FIDE Presidential candidate GM Nigel Short headlines LIC 3rd Kolkata Open 2018

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/05/2018

LIC presents 3rd Kolkata International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2018, jointly organized by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and AllSport Foundation will start from this monday 14th May, 2018 at The New Town School which is also the venue partner of the event. The tournament will be headlined by recently announced candidate for FIDE Presidency, GM Nigel Short. He has been known to shoot straight from the hip in the matters related to chess. 193 players across 12 different countries including 28 GMs, 31 IMs, 2 WGMs and many more FMs, CMs and WIMs will play in a 9-day tournament which is arguably the strongest Open GM tournament in the history of Kolkata and perhaps one of the strongest in the country ever. Photo: David Llada

After a 3-year hiatus, Kolkata Open makes its return in LIC presents 3rd Kolkata International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2018 at The New Town School on 14th May 2018. Here is a quick preview of the participants in this year's edition.

Top seed is evergreen, sharp, witty and maybe the next FIDE President. GM Nigel Short was the runner-up in the previous edition | Photo: Isle of Man

Mr. Commonwealth, GM Abhijeet Gupta is the second seed | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Two-time National Premier champion, GM Karthikeyan Murali is the third seed of the tournament | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Super GM Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan who is very successful in Indian circuit will start at fourth seed | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Profusely talented youth of the country, GM Aravindh Chithambaram is going to start as fifth seed | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Russian GM Ivan Rozum returns back to India after finishing 2nd in Chennai Open earlier this year | Photo: Amruta Mokal

As quiet as he is off the board, you can expect fireworks on the board from him. If you haven't witnessed the storm GM Sandipan Chanda can raise then this is a must see for you | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Two-time and reigning Hastings Masters champion GM Deep Sengupta willbe seen in action at his home | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Ukrainian GM might have been shocked in the first round of Bhopal Open 2017, but he is known to play fantastic in Indian chess circuit | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Boy wonder Nihal Sarin would like to complete his third and final GM norm and become a Grandmaster in Kolkata | Photo: Amruta Mokal

One of the finest coaches of India GM Vishnu Prasanna would like to make his mark as a player here! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Reigning National Premier and Rapid Champion would like to continue his momentum at the Kolkata Open | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Russian GM Vladimir Burmakin will bring a lot of experience to the table | Photo: ChessBase archives

India's 46th GM Srinath Narayanan and Faroes Open 2017 runner-up will make sure that he uses his wealth of knowledge he has garnered working with Nihal and other youngsters | Photo: Sagar Shah

GM M Shyam Sundar dominated Catalan Circuit for two consecutive years

We all know India's Rajnikanth GM Deepan Chakravarthy. His exciting play is something that everyone is looking forward to!

Former Asian Junior Rapid and Blitz champion, Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh will start as 17th seed | Photo: Amruta Mokal

GM Swapnil Dhopade's one of the favorite place to play in the country is Kolkata

Veteran Ukrainian GM Valeriy Neverov has the ability to shock anyone. Even in the nervy last rounds!

Bangladesh's no.1, GM Ziaur Rahman can outplay anyone with his unique style of play and experience | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Russian GM Andrei Deviatkin hates engines. Check out his video where he explains how he found an exciting novelty without using an engine | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Reigning National Junior champion and Kathmandu Open 2018 winner, IM Harsha Bharathakoti would like to make some strides in Kolkata Open | Photo: Nongsha Angom

Former National Rapid Champion, GM Neelotpal Das

After winning Chennai Open earlier this year, can Laxman go for his second GM tournament title for the year? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Sayantan Das would like to cross the rating barrier and fulfill his final criteria to become a GM at home

GM Sundararajan Kidambi's resurgence as a player without the use of engine has been nothing short of inspirational. We would like to see some original play from this Chennai GM | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Of course we all are well aware of this young boy's talent. Can Gukesh make his second GM norm? | Photo: Peter Long

India's third GM, Pravin Thipsay still has a lot to offer

Slovak GM Manik Miklaus might be starting as the 38th seed here but he won a rapid tournament in his home country at the beginning of this month | Photo: Wikimedia

GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury finished at second position twice in two tournaments this year | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Oldest GM participating in the tournament is Raset Ziatdinov of USA | Source: FIDE

In an amazing gesture by the organizers four of the top five blind players of India will play at the Kolkata GM Open 2018. They have been given free entry by the organizers in order to help them prepare for the World Team Championship for the visually blind in July 2018.

