AICF WGM Round 1: Four Decisive Results

Photos Courtesy: Praful Zaveri/ Indian Chess School

AICF International Women’s Grandmaster Chess Tournament sponsored by SBI Life got off a great start at the Acres Club, Mumbai with a glittering opening ceremony yesterday. All the players were felicitated in the great Indian tradition by the students of The Green Acres Academy.

The Saraswati Vandana and Bharatnatyam dance by the schools students delighted not only the visiting foreign players but as also also the entire audience.

Thereafter, the event was declared Open by Mrs. Neela Parikh, Director of the Acres Club and Mr. AVS Sivaramakrishna, Regional Director of SBI Life in presence of Mr.R.M. Dongre, the President of Asian Zone 3.7

The tournament is an initiative of the All India Chess Federation to provide norm opportunities to the promising Indian players by inviting 6 elite WGMs from across the world and have provided the entire prize fund of 7.5 Lakhs.

This 12-player round-robin event is being organized by Indian Chess School & South Mumbai Chess Academy under the aegis of All Marathi Chess Association & Mumbai Suburban District Chess Association.

The line up

IM Zozulia Anna of Belarus, WGM Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim of Uzbekistan, WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam and Nakhbayeva Guliskhan of Kazakhstan,  IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag of Mangolia along with WIM Tomilova Elena from Russia are the other overseas contenders for the title.

The Indian challenge is  spearheaded by WIM Aakanksha Hagawane, who is closely followed by WIM G K Monnisha, WIM Vantika Agrawal, WIM Srija Seshadri, WIM Divya Deshmukh and Rakshita Ravi.

Round 1

After the opening ceremony, the players were ready for the battle in round one. The round turned out to be a delight for spectators as there were four decisive results. While Vantika Agrawal comfortably won her game against compatriot Rakshita Ravi—Divya Deshmukh, Srija Seshadri and Monnisha G.K had a disappointing start.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=4115228″][/iframe]

Meanwhile, Aakanksha Hagawane had to be content with a draw against IM Zozulia Anna. The game lasted for 40 moves.

[iframe border=”0″ frameborder=”0″ allowtransparency=”true” width=”560″ height=”465″ src=”//www.chess.com/emboard?id=4115250″][/iframe]

Pairings/Results

Official Website