In the first round of elite category, Indian IM Anup Deshmukh (2230) caused the meger of the day by forcing top seed Russian GM Kokarev Dmitry (2635) to split the points in the 8th KIIT International Chess Festival hereon Sunday.
local boy Mohammad Ashraf (2165) shared points with Tamil Nadu GM Karthikeyan Murali (2502). Odisha GM Debashis Das defeated Gurung Rakesh in the inaugural round.
As like last year the tournament to be played in three different categories. The players above 2200 rating are participating in the elite category, while, players below 1999 rating and 1699 rating are joining in the platinum and premium categories respectively.
In the Elite category total 138 players are participating in the 10 rounds meet. 113 players from India, Georgia, Bangladesh and Ukraine six, five and four players respectively, two players from Russia and United States of America, one player each from Australia, Belarus, Philippines, Sri lanka, Sweden and Vietnam.
Altogether 70 rated players, including 23 GM seven from India, 23 IM three overseas IM, 8 WFM one foreign WFM, 7 FM one overseas FM, 6 CM one foreign CM, 2 WGM and one WIM are fighting for top honour in elite group. .
In platinum category below 1999 rating event altogether 257 players are participating in the 10 rounds tournament. Two Bangladesh and one Singapore players are in the title race. One WFM and two WCM are the title holders playing in the platinum event. Mohammed Dilshad of Kerala top rated with 1993 elo rating.
In the premium category total 226 players including one from England are given their entry in the four day long meet which would begins from May 28 to May 31.
The elite category carries highest cash prize the champion will receive Rs 3 lakhs and runners-up to be richer by Rs 2 lakhs. While the third, fourth, fifth, sixth finishers will get Rs 1 lakhs, Rs 75, 000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively.
The elite category featuring total cash award of Rs 11 lakhs. Similarly, the platinum and premium categories featuring total cash award of Rs 4 lakhs each. The champion and runner up both the event would get Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000 respectively. .
MlA Priyadarshi Mishra inaugurated the meet, in presence of KIIT and KISS founder Achyuta Samanta and AOCA member Subhasis Pattnaik.