GUWAHATI, July 3 - Grandmaster and defending champion Abhijeet Gupta will be vying for a hat-trick in the Commonwealth Chess Championship which was inaugurated by the Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel in New Delhi today.
Informing this from New Delhi, arbiter of the tournament Biswajit Bharadwaz said over 550 registered players in various categories spanning from U-8 till open are in the fray. Altogether 16 Grand Masters and 13 International Masters apart from five more Woman Grandmasters are taking part in the meet.
Players from 15 countries including some from South Africa and Kenya have also registered for the nine-day event.
This is the first time ever that the championships will be played in 15 different categories. While the Indian players are likely to dominate, there is likely to be a stiff challenge from the Bangladesh counterparts in the open section where they have fielded as many as four Grandmasters.
A group of 9 players from Assam � Dhrupad Kashyap (U-12), Jaideep Kashyap (U-12), Anchita Sharma (U-12), Ashvin Sarma (U-10), Shahil Dey (U-10), Prangovinda Parasar Kashyap (U-10), Navoneel Choudhury (U-10), Ashlesha Talukdar (U-10) and Afsheen Afsha Zaman (U-8) are participating in this event.
