Dr K C G Verghese Memorial Chess tourney begins tomorrow

Chennai, June 22 (UNI) About 60 players will vie for honours in the Dr K C G Verghese Memorial 17th Tamil Nadu State Under-17 Boys and Girls Chess Championship beginning here tomorrow.

The tournament would be held on a nine-round Swiss System, separately for boys and girls and the pairings done by a computer, Tamil Nadu Chess Association General Secretary Manual Aaron and Hindustan Group of Institutions Ashok G Verghese told reporters here last evening.

The tournament, organised by the Hindustan Sports Foundation, would end on June 28.

The performance of the players in the tournament assumes significance as the best two boys and girls would be selected to represent Tamil Nadu in the National Under-17 Chess Championship to be held at Nashik from August 15 to 22.

The Nationals would be the qualifying tournament for picking the Indian team for next year's World Under-18 and Asian Under-18 Chess Championships.

Prominent among those who would be seen in action include Former National Junior Girls Champion N Raghavi, reigning under-17 National Girls Champion P Uthra, last year under-17 champion P Sivasankari, 2002 National Under-7 Champion J Saranya.

In the boy's section, State Champions P Karthikeyan, R Premnath, reigning champion T U Navin Kanna would be the top contenders for the first prize of Rs 3,000.

Mr Thirukkalathy would be the Chief Arbiter of the tournament.

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