Mumbai: The 10th Mumbai Mayor Cup, International Open Chess Tournament 2017, coordinated by All India Chess Federation under the long term development program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, was regally inaugurated by the Mayor of Mumbai, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, on Sunday afternoon.
The other prominent guests present at the inauguration included, Mr. D.V. Sundar, Indian Chess administrator and Vice president of FIDE, Dr. Parimal Phadke, Maharashtra MLA and newly elected member of old Marathi Chess Association, Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan, President of Delhi Chess Association, Mr. Ravindra Dongre, who is also the man behind organizing this grand event, President of Asian Zone 3 and Treasurer of All India Chess Federation and others.
The tournament hosts a huge number of international players and Grand Masters from around the world with 6 women Grand Masters and 14 International Grand Masters present this year. The tournament provides a big entrepreneur platform to the budding chess players and is no ordinary event. It is the oldest traditional event of India and FIDE which this year turned 10.
The tournament is an epitome of Global friendship and cooperation which is giving a huge exposure to not only Indian players to expand their skills but also the international players.
The top seed Mayor’s Cup has is Faruk Amonotov who is the top coach of the World Official Chess Russian Junior Team with the rating of 2632.
The tournament is also cost effective for the Indian players and the amount of exposure the candidates receive makes them at par with the international league players. The tournament encourages fair play and encourages the spirit of competition. Over 1000 players are divided into 3 groups where they will compete against each other in 10 marathon rounds. The locals definitely gain from the tournament as the top 30 games can be viewed live through Monroy Display and live on different websites.
The tournament was inaugurated in Mount Litera School International, Mumbai who have given infrastructural support to the tournament.
The Mayor of Mumbai has supported the event for past 9 years and is supporting the event for the 10th time which makes the event possible in a grand manner. The tournament was inaugurated with the Mayor’s first move in the game of chess against the Women Grand Master and Asian Women Chess Champion, Ms. Bhakti Kulkarni.
Apart from getting opportunity for International norms the talented youngsters of India will be getting valuable exposure and rich experience which will help them to annex the respective Asian and World Youth Class Chess tournaments.