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.