FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2017: The Opening Day

Team India Green consists of  GM Aryan Chopra, IM Praggnanandhaa R, IM Nihal Sarin,  IM Iniyan P and WIM Vaishali R. 

Report by I.A Gopakumar Sudhakaran

World Youth Chess Olympiad-2017 got off to a rousing start at Karnavati Club here on Sunday. Thirty teams from twenty-five countries are taking part in this prestigious event of World Chess Calendar for Under-16 players.

The host country— India is fielding three teams in the championship and it’s “Green” team has an average rating 2503 followed by Iran with an average rating of 2469. Green team’s Aryan Chopra is the lone Grandmaster in the event while Iran’s International Master Tabatabaei Amin is the highest rated player with a rating of 2573.

In this nine round Swiss System event, each team need to field a maximum of 5 players which include one girl player and she must play at least three 3 rounds. For the records, the event attracted one Grandmaster, fourteen International Masters and four women international masters and twenty nine Fide Masters.

India’s International Arbiter Rathinam Anantharam is officiating as Chief Arbiter for the Olympiad. The first round matches will start Monday afternoon and top seed India Green play with black pieces on top board as on draw of lots as their captain FM Prasenjit Dutta picked the dark colour.

Opening Day

The Olympiad has been declared open by World Chess Federation Vice President Shri. DV Sundar in presence of Shri. Bharat Singh Chauhan, Secretary All India Chess Federation, Shri. RM Dongre, President Asian Zone 3.2, Shri. Ajay Patel, President Shri. Ajay Patel, President Gujarat State Chess Association, Shri. Jayesh Modi, Vice President Gujarat State Chess Association and Shri. Bhavesh Patel, Secretary Gujarat State Chess Association. The function included a cultural extravaganza and the same was well received by all the delegations.

Addressing the opening ceremony, AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan praised Gujarat Chess Association for its efforts to host this prestigious event. He said, “The Gujarat Chess Association has made remarkable strides in developing and popularizing the game. The World Youth Olympiad is a great platform for young talents, as it enables team spirit. It’s great to be here and I’m excited to see how the event unfolds.”

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