Three players with GM norms and seven International and four FIDE masters will be vying for honours in the 39th National Junior Boys (U-19) Chess Championship.
Three players with GM norms and seven International and four FIDE masters would be vying for honours in the 39th National Junior Boys (U-19) Chess Championship commencing here tomorrow.
In the 24th National Junior Girls (Un-19) event, to be held concurrently, defending champion and International Woman Master Padmini Rout has the best of chance to retain her title but the claims of other players like Pon Krithika and Mithali Madhukar Patil (both Woman FIDE masters), Bhakti Kulkarni or R Bharathi could not be ignored. The girls category has attracted 76 entries including 54 FIDE Rated players.
Boys section has 131 confirmed entries in open category, comprising of 7 International Masters and 4 FIDE Masters and 106 FIDE rated players to add spice to the Championship.
Top three finishers in this championship (both in boys and girls categories) will be representing the country in the World Junior Chess Championship to be held next year as well as the Asian Junior Chess Championships.
As an additional incentive, the top six winners in boys and girls from this championship will be sent abroad for three international tournaments by the Federation.
There are seven International Masters in the fray - B Adhiban, the current National Challengers Champion as well as current World Under 16 Champion, P Karthikeyan, former Asian Junior Champion, MR Lalith Babu, the defending champion, SP Sethuraman, Ashwin Jayaram, the current Asian Junior Champion, M Shyam Sundar, who was a member of gold winning Indian Youth Team and N Srinath, former World Under 10 champion.
Except for the defending champion, Lalith Babu, who is representing Andhra Pradesh, all the other six International Masters are from Tamil Nadu. Of these, Karthikeyan, SP Sethuraman and Ashwin Jayaram have already GM norms under their belt.
Apart from these IMs, there are 4 FIDE Masters in Shyam Nikhil, VAV Rajesh, S Nitin(all from Tamil Nadu) and Shradul Gagre from Maharashtra. There are also a number of players who have International Master norms and are rearing to have a go at the championship.
While current form points out to Adhiban, Karthikeyan or Ashwin Jayaram for the title, Lalith Babu also has strong claims. But the likes of SP Sethuraman cannot be ignored though he did not qualify for Premier National Championships recently. And, there are also players like Ramnath Bhuvanesh, who has an IM norm and is on the upswing in recent times.
The Girls section comprises of 7 players -- Bhakti Kulkarni, Devangi Patankar, R Bharathi, J Saranya, PV Nandhidhaa, A Sithalatchumi and A Akshaya-- who have qualified for National Premier Women Chess Championship three days back.
Though the ratings point out a clear favorite in this section in Padmini Rout, the claims of other players like Pon Krithika, Mithali Madhukar, Bhakti Kulkarni or R Bharathi, who is the current National Sub Junior Champion cannot be taken lightly.
After the inaugural ceremony, the first of the eleven round would be held tomorrow evening.
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