Tata Steel Asian Chess Team Championship, Kolkata, India, 20-29 December 2009

Thank You Kolkata! Thank You Organisers of Tata Steel Asian Team Championships

2009-12-28T23:00:00.001+08:00

(The Arbiters)

(Our Transportation)

(The Hall)

(Both worked round the clock to make things run: Saheli was usually Invisible and Mishra always Visible!)

A Grand Prize Giving Indeed!

2009-12-28T20:00:00.001+08:00

The prize giving ceremony was a grand affair indeed as can be seen from the following photos and yet reflected showed the graciousness of the VIPs present, all who key roles in making the event possible and this was shown throughout the ceremony with their obvious goodwill towards the organisers, chess, and participants.

After Dibyendu Barua welcomed all on behalf of the organising committee and shared his challenges in making this event happen while constantly expressing his gratitude to D.V. Sundar and the All India Chess Federation, the Central Government, the state of West Bengal and City of Kolkata (including buses from the Department of Tourism and cars by the Police), Tata Steel and the various other sponsors, Mr Bharat Singh Chauhan, on behalf of the All India Chess Federation congratulated him was an excellent event while at the same time pointing out he had now joined the ranks of organisers!

Mr Peeyush Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer of Tata Steel was kind enough to say that Tata was pleased to be associated with such and event and that the challenge in his opinion was less financial than in having a successful organisation so Dibyendu Barua was to be congratulated.

The guest of honour was Dr. Asim Das Gupta, State Minister of Finance, West Bengal, Government of India, and in his key note address spoke of his appreciation of the benefits of chess, reminding all that to playing chess was just like live in important moments in making and anticipating moves.

He then went on to reaffirm the state's commitment to supporting sport in general and chess in particular and offered assistance to make up any shortfall in the budget! And then went on to say he had spoken privately to Dibyendu and the West Bengal Chess Association and asked for a proposal for coaching children - a program for chess in schools which he said would have the government's full support.

Then came the presentation of individual board medals.... which was of course then followed by the winners of the championship!

(Nguyen Thi Mai Hung for Womens - Board 4 )

(Harika Dronavalli for Womens - Board 1)

(Nguyen Anh Dung for Mens - Board 5)

(Le Quang Liem for Mens - Board 1)

(India A won Silver)

(Vietnam got Gold and are the Champions!)

(Iran got Bronze)

(India won Gold and so are the Champions!)

Final Round: India and Vietnam are Asian Champions!

2009-12-28T18:00:00.008+08:00

The Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship concluded today in a final round that was little more than a coronation for men's champion India and women's champion Vietnam, but saw a fierce fight between both the men and women of Iran and India B to decide the event's second and third placings.

Men

The final round started with India A making short work of Sri Lanka, easily winning 4-0, but in the second match a grim struggle between Ian and India B finally ended with Iran winning 3-1, ensuring that Iran would tie Vietnam for second but only placed third after tie-breaks.

(A very happy India A side at the post event live press conference being interviewed by Grandmaster P.Thipsay.).

Already assured of second place, Vietnam had a routine 4-0 win against bottom placed Nepal while Bangladesh hit form to crush Singapore 3.5-0.5 and Indonesia beat Yemen by the same score.

Individual Board Medals: 1. Le Quang Liem (VIE), 2. Sasikiran Krishnan (IND), 3. Ganguly Surya Shekhar (IND), 4. Negi Parimarjan (IND), 5. Nguyen Anh Dung (VIE).

Women

Vietnam made sure of the title with a quick win 4-0 over bottom placed Nepal as second placed India A sat out proceedings with the 2-0 bye.

(An equally happy Vietnam team at the live press conference. You do not need to speak Hindi or English well to express hapiness!).

India B then had a chance to win second place but fell to Iran 1-3 and that meant third place would be shared between these two teams and the tier-break went in Iran's favour.

Of the remaining matches, Indonesia was surprised by Singapore 1.5-2.5 and Sri Lanka well beaten 1-3 by Bangladesh.

Individual Board Medals: 1. Harika Dronavalli (IND), 2. Paridar Shadi (IRN), 3. Nguyen Thi Thanh An (VIE), 4. Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (VIE), 5. Hoang Thi Nhu Y (VIE)

India A are the Men Champions!

