Radesk star in chess tournament

Billed as the strongest chess open in Asia, 105 players from 16 countries will vie for top honours in the Rs 12 lakh tournament that will conclude on December 12.

The field includes 13 Grandmasters who have FIDE ratings of over 2,600, Polish Radesk Wojtaszek (2,734) being the highest ranked player.

The 25-year-old Polish has been one of the four practice parnters to Indian chess wizard Viswanathan Anand during his successful title defences in 2008 and 2010 and earlier this year.

Vietnam's Le Quang Liem (2,705), Anton Koropov (2,702) of Ukraine, Netherlands player Sergei Tiviakov (2,663) are the second, third and fourth highest ranked GMs in the tournament.

GMs Abhijeet Gupta (2,662) and local lad Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2,630), with Sandipan Chanda (2,611) and Neelotpal Das (2,474) will lead the Indian challenge that will also include all the five WGMs -- Eesha Karavade (2,385), Mary Ann Gomes (2,382), Nisha Mohota (2,339), Padmini Rout (2,313) and Soumya Swaminathan (2,268).

The tournament has been recognised by the central government, FIDE (World Chess Federation) and All India Chess Federation, while Rose Valley are the title sponsors.