FIDE World Junior Chess Championship 2024 kicks off in Gandhinagar Gujarat, India

The 2024 FIDE World Junior Chess Championship has commenced at Radisson GIFT City in Gujarat, India, featuring almost 230 players from 44 countries. The open section has 125 players, including 13 Grandmasters, with GM Abhimanyu Mishra (2627) from the USA being the highest-rated participant. In the girls’ section, 101 players from 27 countries are competing, led by IM Divya Deshmukh (2456) from India, the top seed in her category.

The event began with a technical meeting chaired by the chief arbiter, IA Ashot Vardapetyan, followed by an impressive opening ceremony. Dignitaries such as professional billiard player Geet Sethi, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand , Dev Patel (Secretary of the All India Chess Federation), Dharmendra Kumar (Treasurer of All India Chess Federation ) ,Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua , Grandmaster Tejas Bakre , Organizing Secretary Bhavesh Patel and Organizing member Ankit Dalal, and attended the ceremony. The first symbolic move of the championship was made by GM Viswanathan Anand and Geet Sethi.