Tournament from tomorrow

To mark the 74th birth anniversary of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the South Asian Chess Council (SACC) will hold an international online chess tournament this month with the participation of 74 players including a few Grandmasters from Asia and Europe.

The tournament, which will take place from September 24 to 26, has been named as Joytu Sheikh Hasina International Online Chess and will be sponsored by Canadian University of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Chess Federation (BCF) will supervise the tournament with assistance from Golden Chess Club (GCC).

BCF general secretary Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim disclosed the details at a press conference at a hotel in the capital where chairman of Canadian University and BCF vice-president Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat was also present.

"We have already invited five GMs from India, two each from Indonesia and Philippines, one each from Iran, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam," Shamim said, adding that three Bangladeshi GMs -- Ziaur Rahman, Reefat Bin Sattar and Enamul Hossain Razib -- have given their consent to participate in 6000-dollar tournament.

Champion, runner-up and third-place finisher will receive 1200, 800 and 500 US dollars respectively.