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Getting ready for the World Junior 2014
It's the beginning of the beginning for World Juniors, as we enter the final bend of the run up to the world juniors chess championship 2014 at Pune, Maharashtra. Last week, we conducted the Press Conference, where we announced the details and started the buzz among the scribes…
Now, it is the race upto the 5th of Oct, to set everything in place. Endless cups are coffees consumed, as the fine-tuning takes place for the successful conduction of the event…
It's a barrage of meetings at the 5-star Hyatt Pune, as brainstormings take place on visa, forex, check-ins, webcast, menu, venue, room-nights, transportation, pickups…
GM Abhijit Kunte (middle) in the thick of action
For an event of such magnitude, it is crucial to have the hotel's full-fledged support, and the Hyatt Pune has shown an excellent attitude so far. A fresh looking lobby awaits all participants for check-in…
The ambience in some of the public spaces is breathtakingly beautiful.
And the rooms are invitingly luxurious indeed too.
The restaurant with a view of the garden - cosy and posh.
Just a couple of days after the end of the tournament, on the 22nd and 23rd Oct, one of the biggest hindu festivals of India arrives: the 'Diwali' (or Deepavali, as it is referred in South India) the festival of lights, fire-crackers and sweets. It is celebrated as the anniversary of the charismatic god Krishna slaying the demon Narakasura, all over the country. Getting ready for the festival, the hotel has kept specially picked sweets packed beautifully, all around the place, for sale.
Hyatt has even spruced up their pub, 'Fish Bowl', promising to extend operational hours late into the night, with an impressive Wine rack array at the entrance... quite inviting, really...
The organisation is in full gear by now. The Facebook () and Twitter (www.twitter.com/MCL_CIS) handles of the event are already busy, creating a buzz before the event, not to forget the official website. An impressive array of titled players of the state of Maharashtra have been lined for live web video commentary during the event - former world junior girls champion WGM Soumya Swaminathan along with IM Sagar Shah, IM Prathamesh Mokal, and WGM Swati Ghate.
Most of the games of the event will be webcast live, while video feeds will be provided for the top 2 boards in both the sections. Now, we wait for the players to arrive. Of course, as India gets stronger and deeper in terms of chess strength, there is always the underlying optimism, hoping that the yellow metal will once again be won by two of the biggest Indian hopefuls, Vidit Gujrathi and Padmini Rout. And both look at Pune as one of their favourite hunting grounds, having strong roots with the city and the Maharashtra Chess League, in particular. Vidit was the captain of the winning team of the 2014 edition, the Jalgaon Battlers, and Padmini was the best woman player of both the editions held so far.
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And eagerly awaiting a special guest, a little big guy who is coming up very fast among the ranks, winning the world under 10 crown at Durban just a few of days ago – Nihal Sarin, from Kerala, the state from the south western coast of India.
But for the record, we have a total of 141 players from 47 countries participating in the open section, among them 18 GMs and 20 IMs, led by Russian Vladimir Fedoseev with elo 2677.
We have 72 from 32 countries in the girls section, including 5 WGMs and 11 WIMs, where again Russian Alexandra Goryachkina with elo 2430 defends her title.
But did we tell you that we have special guests too, among whom the one who will bound to hold our attention will be a pleasant but formidable guy from Netherlands?
Yes, Erwin l'Ami is going to be here to assist the dutch players, among them the impressive Robin van Kampen and Benjamin Bok. As traditionally, it will be a 13 round swiss, with the first round on the 6th of Oct, and the last round on 20th Oct, with a rest day on the 13th of Oct.
As they say, watch this space!