The tournament will witness 193 players in action from 12 different countries including 28 Grandmasters, 2 Women Grandmasters, 31 International Masters and 7 Women International Masters. Let's take a look at what they are going to compete for:

Attractive prize structure of the tournament

When you are going to witness the players in action

In case you are wondering, how the venue look like, here is a sneak peek:

The school building has a unique design | Photo: The New Town School

The Newtown School is the first IGBC Gold Certified Green School in India | Source: The New Town School

Indoor sports facility | Photo: The New Town School

Starting rank:

No.		Name	ID	FideID	FED	Rtg	sex	Club/City
1	GM	Short Nigel D	0	400025	ENG	2656
2	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	438942013	5010608	IND	2619
3	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	0	5074452	IND	2617		AICF Reg Due
4	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	0	14700077	TJK	2608
5	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	403962013	5072786	IND	2597
6	GM	Rozum Ivan	0	24104272	RUS	2581
7	GM	Sandipan Chanda	545472014	5004225	IND	2573
8	GM	Sengupta Deep	463782013	5008352	IND	2563
9	GM	Tukhaev Adam	0	14109476	UKR	2551
10	IM	Nihal Sarin	420312013	25092340	IND	2551
11	GM	Vishnu Prasanna. V	473852013	5030692	IND	2532
12	GM	Lalith Babu M R	421632013	5024595	IND	2531
13	GM	Burmakin Vladimir	0	4105109	RUS	2528
14	GM	Narayanan Srinath	422362013	5018420	IND	2525
15	GM	Shyam Sundar M.	403952013	5019141	IND	2518
16	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J.	501132013	5011132	IND	2516
17	GM	Tran Tuan Minh	0	12401820	VIE	2512
18	GM	Swapnil S. Dhopade	421542013	5019184	IND	2505
19	GM	Neverov Valeriy	0	14100150	UKR	2496
20	GM	Rahman Ziaur	0	10200037	BAN	2495
21	GM	Kunte Abhijit	0	5002265	IND	2494		AICF Reg Due
22	FM	Erigaisi Arjun	424422017	35009192	IND	2488
23	IM	Vignesh N R	444982013	25012215	IND	2485
24	IM	Iniyan P	413332013	25002767	IND	2469
25	GM	Deviatkin Andrei	0	4121260	RUS	2467
26	IM	Harsha Bharathakoti	418832018	5078776	IND	2463
27	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	0	12401064	VIE	2462
28	IM	Karthikeyan P.	418712013	5018226	IND	2456
29	IM	Khusenkhojaev Muhammad	0	14700247	TJK	2456
30	GM	Neelotpal Das	445072013	5003512	IND	2452
31	GM	Laxman R.R.	421512013	5005361	IND	2444
32	IM	Das Sayantan	462582013	5034426	IND	2437
33	GM	Sundararajan Kidambi	508702013	5005370	IND	2434
34	IM	Nitin S.	468232013	5018277	IND	2432
35	CM	Gukesh D	431072017	46616543	IND	2426
36	GM	Thipsay Praveen M	424972013	5000033	IND	2425
37	IM	Krishna C R G	444222013	5018625	IND	2416
38	GM	Manik Mikulas	0	14900734	SVK	2411
39	IM	Gusain Himal	446422013	5033861	IND	2410
40	IM	Tran Minh Thang	0	12401080	VIE	2404
41	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P	0	25059653	IND	2402		AICF Reg Due
42	IM	Shyaamnikhil P	457032013	5024218	IND	2401
43	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari	410012013	25004964	IND	2400
44		Arjun Kalyan	427762013	35018701	IND	2383
45	IM	Konguvel Ponnuswamy	420222013	5000548	IND	2379
46	IM	Sidhant Mohapatra	408222013	5028698	IND	2378
47	IM	Rathnakaran K.	446122013	5005507	IND	2377
48	FM	Mitrabha Guha	400582013	5057000	IND	2375
49	FM	Anand Nadar	421782013	25009141	IND	2368
50	IM	Mohammad Minhaz Uddin	0	10201955	BAN	2365

Team ChessBase India (Sagar, Amruta and Shahid) will be present at the venue and give you full detailed coverage of the tournament.

LIC presents 3rd Kolkata International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2018 is going to be nothing short of a spectacle

About the author:

Shahid Ahmed is an editor and senior co-ordinator of ChessBase India

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