2009-12-27T21:00:00.100+08:00

Men

Today, in the penultimate round, India A, unbeaten and with maximum points took on Singapore after having beaten all their main rivals, and romped home to an easy 3.5-0.5 win which ensured that India will be champions one round before the end!

(The Singapore team before their 0-4 defeat to India A.).

(The reliable Deepan Chakkravarthy K was the only India A player not to win this round.).

Instead the attention was really on the fight for second place and it was still very much the status quo after the dust had settled with Vietnam recording a 4-0 win over Indonesia while the other silver medal hopefuls Iran crushed Sri Lanka by the same 4-0 score.

India B also had an easy time against Yemen, winning 3-1, and Nepal lost 1-3 against Bangladesh.

Women

Leaders Vietnam today faced their last strong team - Indonesia - and still easily won 3.5-0.5 to retain their two point advantage over India A which beat Bangladesh 4-0.

(A calm and determined Vietnam team in action against Indonesia whom they beat 3.5-0.5, a result which has all but won them the championship.).

(In fact Vietnam were so confident that the rested a player that had so far scored 3/3 and she was also more interested that round in doing media work that including being interviewed by TV!).

Indian B joined India A in second place, also on nine points with a 4-0 trouncing of Sri Lanka.

And with a 4-0 win over Nepal, Iran moved up to fourth place on seven points as Singapore received the 2-0 bye and fell to fifth place with six points.

A Talk with Dibyendu Barua, Chess Legend, Grandmaster and Organiser

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(Exhausted, Dibyendu Barua still kindly agreed to an interview while multitasking on the phone)

Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, you are now also a chess organiser and promoter with the Tata Steel Asian Team Championship, so thank you for taking time during this event when you are so busy to talk to us. We would also like, before we start, to congratulate you on a very fine event - everyone we talked to has only good things to say - and despite the intense competition, the participants are really very happy to be here and very much enjoying the warm Indian and Bengali hospitality.

Q: So, how did India, West Bengal, Kolkata, and you in particular get involved in organising this prestigious event?

A: I have in the last four years been promoting chess by organising a chess for youth program in West Bengal with competitions in two age group categories, under 16 and under 25, and in casual conversation with Mr D V Sundar, Secretary of the All India Chess Federation, I mentioned I was keen to do an international event one day. Soon after I got an email challenging me to take on the Asian Team Championship that had been awarded by the World Chess Federation through the Asian Chess Federation to India, and after getting an indication of the budget, I agreed. But I really did not know what I had signed up for! This was an official international event and not just an international open tournament, and there were things like standards to be adhered to, be it hotel, equipment, etc,, protocol to be followed, and services that needed to be provided such as transportation. The budget also just kept growing and what was provided by the central government to start began to look like a very small sum indeed. So I approached the state government and they really helped. In particular I must mention the Minister of Sport and the Minister of Finance as incredibly supportive. But even then, until after the opening ceremony, and only when my employer Tata Steel stepped in as main sponsor, I was facing a major financial ruin! So I must thank all of these parties from the bottom of my heart. Also, Mr Sundar too who gave me this opportunity has been a great support throughout with much needed guidance.

Q: In the chess world, India for sure and especially in Kolkata, you are a legend, because before World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and after the early days of Manual Aaron, you were a prodigy, in fact India's first great player, performing at the top level for more than 20 years and was seen to be proof of the high quality of India chess. How do you see yourself in 5, 10 years time, and what are your remaining aspirations for chess?

A: As I said earlier, I am well employed by Tata and while not rich, I live a comfortable life and even today if I focused on playing chess I believe I would still be among the top 10 players in the country. But I have been playing a lot less in recent years, around 2-3 tournaments a year and I have become very selective. This is because I believe that I have benefited from chess and that senior players like myself need to give back to society and while organising this event I realised too that chess players like myself bring something extra in that we understand what is needed to make a good event great, having been there ourselves! I have over the years begun to get more involved in promoting chess in Kolkata and West Bengal and I see myself continuing to do that and hopefully can make a difference. In fact I am organising this event with All Sport Management India under my newly formed academy, the Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy which I set up with my own money and with no profit motive in mind.

