The Championship is being organised by Alekhine Chess Club.

It is a premier institution in the country, having organised over
25 international tournaments in its 32-year old history.

  The club has produced players of international repute including GM’s, IM’s
  and several FIDE rated players and has been involved with pioneering methods
  of coaching.  

Main Sponsor : Gitanjali Group

SUPPORTED BY

Govt. of India with grant-in-aid
&
   

RECOGNISED BY

The tournament is recognised by the Government of India, FIDE (World Chess Federation),AICF (All India Chess Federation) and WBCA(West Bengal Chess Association).

OBJECTIVE 

The objective of this International Open is to offer players from India and neighbouring countries the opportunity to achieve grandmaster, international master and other norms and also to increase their ratings.

ENTRIES

A total of 114 players from 15 countries have confirmed their entries. These 
nclude 18 Grandmasters, 31 International Masters, 1 WGM & 5 WIM’s. The
tournament is therefore the 2^nd strongest open in Asia (by the number of
Grandmaster participants) and the strongest in Asia by the average rating of 
the participants. There are a total of 31 foreign players. 64 of the players are titled.

SCHEDULE

The 10 round swiss league tournament will be held as under.

            Round 1                       24 March 08    14hrs to  18 hrs

            Round 2                       25 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 3                       26 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 4                       27 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 5                       28 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 6                       29 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 7                       30 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 8                       31 March 08    14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 9                       01 April 08       14 hrs to 18 hrs

            Round 10 (final)            02 April 08       09 hrs to 13 hrs

Prize Distribution ceremony : 02 April 08 at 17.00 hrs at Gorky Sadan

PRIZES -Total Cash Prizes: Rs. 9,00,000/-  ( $ 22,500)

1st        Rs.       2,00,000/- ($5,000)       2nd   Rs.        160,000/- ($4000) 

3rd       Rs.       1,20,000/- ($3,000)       4th    Rs.        100,000/-    ($2500)

5th       Rs.       50,000/-    ($1250)        6th    Rs.        28,000/-    ($700)

7th       Rs.       24,000/-    ($600)          8th    Rs.        18,000/-    ($450)

9th       Rs.       16,000/-    ($400) 10th-15th  Rs.         14,000/- each ($350 each)

16th-20th Rs. 8000 each ( $ 200 each)   21st- 30th   Rs. 6000 each ($150 each)

COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING

Armenia, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Luxembourg,
Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Vietnam,
& India.

GRANDMASTER PARTICIPANTS ( INCLUDING 3 SUPER GRANDMASTERS)

EXTRA FACILITIES: - Internet will be provided to players and media personnel. All details of the event including live games of first 20 boards will be available at www.alekhinechessclub.com   

SHORT DETAILS OF THE THREE SUPER GRANDMASTERS

KRISHNAN SASIKIRAN- He started playing chess at the age of 10. His father a club level player and a bank employee left his job to assist him in chess. Sasikiran became a grandmaster at the age of 19. He was only the second Indian to touch the 2700 rating landmark. He is currently ranked 39^th in the world. The Arjuna Awardee has won the national championship thrice and represented the country several times. He is currently employed by ONGC. He has won several laurels for the country and himself as under
( best achievements):-

1. Gold Medal in Asian Junior 1999

2. Gold Medal in Commonwealth, 2000

3. Gold Medal in Asian Zonal 3.1b 2001

4. Gold Medal in Asian Individual Championship Qatar 2003,

5. Gold Medal in Asian Team Championship 2005

6 Gold Medal in Asian Games Chess Team Championship 2006, Doha,

7. Gold Medal in Asian indoor games Rapid Team Event, Macau, 2007.

8. Gold Medal in Asian Indoor Games Individual Rapid event Macau, 2007

9. Gold Medal in Asian Indoor Games Individual Blitz event Macau 2007 

He is also the winner of several tournaments all over the world including at Hastings, China,
Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, France and Russia.

SMBUT LPUTIAN- Smbat Gariginovich Lputian (born February 14, 1958 in Yerevan) is an
Armenian chess grandmaster. He was first at tournament in Berlin 1982, shared first at
Athens 1983 and at Irkutsk 1983, first at Sarajevo 1985 and at Irkutsk 1986, shared first
at Hastings 1986-87 and first at Dortmund 1988.Lputian earned the International Master (IM)
title in 1982 and the GM title in 1984. A top hundred player for several years, he is a
current Olympiad gold medalist. He was a member of the Armenian team, which won
gold at the last Chess Olympiad.

