New Delhi, Dec 6 (Agency) The All-India Chess Federation (AICF) announced a packed calendar for 2022, lining up as many as 13 international open tournaments across the country. The chess year will begin with the National Junior Championship (Under-20) at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. Ahmedabad will have the honour of hosting the first international tournament, the Ahmedabad International Open, from February 23 to March 2. AICF president Dr Sanjay Kapoor said: “For the first time, we have a sponsor for all national events in the form of MPL. Thanks to them and our other efforts, we will be offering attractive prize money in every tournament.” National Women Championship will take place from Feb 9-19 and the National Senior Championship (Feb 9-21), will take place simultaneously in Bheemavaram in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, respectively.
The Indian teams for all major world championships 2022 will also be selected from these events. “These are exciting times for Indian chess. Our players, right from the Under-8 category, will have multiple opportunities to showcase their talent and come into the limelight,” AICF secretary said. The other international tournaments will be held in Pune (Mar 4-11), Guwahati (Mar 13-20), Delhi (Mar 22-29), Kolkata (May 21-29), Odisha (May 31-Jun 8), Visakhapatnam (June 10-18), Bengaluru (June 20-28), Punjab (Aug 22-30), Bikaner (Sep 1-9), Indore (Sep 11-19), Chhattisgarh (Sep 21-29) and Uttar Pradesh (Oct 1-9).