Q: Everyone is impressed by the high quality of the organisation of the Asian Team Championship. We have heard that you have started a Chess Academy and the students there enjoy the same high standards which seems to be identified with all that you do. Please tell us a bit about your academy and what are your hopes and plans in this direction?

A: With my academy I hope to be better able to promote chess and we have two main thrusts. The first is introduce the game to children so that they will learn to love chess and to this end we have tie-ups with many schools already. Only in this way will we grow a mass of chess literacy amongst the public and appreciation by would be sponsors we recognise this community as a valuable market for their products and services. The second is to facilitate talent development which is a little more complicated. We try and reward winners at city, state, and national levels with scholarships, and for those who qualify to represent the country we even provide special training to help prepare them for international competition. I don't know how successful we will be but I will do my best and hope that is good enough.

Thank you Grandmaster. We know you are very busy indeed even though you have an excellent team in place for this event and so will let you go now!

India A Men Lead, Vietnam Women Lead

2009-12-26T21:00:00.083+08:00

Men

The fifth round may have decided the championship. India A, leaders from the start met Iran which is a point behind and the only other unbeaten team, the difference being India A had beaten the other pre tournament favourite Vietnam while Iran only drew.

(India A before the start of the essentially title winning round)

And they rose to the occasion with Negi Parimarjan, Ganguly Surya Sekhar and P Harikrishnan all winning for an emphatic victory 3.5-0.5 which all but ensured India would retain their title and comfirm their leadership position in Asian chess.

In other match ups, Bangladesh fell heavily to Vietnam 0-4, Indonesia trounced Sri Lanka 4-0 as did India B over Nepal, and it was the same story for Singapore over Yemen.

Women

Surprising Singapore met leaders Vietnam and were well beaten 0.5-3.5, Le Thanh Tu, Pham Le Thao Nguyen, and Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (see photo below) delivering the wins.

Barring a major drop in form and with a commanding two point lead, Vietnam now looks set to emerge as champions.

Indonesia took on India B which was still on a high after their win over India A yesterday and so won 0.5-3.5, while India A, even without their sick captain and team stalwart Harika Dronavalli were much too strong for Sri Lanka with an easy 4-0 rout and the kids from Nepal could not match the experienced Bangladesh team, also going down 0-4.

It was Iran's turn to get the 2-0 bye.

Official Reception - Party on the Roof

2009-12-26T05:00:00.007+08:00

India A Men continue to dominate as India A Women Stumble

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Men

Today, round four, in a clash of favourites, we had Vietnam looking to halt India A's seemingly unstoppable progress towards Gold. In the end however India prevailed 2.5-1.5 but it was hard going all the way with Surya Shekar Ganguly (see above photo) and captain Krishan Sasikiran making the difference against Vietnam's sole win by Le Quang Liem.

Indonesia, still smarting from their humiliating defeat the previous round against India A, took on the still unbeaten Iran side but were well beaten by a team which continued their title challenge with a comprehensive 1-3 victory.

Lower down, Sri Lanka played Bangladesh who proved to be too strong an opponent, and with their 1-3 win, successfully leapfrogged up the standings, while Singapore only lost 1.5-2.5 after taking the fight to an India B side who cannot be satisfied yet with their performance to date despite having drawn tough matches every round so far.

In the final match, honours were even between Yemen and Nepal 2-2.

Standings:
1. India A 8 pts; 2. Iran 7 pts; 3. Vietnam 5 pts; 4-6. India B, Indonesia, Bangladesh 4 pts; 7. Sri Lanka 3 pts; 8-9. Singapore, Yemen 2 pts; 10. Nepal 1 pt.

Women

Co-leader Vietnam took on Iran on top board and won a tense encounter 2.5-1.5 while the other co-leader India A lost 1.5-2.5 against India B.

Bhakti Kulkarni (see photo above) provided the decisive point for India B in a serious set back to India A's hope of emerging as champions.
.
In the meantime Bangladesh fell to Singapore 0-4 and Sri Lanka were also big winners with a 4-0 score against Nepal as the Indonesians, with the 2-2 bye, enjoyed the day off (by coming to watch the games!).

