Abhijeet Gupta hopes to make amends

Keen to put behind the disappointment of Albena, Grandmaster and former world junior champion will be looking to make amends when he begin his campaign at the Grand Europe Golden Sands Chess tournament here.

All set to start as the highest rated Indian once again, Gupta would be hoping to get back to winning ways soon.

After a lacklustre show in the preceding Albena tournament, Gupta hasn't got much time to recover as his last loss in the event happened only on Sunday in the last round but the Indian has shown in the past that he can be very good when wounded.

It's a huge Indian participation here made possible by the support coming from Sports Authority of India. As many as 42 Indian participants here outnumber the local Bulgarians who are 38 in all.

The Indian participation includes seven Grandmasters including Gupta. Vidit Gujarathi, Deep Sengupta, S Arun Prasad, G N Gopal, M R Venkatesh are the members of the senior team here, while Sahaj Grover comes here as a member of the junior team.

International Master and reigning National women's champion Mary Ann Gomes will be spearheading the Indian challenge in the women's section in the 40000 Euros prize money tournament.

Giving her company are Eesha Karavade, Nisha Mohota, Soumya Swaminathan and Bhakti Kulkarni.