HÀ NỘI — Indian prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju, the second youngest grandmaster in chess history, will compete in the ninth HDBankCup International Chess Tournament from March 6 to 14 in HCM City, the event’s organising board has announced.

Dommaraju scored his Grandmaster title at the 17th Delhi International Chess Grandmaster Open in New Delhi, India in January at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days.

According to the organisers, this year’s HDBankCup will be the largest yet with 289 players from 28 nations and territories including the US, the Netherlands, Romania and Cambodia who are the competing in the annual event for the first time.

The competition will be fierce as there are four male players and six female players in the world’s top 100. The event will have the participation of 31 Grandmasters.

Among the favourites is Wang Hao of China, who has an Elo rating of 2714 and is the top seed. Wang won the event in 2016.

In addition, there is defending champion Mareco Sandro of Argentina (Elo 2664), number two seed Cheparinov Ivan of Georgia (Elo 2691) and Russian Demchenko Anton (Elo 2679). Dommaraju has an Elo rating of 2508 and is the number 17 seed.

Many outstanding female players will also attend the event including the 2004 and 2006 world champion, Stefanova Antoaneta of Bulgaria; Saduakassova Dinara of Kazakhstan, winner of HDBank 2017; and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova of Uzbekistan, 2017Asian U20 champion.

Việt Nam will have 150 players in the event in HCM City. The country’s top player Lê Quang Liêm will not take part in the event as he will be competing in the US at the same time. However, other talents are expected to find success including Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn, Trần Tuấn Minh, Nguyễn Anh Khôi, Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên, Võ Thị Kim Phụng and Hoàng Thị Bảo Trâm.

Deputy Chairman of the Việt Nam Chess Federation Nguyễn Phước Trung said the event has enjoyed huge growth. It contributes to spreading the prestige of Vietnamese chess as well as the image of the Vietnamese people and country to international friends.

The nine-round Swiss event organised by the Việt Nam Chess Federation will have two sections: a masters category for players rated above 2100 and women rated above 2000 and a challengers category for unrated players and those rated below 2100.

The event has a total prize purse of US$60,000, of which the winner in the masters category will receive $16,000.

Fans can watch live at https://livegame.vietnamchess.vn. — VNS