Kanpur will host the MPL 58th National chess championship at the Ganges Club from February 25 to March 3.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) was due to hold its flagship event, offering a prize-fund of ₹30 lakh, from February 9. Since the voting in the city for the ongoing Assembly Elections clashed with the previous dates, the event was rescheduled.
The duration of the event was cut down to a week by reducing the number of rounds from 13 to 11 and holding two rounds on four days.
Women’s championship
The women’s National championship will be at Bhubaneswar from February 25 to March 2.
The fresh restrictions owing to the rise in Covid cases across the country forced the AICF to revise its calendar for the first half of the year.
It was decided to reduce the number of playing days besides doing away with the National under-8, under-10, under-12 and under-14 championships in open and girls’ sections.
The new dates for the International Opens in Guwahati, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Odisha and Vishakhapatnam were also finalised
The revised calendar:
February 25-March 2: Women’s National championship (Bhubaneswar); February 25-March 3: National championship (Kanpur); March 4-8: National sub-juniors (Delhi); March 9-13: National juniors (Gurugram); March 13-20: Guwahati International Open (Guwahati); March 22-29: Delhi International Open (New Delhi); March 31-April 7: Gujarat International Open (Ahmedabad); April 9-16: National team championship (Nashik); April 18-25: National under-18 championship (Coimbatore); May 11-19: Pune International Open (Pune); May 21-29: Kolkata International Open (Kolkata); May 31-June 8: Odisha International Open (Bhubaneswar); June 10-18: Visakhapatnam International Open (Visakhapatnam).
