Grand Master S Arun Prasad and International Master Sahaj Grover will be spearhead Indias challenge in the Parsvnath International Chess tournament,which gets underway in the Capital from January 14. The hosts,however,will be missing the services of Grand Master Parimarjan Negi and 2008 world junior champion and last year's winner Abhijeet Gupta,who have decided to skip the Rs 12.5 lakh prize money tournament for the Corus Chess tournament which is set to begin at Wijk Aan Zee,The Netherlands. The young Grover,who has an ELO rating of 2448 and was awarded the IM title recently by FIDE,has emerged as one of the players to watch out in the recent months. Arjuna awardee Tania Sachdev is another player the Capitals chess fans will pin their hopes on when the 23-year-old kick starts her quest for a second GM norm. Liem top seed Meanwhile,winner of the Kolkata Open,Grand Master Le Quang Liem of Vietnam has been accorded the top billing in the tournament to be played at Modern School,Barakhamba Road. Around 325 players from over 20 countries have confirmed their entries in the event. The list also includes a total of 20 Grand Masters and more than 30 International Masters,who will take part in what is Indias biggest-ever prize money international tournament,with the winner taking home a cheque of Rs 2.75 lakh.
