The RMK Residential School sub-junior National chess championship for boys and girls will be held in Chennai from May 2 to 10.
Besides selecting players to represent India in the World and Asian under-16 championships in 2012, the event will also be a selection event for the World Youth chess Olympiad.
Besides cash prizes of Rs.1.5 lakh for boys and girls, a new trophy for the boys' and girls' sections has been instituted in memory of Mrs. Manjula Munirathinam by J.C.D. Prabhakar, Chairman, organising committee and vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Chess Association.
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“Every year Tamil Nadu is bidding for one age group Nationals and RMK Group is sponsoring it for the third time in a row,” said D.V. Sundar, honorary secretary of the All India Chess Federation.
“We know all the money goes to one sport in India. We also need support. RMK Group has been generous and consistent in their support to chess,” said Sundar.
Addressing newspersons, TNSCA general secretary K. Muralimohan thanked the RMK Group for sponsorship for the third time in a row. Pradeep Yalamanchi, secretary of the RMK Residential School, spoke on behalf of the sponsor.
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Viswanathan Anand is a former sub-junior National champion (1983 and 1984).
The numbers
A total of 154 boys and 95 girls will take part in this 11-round Swiss format event. Of that, 111 boys and 58 girls already have a FIDE-rating. International arbiter Indhubhai Parmar of Ahmedabad is the chief arbiter.
The top three seeds will be FIDE Masters G.V. Sai Krishna of Vijayawada, Girish Koushik of Mysore and Sayantan Das of Kolkata. G. Akash, S. Kaushik and Karthikeyan Murali will spearhead Tamil Nadu's challenge.
Defending champion P.V. Nandhidhaa of Namakkal (TN) is expected to face stiff competition from Michelle Catherina of Chennai and Sonakshi Rathore (Raj) in the girls' section. The venue for the games will be the Nehru Stadium, while the venue for the opening ceremony will be the R.M.K. Residential School in Gummidipoondi.