Parimarjan, Abhijeet to lead India in Parsvnath chess

New Delhi: Grandmasters Parimarjan Negi and Abhijeet Gupta will lead India`s challenge in the ninth edition of Parsvnath International Open chess tournament to be held here from Friday.

Parimarjan, the second youngest Grandmaster in the world, will be the cynosure of all eyes in the tournament as he will be playing in the Capital for the first time after winning the national title last month. 2008 world junior champion Abhijeet is the other Indian who will be vying for top honours in a star-studded line-up that will see 25 Grandmasters in action in a field of around 400 players from more than 20 countries.Ukrainian Grandmaster Areshchenko Alexander will start as the rating favourite in the Rs 13.5 lakh event to be held at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex at Civil Lines. Out of the total prize money, the winner will carry home Rs 2.8 lakhs. Apart from Alexander, Grandmaster Ni Hua of China and Slovenian Grandmaster Lenic Luca are also in contention for the title. PTI