Harikrishna Leads Asians In Geneva Grand Prix

By Arvind Aaron

The FIDE Grand Prix Series 2017 organised by FIDE and AGON moves to Geneva in Switzerland from July 6-15, 2017. In the opening round of this 18-player event, Pentala Harikrishna of India faces GM Alexander Riazantsev with the black pieces.

Levon Aronian of Armenia is the top seed and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan is the second seed. This Grand Prix event is a nine round Swiss format event. Aronian had won the World Junior at Goa in 2002.

The playing control is 100 minutes for 40 moves, 15 minutes for rest of the game, 30 second per move increment from move one. Arbiter is IA Luxman Wijesuriya of Sri Lanka.

There are four Asians competing among the 18 players. Interestingly, it includes the world women’s champion Hou Yifan. Tenth seed Li Chao of China is seed 10. UAE’s Salem A.R. Saleh is the bottom seed. India’s Pentala Harikrishna is the eighth seed and highest rated Asian in this field.