News
News
New Tournament Announced: 'Tata Steel Chess India'
Vishy Anand at a press conference in September.

New Tournament Announced: 'Tata Steel Chess India'

PeterDoggers
| 53 | Chess Event Coverage

A new blitz and rapid tournament will be held in November in Kolkata, India. Chess.com is partnering with the tournament.

Tata Steel Chess India 2018 is a new super-tournament scheduled for November 9-14. The tournament format is similar to what is used in the Grand Chess Tour: three days of rapid chess and two days of blitz.

The location is the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Kolkata, India. The participants are a mix of international top grandmasters and Indian stars:

Tata Steel Chess India 2018 | Participants

# Fed Name Elo Rapid Blitz Born
1 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2820 2794 2808 1985
2 Levon Aronian 2780 2802 2854 1982
3 Wesley So 2776 2808 2771 1993
4 Viswanathan Anand 2771 2737 2786 1969
5 Hikaru Nakamura 2763 2844 2893 1987
6 Sergey Karjakin 2760 2792 2836 1990
7 Pentala Harikrishna 2743 2743 2706 1986
8 Santosh Gujrathi Vidit 2711 2660 2727 1994
9 Surya Shekhar Ganguly 2622 2608 2547 1983
10 Nihal Sarin* 2572 2127 2506 2004
11 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu* 2519 1736 2366 2005

*Nihal Sarin only plays the rapid; Praggnanandhaa R only the blitz.

Besides appearance fees, the players will be playing for a total prize money in the two events of US$ 40,000 with first prizes of U.S. $10,000 and U.S. $7,500 in the rapid and blitz, respectively.

The main sponsor is Tata Steel, the same company that is behind the annual classical tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The two tournaments also share the same Dutch tournament director, Jeroen van den Berg.

The tournament is planned to be held for several years to come. Sunil Bhaskaran, vice president of corporate services for the main sponsor, said: "Tata Steel intends to make Tata Steel Chess India a world-class and most sought-after event in professional chess in the years to come. Kolkata has been the nerve centre of chess and it is in the fitness of things that the city hosts the biggest chess tournament that the country has seen."

The tournament has been conceptualized and will be conducted by Gameplan Sports Pvt Ltd, a 20-year-old sports marketing company that has been involved with several top sports tournaments in India over the last two decades.

Chess.com is partnering with the tournament and will be responsible for the relay of the games and the live streaming commentary.

The tournament website, TataSteelChess.in, is up and social media accounts are active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The official hashtag is #TSChessIndia. The full press release can be found here.

See also our Events Calendar to keep track of upcoming chess events!

More from PeterDoggers
Abdusattorov Maintains World #4 Position As Prague Masters Ends With All Draws

Abdusattorov Maintains World #4 Position As Prague Masters Ends With All Draws

Bu Xiangzhi Wins Shenzhen Masters On Tiebreaks, Giri Drops Out Of Top 10

Bu Xiangzhi Wins Shenzhen Masters On Tiebreaks, Giri Drops Out Of Top 10