Delhi to host Commonwealth Chess Championship 2007

New Delhi, Oct 1 (UNI) The 2007 edition of the Commonwealth Chess Championship will be held here from December 2-10, and with Viswanathan Anand's stupendous achievement, this event can expect participation from a large number of Indian youngsters.

About 14 Grandmaster from Commonwealth countries are expected to take part in the premier event which will see many of the top Indian stars in action including National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and world's youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi.

Asian women's champion Tania Sachdev will be a strong candidate for a medal too in the women's section while Grandmaster Koneru Humpy is expected to start as a strong contender for the gold.

The championship has a total prize pool of Rs 800000 and the battle for supremacy amongst Commonwealth countries will be mostly between Indian and British Nationals.

Delhi Chess Association secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said, ''Its hard to predict now, but we are sure that in terms of participation this might be the most successful Commonwealth Chess championship.'' ''Anand's success has played a crucial role in making the game more popular in our country, I am sure we will also get maximum participation ever also from Indian youngsters,'' he added.

In all around 12 countries are expected to take part in the event including faraway Canada. The event will have 10 rounds in all and will end on 10th December, 4 days before the National under-13 championship which will also be held at New Delhi.

UNI