National Team Chess Championship begins

Bhopal (02 Feb 17) :- 37th National Team Chess Championship and 15th National Team Chess Championship for Women got off to a rousing start here at Bansal Institute of Science & Technology on Thursday.

A total number of 43 team in Open and 14 in Women are taking part in this one week long prestigious championship which have seven grandmasters, eighteen International Masters in action in open and one International Master and five Women Grandmasters in women.

With Grandnasters Shyam Sundar and S L Narayanan in their lineup Airports Authority of India started as top seed in the Open followed by defending champions Railways ‘A’ and Air India. In women section Air India got the top billing while Airports Authority of India and Life Insurance Corporation starting as second and third seed respectively.

As expected, the seeded teams had an easier outing in the opening round as Airport Authority of India defeated Academy of Chess Education while defending champions and second seed Railway ‘A’ team outwitted Bihar ‘B’. Third seed Air India also had an easy day as they overcame Punjab without much struggle. In women section, Air India defeated Telangana while Airports Authority of India and Life Insurance Corporation got better off Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh ‘B’ respectively.

Earlier in a colourful opening ceremony, Smt. Maya Maheswari inaugurated the event by making customary first move against top rated player Grandmaster Shyam Sundar in presence of top rated women player International Master Vijayalakshmi S of Air India, Dr. Sanjay Jain and Shri. Amrit Minj.