Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz Opened In Kolkata | Mousy News

Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Tata Steel Chess India Women’s Rapid were unveiled at a short evening ceremony in Kolkata, India. In its fourth edition, the iconic event with separate fast and blitz sections and a $41,500 prize pool has introduced a new tournament exclusively for women this year, with an identical format and prize money. The open and women’s sections also follow the pattern of pitting India’s top five against the top five in the world.

Event continues November 28 at 10:30 PM PT/ November 30 at 7:30 AM CET.

The event is the brainchild of Tata Steel, part of the Tata Group, India’s largest business conglomerate with a presence in over 150 countries. Tata Steel is well known in India for sponsoring and supporting various sports over the years. Kolkata Events is proud to be the Rapid & Blitz partner for the annual Tata Steel Chess Masters event in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.

Noting that the entire event was originally conceived in 2018 as an attempt to see GM Viswanathan Anand in action in any form of chess in India, Jeet Banerjee of Gameplan, the sporting events management company that is hosting the event, revealed that Tata Steel has been buoyed by the increased popularity of the event which consistent in recent years, one of the reasons for expanding the current event with the addition of a women’s section.

Kolkata is the most bustling sports city in the country, with great popularity for football and cricket. The Tata Steel Chess India event has also had great audience support over the years. The main event this time was complemented by three side events in the morning making it a chess festival: open event rapid, blitz, and women’s, with a total prize pool of around $2,875, organized by GM Dibyendu Barua, former employee of Tata Steel.

The evening featured performers presentations from the open and women’s sections, short chats with attendees and organizers on stage, raffle draw for the quick event, and ceremonial cake cutting by Anand, the event’s brand ambassador, in front of a special Kolkata chess audience and the media. It was held at the luxurious Taj Bengal of the India Hotel Company, again part of the Tata Group where all the performers had stayed for the event.

Anand highlighted the importance of the event where a separate tournament for women has been introduced by the organization for the first time in such a global event with an identical prize fund in the ‘Year of Women in Chess’ by FIDE.

Open

Another unique feature of the event was the coincidental “experience vs. youth” thread in both parts, as pointed out by Anand and GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. In the open, GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Wesley So of the US are firm favorites among the global chess stars, while GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM Gukesh D and GM Nihal Sarin form a brigade of young challengers.

Noting the presence of another young rising star in GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan, Anand noted the challenges youth pose and the pattern of sub-threads shared among the Indian participants as well. Echoing the viewpoint, Vidit noted that but for GM SP Sethuraman’s last-minute inclusion he would be the oldest entrant among the Indians in the fast section.

GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu has been awarded the prestigious Arjuna award by the Indian government, which is awarded annually to the country’s leading sportsperson. Due to the award ceremony clashing with the fast part of the Tata Steel Chess India event, Sethuraman was his last-minute replacement. Surprisingly, Sethuraman’s wedding has been scheduled for December 4, 2022, making this event his last bachelor event. Commenting on the circumstances, Sethu smirked satirically: “…I hope for a good tournament here so I can get married in peace!”

Woman

Sisters and GM Mariya Muzychuk and Anna Muzychuk from Ukraine, GM Anna Ushenina, and GM Nana Dzagnidze from Georgia, were global stars for the event, followed by GM India Humpy Koneru and GM Harika Dronavalli. Notable inclusion is IM Oliwia Kiolbasa from Poland who made a sensational appearance at the Chess Olympiad in India earlier in the year.

Koneru acknowledged the excitement created by the format of the event where five Indian players will face five world stars, in both the fast and blitz sections. He also noted the generational challenge: “In five Indian players [themselves], there is a younger generation, quite talented. This is the first time I will face them… there is a lot of generation gap!”

Contrary to her pragmatic assessment of the event is that of India’s 20-year-old WGM Vantika Agarwal, who seemed excited to be in Kolkata. Agrawal was also a last minute replacement for IM Bhakti Kulkarni, who also had to miss the fast event for the bestowal of the Arjuna Award.

Vantika said enthusiastically: “I am very excited to be a part of this first Tata Steel Rapid Women’s tournament and looking forward to it [playing] against the world’s best players, and Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy [and] Harika Dronavalli. I’m so excited!” Her words perfectly captured the general mood of the day.

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Tata Steel Chess India Rapid 2022 and Women’s Rapid are the two most prestigious rapid chess matches in India. Players compete in 10 player round-robins in fast-paced games with 15+10 time controls. The prize fund for each event is $24,000.

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