Standings:
1.Vietnam 7 pts; 2-4. India A, India B, Singapore 5 pts; 5-6. Iran, Indonesia 4 pts; 7. Sri Lanka 3 pts; 8. Bangladesh 2 pts; 9. Nepal 1 pt.

Merry Christmas!

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(These wonderful Indian women wish us all Merry Christmas!)

(While the new Chief Arbiter promises not to be tough)

(And Irene Sukandar will take your photo with Santa Claus!)

India A Men Take Sole Lead After Three Rounds

2009-12-24T20:00:00.003+08:00

Men

In a powerful display, India A took the sole lead with maximum points after a comprehensive victory 3.5-0.5 over a young Indonesian team, the rout beginning with P Harikishnan who finally hit form after successive draws, and he was then joined by his captain Sasikiran Krishnan and Deepan Chakkravarthy J who eventually ground down their opponents.

(India A vs Indonesia)

Vietnam and Iran however remained very much in contention with 3-1 and 3.5-0.5 wins over India B and Singapore respectively to remain just one point behind.

In the bottom half of the draw, Bangladesh took its first points with an easy victory 4-0 over Yemen while Sri Lanka moved up to three points with a hard fought 2.5-1.5 win over Nepal after handicapping a walkover when their board four could not make the game in time from the airport.

Women

In a top of the table clash, favourites India A and Vietnam met, and after India A took a 2-0 lead Vietnam fought back to tie 2-2. Harika Dronavelli and Tania Sachdev won for India while Nguyen Thi Thanh An and Hoang Thi Nhu Y with late wins ensured the draw for Vietnam.

(Hoang Thi Nhu Y started the Vietnam recovery, her win reducing the score to 1-2)

Singapore's run also came to an end against an experienced Iran side and so suffered a 0-4 whitewash, Bangladesh surprised Indonesia 2-2 while India B, as expected, crushed Nepal 4-0, and it was Sri Lanka's turn to enjoy.time off with a 2-0 bye.

Stressful Our There?

2009-12-24T16:00:00.010+08:00

Battle of India: Team A is Victorious

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Men

Today, round two, we saw the battle of India with India B taking on India A and the seniors showed who was boss with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory, only giving up only one draw when P Harikrishna allowed a repetition by young B Adhiban in an unclear position, and in doing so bringing their title challenge right back on track.

(India A leader Krishnan Sasikiran rejoined his team to help seal a convincing 3.5-0.5 win against India B together with fellow heavyweights Ganguly and Negi.).

But perhaps the most intriguing match up this round was the encounter between the two other fancied teams and the expected threats to India's favourite tag, Vietnam and Iran, and in the end honours were shared 2-2.

Probably the hardest fought match was expected to be Bangladesh-Indonesia as that result might just determine the top place amongst those outside of the medals but it was surprisingly easy for Indonesia in the end as they romped home 3.5-0.5 and so announced they were serious medal contenders.

Of the less fancied teams, Nepal was no match for Singapore, losing 0-4 while Yemen against Sri Lanka was the identical 4-0 score.

Standings:
1-2. India A, Indonesia 4 pts; 3-4 Vietnam, Iran 3 pts; 5-6. India B, Singapore 2 pts; 7-8. Yemen, Sr Lanka 1 pt; 9-10. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka 0 pt.

Women

Iran's reward for its 4-0 win over Sri Lanka was an early match up with India A, probably a good time as the top seeds are still finding its best form. At the same time, Indian B had the chance to do damage to the other favourite Vietnam.

Both these matches progressed slowly, and in the end India A won 3-1 over Iran, again on the back of captain Harika Dronavalli's early win and then a late contribution by veteran Tania Sachdev (see photo above), but India B found Vietnam simply too strong and went down 1-3.

Nepal played the first round's surprise team Singapore and was trounced 0-4, and it was the same with Indonesia which was looking for and won big against Sri Lanka, 4-0, while Bangladesh got the dreaded bye and 2-0 result.

