Manash Borkataky announces the date for the meet in the city on Tuesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Oct. 31: Abhijit Kunte will be the first-ever Grandmaster to take part in any tournament in the Northeast when the Assam Chess Club organises an international open rating chess meet here from November 9 to 15.

Kunte, who is one of the top five Indian Grandmasters to have won over 5,000 Elo rating points, will be competing with nearly 20 Grandmasters and International Masters in the Rs 3.25 lakh prize money meet. The champion will pocket Rs 1 lakh and the runners-up Rs 60,000.

Russian GM Alexander Fominyh is in correspondence with the organisers, but he has been “left with too little time for visa clearance”, said organising committee vice-president Binod Khemka.

Leading IMs who have confirmed participation are Sriram Jha, Atanu Lahiri, V. Sarvanand, Saptarishi Roy Choudhury, Somak Saha, Sankar Roy, Suvajit Saha, P. Konguvel, Tej Kumar, Sriram Sarja and Saptarshi Roy. The organisers have also contacted women GMs and IMs.

Entries can be filed till November 8 at Assam Chess Club in Bhaskarnagar, Mahamaya Stores in Basistha and with M. Arun Singh at Manipuri Basti High School.

All outstation participants will be provided free accommodation at Terapanth Bhawan. The GMs and IMs will be put up in hotels, organising body secretary Manash Borkataky said. Two free meals will be provided on all tournament days. After the meet, the GMs will be offered a free safari package to Kaziranga National Park, committee treasurer Biswajit Bharadwaj said.

Borkataky said the tournament was “aimed at exposing our own players to the style of GMs and IMs with whom they rarely get a chance to play”.

The meet, set to be the second biggest open tournament in India after Thakur International of Mumbai and the fifth biggest of all tournaments in India, will be played in the 11-round Swiss League format. International arbitrar R.B. Sengupta will be the chief arbitrar while national arbitrars from Assam B.C. Kakati and M. Arun Singh will be his deputies.

“We plan to make the event an annual one but are not sure of the sustainability factor given the dearth of sponsorship,” Borkataky said.