IN THE two rounds played on opening day of the GH Raisoni Chess Festival consisting of Classical, Rapid and Blitz FIDE Rating Chess Tournaments, the seeded players sailed through to the third round with full scores. On the top board, Prakash Ram of Punjab, playing black, pitted against AFM Navneet Shreekanth of Kerala employed Carokann Defence. Navneet tried to launch a premature attack against Prakash which was well refuted. The Classical Event shall be played till June 30.

 

At the outset, GH Raisoni Chess Festival was inaugurated at the hands of Anurag Jain, IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, Nagpur at GH Raisoni Institute of Information and Technology, Shraddha Park, Wadi Hingna Link Road, Nagpur on Sunday. The tournament was inaugurated by Jain, who played a move on chess board against Dr Vivek Kapoor, Director, Raisoni Group. Girish Vyas, Ex-MLC and Vice-President of Maharashtra Chess Association; Amit Gandhare, Director (PR), Raisoni Group; Bhushan Shriwas, Secretary, Kalpana Prakash Welfare Foundation & Chess Association Nagpur; IA Ajinkya Pingle, Chief Arbiter were present on the dais.

 

SS Soman, conducted the programme and proposed a vote of thanks. The chess festival is being organised by GH Raisoni Sport and Cultural Foundation jointly with Kalpana Prakash Welfare Foundation and is recognised by Chess Association Nagpur, Maharashtra Chess Association, AICF and FIDE. The chess festival consists of three events in Classical, Rapid and Blitz formats. The Classical event has attracted 265 players. The registration for Rapid and Blitz is still open. Pingle is being assisted by FA Amit Tembhurne, FA Swati Kumbhalkar, FA Shubham Soni, SNA Shyam Agrawal, SNA Prayas Ambade, SNA Sagar Sakhare, Prathamesh Machave and Shishir Indurkar.