via the Gelfand Challenge and Adhiban and Erigaisi got an entry as Indian qualifiers.
All eyes will be on the in-form 15-year old Gukesh, who qualified after winning the recent Gelfand Challenge tournament.
Seventeen-year-old Erigaisi will also be hoping to make a breakthrough at the top level and the hugely-entertaining Adhiban nicknamed “The Beast” will be keen to make a mark among the elite players.
Also, China’s Hou Yifan will become the first woman to compete in the tour. She is currently the world No.1 woman player.
The Asian Rapid event will have a USD 100,000 prize pot and is the seventh leg of the prestigious ATP-style season of online chess organised by the Play Magnus Group.
All the games will be played on the chess24.Com playzone with a time control of 15 minutes per player for all moves, plus a 10-second increment for each move made.
The full field for the tourney: Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Levon Aronian, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gujrathi, Ding Liren, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladimir Artemiev, Saleh Salem, Hou Yifan, Arjun Erigaisi, B Adhiban, D Gukesh, Daniil Dubov and Peter Svidler. (PTI)
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