A total of 464 players are competing in the International FIDE Rating Chess Tournament for those below Elo 2100. Only in Chennai such large number of players are possible.

In the Grand Master Open held alongside 118 players are playing at the same time. The World Chess Championship fever is very much on. All these are sponsored by the Tamil Nadu Government and organised by the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

The top three seeds are N Lokesh, V Karthik and V Varun. International Arbiter Vijayaraghavan of Coimbatore is the Chief Arbiter. The field includes one FIDE Master, two Woman FIDE Masters and players from two nations.

The nine round Swiss has 99 players leading with two full points. The leaders include the top three seeds. Seven rounds remain to be played.

Rajesh Wins Rs.1 Lakh

International Master V.A.V. Rajesh of Chennai won the Chief Minister’s Trophy and Rs.100,000 at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai on November 18, 2013. He and Dusthageer Ibrahim of Madurai tied for the first place with 8/9.

Srija Seshadri of Cuddalore finished third with 7.5 followed by Al Muthaiah, Muthi Alagappan and N Lokesh all 7.5 each. A total 318 players from all the districts of Tamil Nadu participated.

AICF Press Release November 19, 2013