KONERU HUMPY- The rising star of Indian chess, became a woman grandmaster in 2001 and followed it up with the grandmaster title in 2002. She is currently the second highest ranked woman player in the world. Her father who also left his job to concentrate on his daughter’s career, coaches her. In a short span the 20 year old Padmashree & Arjuna awardee has created several records as under:-

      The only Indian girl to win four world titles.

      The youngest girl in the world to achieve men Grandmaster Title.

      The only woman Chess Player in India to achieve Men Grandmaster Title.

      The Youngest British Woman Chess Champion in the 61 Years history of British chess.

      First Indian Girl to win a World Title in Chess.

      Hat trick Winner of U-10, U-12 and U-14 World Chess Championships.

      Only girl in Asia to win the U-12 Boys Asian Chess Championship.

      Only girl in India to win the U-14 Boys National Title.

      Humpy is the only Indian Girl to cross the 2600 mark of Fide International rating.

Humpy has also won several titles the best of which are elucidated below (we have only
given the world titles, apart from these she has won several Asian and national titles)  :-

      Under - 10 Girls World Chess Championship 1997, France - Gold Medal

      Under - 12 Girls World Chess Championship 1998, Spain - Gold Medal

      Under - 12 Girls World Chess Championship 1999, Spain - Silver Medal

      Under - 14 World Chess Championship 2000, Spain - Gold Medal

World Junior Girls Chess Championship 2001, Athens, Greece - Gold Medal

World Junior Girls Chess Championship 2002, Goa, India - Silver Medal

      World Cup 2002, Hyderabad, India - Semifinalist

Women world chess championship 2004, Elista, Russia – Semifinalist

      OTHER STARS:-

VIKTOR LAZNICKA - He was born on 9 .1.1988 and he is GM with the rating 2595. He is
currently the 10th ranked junior of the world.
Best achievements:
- Individual championship of the Czech Republic, Bron 2006 - 1st place, ( youngest winner
in history of the championships of the Czech Republic, after this tournament he became GM)
- Chess Olympiad, Turin 2006 - 7,5 pts. out of 1O games after the start 6/6
- European individual championship, Dresden 2007- 14th place and he qualified to the World
Cup 2007 in Chanty-Mansijsk where he lost in the 1st round
-his highest rating was 2610 (October 07).

 EHSAN GHAEM MAGHAMI – He was the first Iranian Grand Master and got the title at the age
of 18. He is 7 times Iranian Champion.

He won 12 Asian Medals (In men section and without sub junior medals) in different
competitions.(including Team and individual medals).Vice champion of Asia (2003 Doha). 

He has won 4 world university student medals. He has also won 35 international tournaments in several countries. He has played in the World Championship Cycle 5 times. Best rating so far: 2633.

 ALBERTO DAVID - Born on 26/03/1970 in Milano (Italy) .From 1975 to 1989 he lived in

Luxembourg. From 1989 to 1992 he studied at the London School of Economics.
1992-2008 he has been a professional chess player based in Paris(France).
 Best results:
 2002:silver medal on board 1 at the Olympiad(Bled) playing for Luxembourg
 2003:gold medal on board 1 at the European Team Championship(Plovdiv)
 2003 and 2005:winner of the International Paris Championship
 Highest rating:2595

ADLY AHMED – African junior champion 2001(14years old)..African Men
champion 2005(18 years old)

Current World Junior Champion...youngest ever GM in Arab and African countries

and first African and Arab World Champion.

THE LOCAL CHALLENGE:-

SANDIPAN CHANDA- A product of Alekhine Chess Club .He is currently the 5th ranked player in India. He is employed at ONGC.

DIBYENDU BARUA- Bengal’s first Grandmaster. He is employed at TISCO.

NEELOTPAL DAS- The latest of Bengal’s four Grandmasters. He is also a product of    
Alekhine Chess Club.He is currently employed at ONGC. 

Official Website : www.alekhinechessclub.com

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