Silchar Open International Chess begins with 209 participants including 111 Internationally rated chess players

GUWAHATI: The 1st Silchar Open International Rating Chess Tournament got underway yesterday with a total number of 209 participants which included 111 Internationally rated chess players. Arjuna Awardee Grand Master Dibyendu Barua of West Bengal is the top seed of the event followed by International Master Sayantan Das of West Bengal and International Master Rishi Sardana from Australia. All together 9 titled players participated in the event which include one Grand Master, four International Master, one Women International Master, one Women Candidate Master and two Candidate Master from India, Bangadesh, Nepal and Australia are participating in this 10 round swiss league event played under classical time control.

The tournament was earlier inaugurated by the Deputy Commisioner of Cachar S.Lakshamana in the presence of host of players, officials and other dignitaries.

The tournament which carries a total prize fund of Rs 3,21,000 is being organised by the Cachar District Chess Association.

Meanwhile a major upset came in round 3 where Mayank Chakraborty of Assam shocked WIM Saheli Dhar-Barua of West Bengal by holding her to a draw. Mayank recently brought laurels to the state by securing the 1st runners up position in the recently concluded National U-9 Championship held in Ranchi.

GM Barua Dibyendu, IM Das Sayantan, IM Sardana Rishi, CM Aronyak Ghosh and IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra, IM Suvrajit Saha, Vikramjit Singh, Arpan Das, Y Dhanabir Singh, Apollosana Mangang Rajkumar, R K Bhogen singh, Krishna Thapa, Shankar Majumdar, M Aribam Singh, Amom C Singh, Rahul Soram Singh, Subedi Rajan, K P Meetei, Bristy Mukherjee, Rajdip Das and Irom Bit are leading the event with 3 points apiece after the completion of round 3.