State FIDE 21st Team Chess Championship set to begin

Coimbatore: International Masters N Sudhakar Babu of Indian Bank and B T Muralikrishnan of Southern Railways will be among top players from nearly 100 teams from various districts taking part in the State FIDE Rated 21st Team Chess Championship and 15th Blitz Chess Championship, Coimbatore, beginning here from Thursday.

R R Laxman of ICF,V A V Rajesh of Bloom Chess Academy, Tiruvallur and P Shyam Nikil of Chennai will be among major players to figure in the four day event, organised by Sri Krishna Institutions jointly with Coimbatore District Chess Association. Bloom Chess Academy are the defending champions and are expected to meet stiff resistance from leading teams like ICF, Indian Bank, Southern Railways (all from Chennai) besides teams from Coimbatore and some educational institutions and universities, a release from Krishna Institutions, said here. The team event will be played in Swiss league format, comprising seven rounds. Each team has to field four players for each match. If any of the four main players take rest for a particular round, they may be substituted by a reserve player on the fourth board. A total cash prize of Rs 57,000 will be awarded, the highest in the history of the championship, it said. Apart from prizes for the teams, best individual performers for each of the five boards would receive prizes. To encourage and motivate youngsters, five players in each category of Under 10, Under 13 and Under 16 age groups would get prizes, it said. Coimbatore district players would get additional prizes - three in each category, the release said.