Kolkata to host Asian team chess from December 20

Kolkata: About 20 countries will vie for top honours in the Asian Team Chess championship to be held at the Town Hall here from December 20-28.

Hosts India will be represented by two men’s and two women’s teams, with the respective teams’ being captained by Sashikiran (Elo 2664) and Satyapragyan (Elo 2480) and D Harika (Elo 2467) and Nisha Mohota (Elo 2351), organisers said. Nine countries have already confirmed their entries for the meet. The winner in the men’s section will get USD 1,000 while women’s champion will be richer by USD 700. The runners-up in each men’s and women’s categories will get USD 750 and USD 500 respectively, stated a release from the organisers Allsport Management and the Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy. WIM Kiran Monisha Mohanty of Orissa outplayed WGM Soumya Swaminathan of Maharashtra. In a Sicilian defence game, Soumya, playing Black, chose to part with her queen for two Rooks, banking on her extra pawn on the queenside. But Kiran was quick to breach Black’s defensive King shield of pawns and combined her Queen and Bishop very well to launch a powerful attack. Kiran eventually wrapped up the issue in her favour when she won a Rook on the 52nd move. With this win, Kiran secured the third place in the championship with 7.5 points and secured her second Woman Grandmaster norm. PTI