Cloud Hosting

SACC Chess Championship featuring eight South Asian countries is set to kick off on Tuesday at Godavari, Lalitpur.

The championship organiser Nepal Chess Federation (NCF), on Monday, informed that alongside hosts Nepal, the week-long event will have participation from India, Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Altogether, 20 players10 male and female players eachwill compete in the event to be organised in a round robin format, said NCF president Bidur Prasad Gautam.

All the participating countries will be represented by one player each in the male and female category, except for hosts Nepal, who will have two players each.

Defending champion in the mens category Nubairshah Shaikh, the Indian grandmaster, and the womens reigning champion Sharmin Sultana Shirin from Bangladesh, will be competing to retain their crown.

Afghanistans participation in the tournament is still uncertain and if they dont arrive until the tie-sheet draw, Nepal could field two more players as per instructions from the South Asian Chess Council (SACC), Gautam added.

National champion FIDE Master (FM) Rupesh Jaiswal and runners- up Surbir Lama will represent Nepal in the men's section. Woman FM Sujana Lohani, also the national champion, and runners-up Sushila Gurung will compete in the women's section.

The event carries a total cash prize of Rs 500,00o with the top three finishers bagging Rs100,000, Rs60,000 and Rs40,000, respectively. The expected cost of the event is Rs4 million.

Read more from the original source:
SACC Chess begins today - The Kathmandu Post