Chess

In all 184 players from across the country including 23 Grandmasters and 30 International Masters, will be seen in action in the one-week long tournament, formerly known as National Premier Chess Championship. The championship will be conducted under the Swiss League System with 11 rounds with a time control of 90 minutes with a 30-second increment from move one.

The Indian GM, who is ranked 11th in the world, said that she received anonymous mail during the tournament in Latvia. "The police asked me whether I wanted to open the envelope for myself and stay back in Riga to be a part of the investigations," Harika was quoted as saying by ESPN.

In the final, the USA will meet Russia on Wednesday. Russia were the co-winners of the title with India in 2020. India were the favourites to win the semi-final. They were the better team on paper while the USA had their second string in play in the absence of Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and Wesley So -- all of whom are involved in other tournaments.

India, who shared rhe title with Russia in 2020, are in the 10-team Pool B in the competition in which 40 teams have been divided into four groups of 10 teams each, the top two teams from which will qualify for the knockout stages.