Kottayam to host Kerala’s first Grandmaster chess tournament in 24 years, set to have highest prize money

Kottayam will host Kerala’s most lucrative Grandmaster chess tournament from April 30 to May 7. The event, the first Grandmaster International Open tournament organised by the Kottayam Chess Academy, will have a total prize money of Rs 30 lakh.

Competition will be held under two categories, ‘A’ (April 30-May 7) and ‘B’ (May 1-3), and the KPS Menon Hall and the Aithousa Convention Centre will be the venues.

“As of now, 26 foreign players from some 12 countries have confirmed and more than 15 GMs, including 11 from abroad, are expected,” Rajesh Nattakom, the president of the Chess Association Kerala and the director of the Kottayam GM tournament, told Sportstar on Tuesday evening.

“The total cost of the event could be around Rs 75 lakh because the appearance money for the foreign GMs is likely to come to Rs 10 lakh.”

Grandmasters from the USA, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Slovakia and Vietnam figure in the entry list.

KERALA’S LONG WAIT FOR A GM TOURNAMENT

Kerala last hosted a GM tournament 24 years ago and the event was held as part of the All India Chess Federation’s golden jubilee in Kozhikode in 2001. An invitation GM tournament was also held before that in Kozhikode in the late eighties.

The Kottayam event will be a part of three GM tournaments which the country will be hosting this month and in May, the first of which will begin in Bengaluru on April 10 followed by an event in Pune (from April 20).

This is expected to bring down the cost of hosting the Kottayam event because many of the GMs who will be in action in Bengaluru and Pune will also be playing in Kerala.

The minimum rating for the Category ‘A’ event in Kottayam will be 1400 while the Category ‘B’ will be for unrated players and for those below 1650.