Harikrishna top draw in China chess meet
Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna will begin as one of the favourites at the prestigious Shenzhen Longgang Chess Grand Master tournament that gets under way in Shenzhen on Thursday.
Harikrishna, currently ranked world no. 14, broke into the top 10 recently and will fancy his chances in the pool led by world no. 11 Anish Giri from the Netherlands.
“This is an important tournament for me,” Harikrishna said, as he embarked on Mission Shenzhen. “It’s a strong field but I was world no. 10 till just last month. This gives me a lot of confidence,” he added.
The classical time control tournament will be played in a round robin format, with each player meeting the other twice, Apart from Giri and Harikrishna, four other players will be in fray: Michael Adams from England (world no.12), the Chinese duo of Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi (12 & 13 respectively) and Peter Svidler of Russia (20).
The tournament offers a total prize money of $90,000, with the winner taking home $20,000.
At the end of the tournament on April 3, all six players will indulge in a team competition, with each paired with a prominent local businessman.