Commonwealth Chess Championship inaugurated in Delhi

The Commonwealth Chess Championship was opened here on Tuesday by Amity Group's founder president Dr. Ashok Chauhan in the presence of 17 Grandmasters (men), five Grandmasters (women), 22 International Grandmasters (men) and eight International Grandmasters (women).

Chauhan, who opened the tournament by making the first move on chessboard, while addressing the gathering said that Amity has always encouraged the students to play chess as the game nurtures a variety of virtues, qualities and traits in a person.

He stressed that people good in Chess are very successful in their lives as the game helps them to imbibe the peculiarity of instinct, strategic thinking, narrow analysis, hard work and perseverance. He offered the organizers of chess tournaments to host such prestigious championships in future at Amity so that more and more students get involved.

The Commonwealth Chess Championship has been organized by the Delhi Chess Association under the aegis of The All India Chess Federation, World Chess Federation FIDE and Commonwealth Chess Association.

The ceremony was attended by Tania Sachdev; Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta; Grandmaster Koneru Humpy; Bharat Singh Chauhan, Chairman, Commonwealth Chess Association; D V Sundar, Vice President, World Chess Federation FIDE and Atul Kumar Gupta, Joint Secretary, All India Chess Federation.

Commonwealth Chess Championship has set a new and higher standard for international chess competition with 600 players from 11 Commonwealth countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, Maldives, Zambia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Australia amongst others.

Welcoming the guests, D V Sundar, Vice President, World Chess Federation FIDE, said that India has been a forerunner in Commonwealth Chess Tournaments with the number of participants escalating over the years and Indian Players being respected worldwide.

He added that through such championships, the players get an opportunity to compete with Grandmasters.

Sundar outlined that the country is surging and marching ahead in the game as now India has 48,658 registered players with 35 Grandmasters and 89 International Grandmasters including both men and women, who have brought glory to the country.