Top players for Mumbai Mayor's tourney

Russian GM Ivan Popov will lead a strong field in the international open section of the Rs 27 lakh prize money ninth Mumbai Mayor's International Chess Tournament to be held here from June 2 to 9.
Among the competitors from 12 nations will be 14 Grandmasters and 16 International Masters along with 50 title holders, said a press release from event organisers Venus Chess Academy.
The tournament, with a record prize pool of Rs 27 lakhs, has attracted more than 700 entries till date and is expected to cross the 900 mark.
The tournament is being sponsored by BMC and co-sponsored by LIC along with Ankit Gems.

Besides Popov, who has a rating of 2645, the other big foreign names will be Grachev Boris (Russia), Gregoryan Karen (Armenia), Amanatov Farrukh (Tajikistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Ulybin Mikhail (Russia), Ziaur Rahman (Bangladesh), Gleizarov Evgeny (Russia) and Ziatdabov Raset (USA).
Leading the Indian challenge will be Grandmasters Sandipan Chanda, Diptayan Ghosh and R R Laxman.

The players in the open international section would be vying for the first prize of Rs 3,00,000 from a pool of Rs 11 lakhs in this 10-round tournament with a classical time-control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds per player.
In addition, the players also have a golden chance to earn the GM/IM norm.

The 'B' category event with a prize Rs 8 lakhs would also be held simultaneously from June 2-5 while the 'C' category event with a prize fund of Rs 8 lakh would be conducted from June 6-9.