Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, May 10: Eight KIIT International Chess Festival is going to be held from May 24th to May 31st informed Bibek Tibrewal, secretary, All Orissa Chess Association (AOCA) at a press conference here Sunday. A total of 700 players are expected to participate in the meet which includes eight and 30 Indian GMs and IMs respectively. There will also be GMs from 12 other countries.
The competition will be played in three different categories- Elite, Platinum and Premium in 10 rounds. The Elite category is for the players with 2000 and above FIDE rating, the Platinum is for rating of 1999 and below and the Premium is for rating of 1699 and below.
The champions of the Elite, Platinum and Premium categories will receive Rs 3,00,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively. The total prize money of the tournament is Rs 19 lakhs, which will be borne by KIIT, AOCA and the co-sponsors of the tournament, Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC).
The food and accommodation cost of the players will be borne by KIIT informed Achyuta Samanta, founder of KIIT. “We are taking this as an opportunity to promote chess in the state and bring Orissa in the chess map of India,” said Achyuta Samanta.
Talented chess players of Orissa, who have been assisted by KIIT like Aparajita Gochhikar, Kiran Manisha, Smaraki Mohanty, Swayams Mishra and Saina Salonika were present on the occasion. “We have assisted them so that they can make our state proud,” said Samanta.