Standings:
1-2. India A, Vietnam 4 pts; 3. Singapore 3 pts; 4-5. Iran, Indonesia 2 pts, 6-8. India B, Bangladesh, Nepal 1 pt; 9. Sri Lanka 0 pt.

Victoria Memorial - A Must See in Kolkata

2009-12-23T13:00:00.005+08:00

With the first round successfully underway, our Chief Arbiter, R Anatharam, decided to take two hours off in the morning (of course only after the team lists were submitted and the pairings made) to check out some of Kolkata's landmarks.

Our hotel is off course fortunately situated perfectly for the tourist and Victoria Memorial, just a 10 minute ride by car (even in less than ideal traffic) is perhaps the city's best known landmark and so off we went.

Unfortunately it was a slightly foggy day and we were not allowed to take photos in the interior as other than being a tribute to Queen Victoria, first Empress of India (as part of the British Empire) in the capital city they founded as it is also an historical art gallery.

But we did our best and really enjoyed the outing in a beautiful morning in sunshine without the heat as the photos that follow will show:

Here we are at the entrance of Victoria Memorial. Entry is 10 Rupees unless you are a foreigner in which case we have to support tourism with 150 Ruppees! Of course our Chief Arbiter never travels anywhere without his devoted wife!

This is the entrance beyond which photos are not allowed and all I can say is the architecture is amazing and exhibits very informative indeed.

Every the adventurous man, Anantharam decided we should try the bridge before returning to the hotel. With traffic starting to build up our driver was smart enough to instead swing us over the new bridge and not the famous Howrah bridge (where we were assured we would suffer up to a five hour delay!). It also helps when we were riding in a Vehicle marked Kolkata Police.

Yes, we did make it back for lunch at 12 noon!

Report: Round One

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Men

With match points being used there were no surprises, Indian A beating Bangladesh 2.5-1.5 courtesy of Negi Parimarjan's win (see photo below), Vietnam just allowing Singapore half a point in a 3.5-0.5 win, and Iran, Indian B, and Indonesia blanking Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Nepal respectively 4-0.

So India has "dropped off" the lead on games points. But Bangladesh was always going to offer a fight, and with ten teams and seven rounds it is just the start of a long war!

Women

(Reliable?: Vietnam's Le Thao Nguygen Pham, India's Dronavalli Harika, Iran's Atousa Pourkashiyan)

It was much more exciting with the women, India A easing past Indonesia 2.5-1.5 with three decisive games and Singapore then pulling off the biggest surprise of the tournament (for now?) with a 2-2 draw with India B whom they may even hoped to have beaten/

Vietnam dropped an unexpected point in a 3-1 win against Bangladesh, while Iran proved much too experienced for a young Sri Lanka side to record the only 4-0 win.

And Nepal got the curse of the bye and a 2-0 result.

Two Individual Upsets and One Little Surprise!

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The first round saw two individual upsets among the women.

First India A only edged a dangerous Indonesian team 2.5-1.5 on the back of a captain's performance by IM/WGM Dronavalli Harika who timed a vicious attack to perfection against WGM Irene Sukandar on top board. Then with great maturity, current World Junior Champion Swaminathan Soumya made a draw against Anastasia Citra Dewi to ensure the victory.

Earlier untitled Baiq Vina Lestari (see top photo) on board two had levelled the score at 1-1 with a fine win over WGM Eesha Karavade who was rated some 241 points more!

Then Bangladesh took a point off the heavily favoured Vietnam when Nazrana Khan (see photo above), also untitled and rated a whooping 359 points less, very surprisingly and rather quickly beat WGM on Le Thanh Thu in a top board encounter.

But it was a real disaster for Indian B against a solid Singapore side who surprised them with a 2-2 draw, a result that only Singapore would have been unhappy with!

Singapore's Victoria Chan (in photo above) was the last to finish, fighting for many hours, but just could not bring home the winning point after reaching a Rook and Knight versus Rook ending.

We have a Room for Analysis!

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First the Indonesian team at work!

Then Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh Taking on the Entire Indian Team!

