Team Herald
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: In a record of sorts, 36 Grandmasters have registered for the second edition of the Goa Chess GM Tournament which will begin from June 18, at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, Taeligao.
Previous highest was 30 Grandmasters for Delhi Open. The tournament will witness another record as for the first time in any event in India, the tournament is having 6 super Grand Masters having rating 2600 and above.
Moreover, 34 International Masters have also registered. Overall around 100 titled players have registered, which is a another record. In another major achievement, 28 countries are participating this year, which is also a record number. Last year 17 countries had participated in the 1st edition.
So far a total of 950 players have registered, among them 251 in A category, 316 in B category and 353 in C category.
The number is expected to go higher in the next 10 days. Last year there were 1268 players in all categories of which 288 players participated in A category.
The top seed in the A category, where all GMs and other title players will be participating is– 30 years old Super GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo of Venezuela No.1 player having rating of 2637. Other seeded players are 33 years old Super GM Pantsulaia Levan of Georgia, Ter Sahakyan Samuel, Mchedlishvili Mikheir, Abhijit Gupta and Silver medalist in Chess Olympiad 2012. WGM Baby Olga of Ukraine and WGM Kiran Manisha Mohant of Orissa are also participating among other title players.
