Chess: TNSCA set to host 50 IM norm closed circuit tournaments in a year, schedule for first 10 announced

The Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA) is set to organise 50 IM norm closed circuit tournaments across the state in the next year, it was announced at a press conference here on Saturday.

The schedule for the first ten tournaments was released. Each tournament will be of nine rounds and comprise ten players – likely four or five foreigners and six or five Indians. Among the Indians, three or four players will be from TN, and the rest will be fielded from the other States by the All India Chess Federation (AICF).

Players with an existing IM norm and a 2150 Elo rating will be eligible for the tournaments. The first tournament will take place from October 16 to 21 at Hotel Abu Sarovar Portico here.

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The six Indian players participating are S. Harshad from Coimbatore, R. Ashwath from Chennai, Srija Seshadri from Neyveli, H. Goutham Krishna from Kerala, L. Srihari from Pondicherry, and International Master (IM) K. Murugan.

The four foreigners are Grandmaster (GM) Raset Ziatdinov (USA), IM Asylbek Abdyzhapar (Kyrgyzstan), IM David Gochelashvili (Russia), and Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Azerbaijan).

“Maybe, we can get about 20 IMs in one year. That itself will be a big achievement. Right now, TN has 39 IMs. So, if this 39 becomes 59, it will be a big jump in one year! Of course, we are very hopeful that we get more. But minimum I think we’ll be able to achieve 20,” said the TNSCA President M. Manickam.

To become an IM, a player should secure three IM norms and an Elo rating of 2400.