Some Established Young Stars In Action During Round One

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L-R. 2600+ GMs Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Le Quang Liem from Vietnam. Le has recently won strong back to back tournaments and even qualified for the World Cup.

GM Moradiabadi Elshan is now Iran's number 2 player.

A former world's youngest GM, teenager Negi Parimarjan is now a permanent member of the super strong Indian A side.

International Master Adhiban B at 17 is India's National Champion has been tipped for great things by none other than World Champion Viswanathan Anand and so has already been given the opportunity to lead the India B side.

Just Before Round One...

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The Participating Teams & Their Players

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After a day's delay and the sacrifice of the rest day to accommodate the teams with visa problems, the Tata Steel Asian Chess Team Championship is now set to start.

Pairings are out, and the good news of course is all the players are now fully rested, comfortably settled into Kolkata, and raring to go!

Men

In the men's championship, perennial Asia powerhouses India, Vietnam, and Iran, boasting a total of 14 grandmasters in their line ups (out of a possible 15 and the 20 playing in the whole event) are expected to fight for the medals but India B together with the young Indonesia and Singapore teams fronted by grandmasters Susanto Megaranto and Wu Shaobin respectively) and Bangladesh (with veterans grandmasters Ziaur Rahman and Niaz Murshed) will hope to create a few upsets and perhaps even surprise!

India has their top four boards of Harikrishna, Sasikiran, Ganguly. and Negi at 2600+ level with Vietnam boasting two young players in Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son with 2600+ while Iran has also one 2600+ player in Ghaem Maghami Ehsan.

Women

Among the women, India and Vietnam are the main contenders for Gold with Iran together with India B and Indonesia also expected to be in the running.

The operative word to describe the women competition is youth and hosts India have fielded two teams of immense (and often precocious) talent while Vietnam and Iran have put together solid well proven line ups while Indonesia continues its policy of also investing in the future.

Pairings & Results will be posted at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr28559.aspx?art=0&lan=1&m=-1&wi=1000 and this link is also on the right menu on this blog together with the link to live games & pgn files.

Oceanic - The Place to Eat!

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000+08:00

Where players stay during a tournament is very important for maximum performance and perhaps even more important than the hotel they stay in, having good food that they are happy and comfortable to eat (and better still to enjoy!) is their most critical need.

Having former top players as organisers makes the difference and so the Peerless Hotel in Kolkata, managed by Sarovar Hotels is very good indeed, the rooms and service impeccable.

(Hungry? The Singapore men are among the early birds at breakfast.)

Players, other than when engaged in competition, tend to hang out a lot in public places within the hotel when not resting or preparing for the next round in their rooms, and it is the restaurant where meals are served that is where a huge amount of time in spent (and also very often the place where they have the opportunity to mix with other competitors and even catch up with old friends from other tournaments past).

Oceanic is this restaurant for the participants of the Tata Steel Asian Team Chess Championship 2009, a bright and spacious place with excellent food served in an extensive and varied menu daily, buffet style, and so ensuring everyone is happy!

Hall Inspection

2009-12-21T17:00:00.004+08:00

One of the major pre tournament tasks for the Tournament Director is to ensure that the playing venue is ready and that is not only just the tables and chairs and their arrangement and ensuring that there are chess sets and clocks, but also that all players and officials of participating teams, spectators, and media will be properly accommodated.

(End to end view of the main playing area in Kolkata Town Hall with the the main build of the stage already in place)

There is also the IT infrastructure for broadcasting results and games, organising of refreshments, the transportation to and fro the hotel, and arranging for the secretariat, together with the game analysis and media rooms with any needed facilities.

(In the first picture, Saheli Bhar - the main force behind the scenes, wife and secret weapon of Tournament Director Dibyendu Barua - is taking in feedback from their good friend and Chief Coordinator Neeraj Kumar Mishra and in the second, we have Dibyendu Barua leading while clearly in sync with Saheli!).

There will indeed be Live Games!

2009-12-21T14:00:00.001+08:00

Using the Monroi system, games will be broadcast live daily at www.asianteamchess09.com/livegames.asap (you can also click the Monroi logo on the right side of this blog - the top four men matches and the top three women matches - daily 2 p.m. (+5.5 GMT) from 22-27 December 2009 and 10 a.m.on 28 December 2009 for the last round.

