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 Grandmaster Chess returns to Chennai after four years thanks to Graphics path breakers
Pentamedia. Announcing a Category XI thirteen player Grandmaster tourney, Dr V Chandrasekar, Chairman & CEO, Pentamedia Graphics was happy to lend a big hand
to the game that has been producing World Champions regularly.
Six grandmasters and seven international masters will comprise the field of 13 for the Pentamedia Graphics grandmaster chess tournament to be held here from August 14 to 28.
The tourney, to be managed by the Calcutta based Leisure Sports Management, would be held at the Pentamedia Graphics auditorium at Kelambakkam, 30 kms from the city. The list includes three Indian Grandmasters, National Champion Abhijit Kunte (ELO
rating 2556), rising star K Sasikiran (2573) and Dibyendu Barua (2502). The foreign participants invited to
the event include GM Alexander Fominyh (Russia),
 GM Saidali Luldachev (Uzbekhistan), Leonid Yurtaev
(Kirgystan), IM Reefat Bin Sattar (Banglaesh) and Ghaeim Maghami Ehsan
(Iran). The other Indian participants include the sensational teenaged trio, IM Surya Sekhar Ganguly of Goodricke National Chess Academy, Calcutta P Harikrishna ( WIPRO) and Sandipan Chanda (GNCA) who already has a Grandmaster Norm in his belt. International Masters D V Prasad (IOC) and G B Prakash (Indian Bank), who too have a Grandmaster Norm are among the
participants. An invitation has also been extended to Kazhakastan's Vladimirov, according to All India Chess Federation (AICF) Vice President D V Sundar. However, the confirmed the field would only be known by the end of this month, he said.
Dr. Chandrasekar himself a keen chess player in his college days, spoke of the need to promote the game and provide more opportunities for our talented players to make
it to the top. The Pentafour group of companies have been rendering support to the
 game in the past years and without much of a fanfare. In fact it might come as a surprise to many that they
have been consistently sponsoring the Tamil Nadu State Championship. Dr. Chandrasekar who loves to encourage young talent recently presented a laptop computer to the the World Girls Under-18 champion Aarthie Ramaswamy and a desktop computer to Asian Under-12 Girls Champion
Sindhu. The Pentamedia Grandmasters tournament which marks the commitment of the Pentafour group of
companies will provide the right battleground and the opportunities for our International Masters and Grand master norm holders to gain Grandmaster norms and move towards the coveted
Grandmaster title respectively.
Chennai, considered the epicenter of Indian chess strength would play
host to a Grandmaster event after a gap of four years. The Sakthi Grandmasters tournament in 1996 was the last held Grandmaster-level
tournament held here. The city was also the venue for the World Championship Candidates Quarterfinal match
between Viswanathan Anand and Alexy Dreev of Russia in 1991. With a record two Grandmaster events in a span of just a month has
whipped up the chess fever in India once again.
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