Over the years, the Commonwealth chess championship has increasingly resembled a miniature version of the Indian National championship. Whether it is the Open section — involving men and women — or the age-group categories, the Indians have hardly missed a medal.
Though the country’s best have stayed away from this competition it has, in no way, slowed the Indian juggernaut. The continued absence of the elite players from England and Canada means India will once again virtually monopolise the medals when the action begins here on Tuesday.
The list of 13 Grandmasters — all Indians — is headed by 2014 champion Deep Sengupta, ranked 15th in the country. That is the true reflection on the lack of worthiness of the Commonwealth title for the Indian elite. The field also has 15 IMs and two WGMs. For the record, there are 134 Indians in a field of 166. Among those missing from the field is the four-time winner and defending champion Abhijeet Gupta.
On the brighter side, the organisation of this event has improved dramatically since 2016. This year the competition returns to the Leela Ambience Convention Hotel here. Unlike last year, the main action will be at the spacious ground floor hall.
In the seven age-groups, where the competition will be held separately for girls, as well, Indian talent is set to come to the fore.
The top-10 seeds are: 1. Deep Sengupta (2526), 2. Vaibhav Suri (2556), 3. Deepan Chakkravarthy (2531), 4. M. R. Lalit Babu (2529), 5. V.Vishnu Prasanna (2525), 6. Debashis Das (2522), 7. Swapnil Dhopade (2495), 8. M. S. Thej Kumar (2495), 9. Abhijit Kunte (2494), 10. V. Karthik (2475).