(Chief Arbiter R Anantharam checking the names of participants with an unidentified official while Monroi Expert DS Moorthy works on the official website to enable Swiss Manager results and Monroi live game publishing.).

Arriving at the City of Joy

2009-12-21T08:00:00.001+08:00

The timing of my super cheap AirAsia flight had already ensured that I would miss the grand opening ceremony but the extra one and a half hour flight delay was unexpected and together with the hour long commute from airport to the city centre, that ensured that I would be late for the captain's meeting.

But once arrived, Kolkata airport was a breeze and I had great company on the 45 minute bus ride to the hotel with Satya Prakash Pandey who picked me (and the Singapore team who had arrived a little earlier but via a transit in Chennai) and did his very best to get me up to speed with all things Kolkata!

It may have been the late hour but Kolkata was every much as I remembered it from so very long ago and was perhaps even a little less busy (was it because it was Sunday night?) and with somewhat more orderly traffic.

(The view from my hotel window of Eden Garden - arguably the finest cricket ground in the world.)

The Peerless Inn is where we are all being put up - a very well appointed hotel centrally located some 100 metres from the Esplanade Metro Station, and next to Eden Garden and New Market - just a twenty minute stroll to the Town Hall where the Asian Team Championship would be played.

Catching the end of the Captain's meeting which was immediately followed by a short Arbiter's meeting, we then moved on to dinner at the excellent Oceanic restaurant where we would be having all our meals and also a chance to be introduced by DS Moorthy to the Monroi system that would be used for live broadcast of daily games.

Of course also meeting my good friend Niaz Murshed (Bangladesh's first grandmaster) meant that the night would not end in a hurry and so a cross city taxi ride took to the company of (and drinks) with another of his good friends who was staying at the Hyatt.

A fitting end to most pleasant and eventful start in the City of Joy!

Official Press Release - Opening Ceremony

2009-12-20T20:00:00.006+08:00

Asian Team Chess Championship 2009 has been inaugurated by Sri Pranab Mukherjee, the Union Finance Minister, Govt. of India

Kolkata, 20th December, 2009

Union Finance Minister Sri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Tata Steel Asian Chess Championship by making a symbolic move on a chess board at the Hotel Hindustan International on Sunday. The finance minister also unveiled the champion’s trophies of this premier Asian team championship which is organised by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy & All Sport Management and will be held at the historic Town Hall.

Speaking on the occasion, Sri Pranab Mukherjee said, “ Chess is a game of intellect, patience and farsightedness. It is not important who wins the trophy, it is the participants spirit that prevails.” He wished all the participating counties a memorable stay in Kolkata “ I am sure the participants will take back happy memories of the city, and a part of India…” he further added.

Also present on the occasion, were the Mayor of Kolkata, Sri Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the leader of the CLP Sri Manas Bhuinya, Sri Sanjay Choudhury, Chief, Corporate Communications, Tata Steel, Sri D.V. Sundar , Hony Secretary of All India Chess Federation and Sri Ravindra Dongre, Vice-President of AICF.

Sri D.V. Sundar praised the efforts of Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and All Sport Management in organising this Mega event.”Dibyendu Barua is the pride not only of Bengal, but also of India. Barua has served India as a chess player and has ventured into organisation. I am sure he will find greater obstacles as an organiser than he must have had as a player, ” said Sri Sundar in lighter vein.

The championship scheduled to start on December 21, has been postponed by a day due to the late arrival of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka teams. The Bangladesh captain, Niaz Murshed, however, arrived in the city earlier in the evening and attended the captains meeting. In the captains meeting held late in the evening it was agreed by all the teams that the tournament would start from Tuesday, December 22.

It was also decided in the captains meeting that no player can agree to a draw before 30 moves. The games will start from 2 p.m everyday.The time limit for each game will be 40 moves in the first one and half hours followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. In addition there would be 30 seconds increment for each move.

India A teams start as the favourite in both the men’s and women’s sections in this 7 round Swiss league championship which will continue till December 28. As the host country, India will be fielding 2 teams in each category.