Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
India’s newest Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram is returning to the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival, the world’s biggest such event, next month as the top seed for the 30th staging after the holder Vladimir Fedoseev has not confirmed his title defence bid.
There are a total of 14 different categories taking place within the Festival, to be held this year from August 14-25. The major attraction is the very strong Masters tournament, in which 187 players will be participating, including 48 Grandmasters.
A major chunk of the total participants – 85 – will be from the chess powerhouse of India. Serbia’s Alexandr Predke and Spain’s David Guijarro are seeded second and third respectively.
While last year saw over 1,700 names taking part, a month before the tournament is to begin, the tournament organisers have said over 2000 registrations have been done, with 1,000 participants from more than 60 countries confirmed.
The UAE’s own GM Salem Saleh is seeded provisionally in 10th place. The total prize money is $107,650 of which the winner will walk away with $30,000.
Chithambaram finished third last year and last month became India’s eighth super GM, which is a title for Grandmasters with a rating of 2,700 and above. He was very close to achieving the mark at Sharjah Masters after leading at the midway stage, but slipped away from a four-way play-off for the title.
Fellow GMs from India, who are closing in on the 2,700 mark and will be in Abu Dhabi, are SL Narayanan (2,646) and Raunak Sadhwani (2,644).
The tournament has come a long way since making a debut in 1991, when Emirati International Master Saeed Ahmed Saeed (2,435) won the inaugural title.